Left to right: Christina Stroud, Holly Pinelli, Clare Wooding and Paul Hoekstra
Milton, ON – As a proud partner to Canadian agriculture, Syngenta works with various groups and organizations on agriculture sustainability initiatives that help ensure Canada’s rural communities remain vibrant.
That’s why the $10,000 donation from Syngenta makes sense: it ensures that more students in Ontario receive objective, fact-based agriculture and food education that inspires them to be curious and think critically about their food choices, as well as explore careers in the agri-food sector.
“We are incredibly thankful for this generous gift from Syngenta,” says Glenna Banda, Executive Director, AgScape. “With their support of our Teacher Ambassador Program, we were able to deliver agriculture and food lessons on topics such as biotechnology, environmental initiatives and local food to more than 800 additional students across Ontario this past school year.”
AgScape’s Teacher Ambassador Program (TAP) places Ontario Certified Teachers, who are specially trained by AgScape, directly into Grade 7 to 12 classrooms to teach students about 12 different agriculture related topics.
“Today was great! I'm not going to lie but when I found out the presentation was going to be about agriculture, I thought it was going to be boring, but it was the opposite. It was fun and today I realized that there were a lot more occupations in agriculture,” said one student who received a lesson on agriculture careers.
Another student was inspired to make a change in his own life. “This lesson changed my perspective on local foods as well as imported foods and is encouraging me to make changes to my diet and how I eat, so that it has a better impact on the environment.”
Increased awareness of agri-food careers among students has been another significant benefit of AgScape’s in-class lessons. Surveys taken by students after the TAP lessons reported that 77 per cent of them agreed that the agri-food sector offers a variety of career opportunities (compared to only 51% prior to the lesson).
“The agri-food sector is rich with exciting careers to pursue. We’re pleased to provide support for AgScape’s Teacher Ambassador Program and to bring agriculture alive in Ontario classrooms. Today’s youth will be the workforce of the future and will play an important role in shaping the agri-food sector,” says Christina Stroud, Head of Corporate Affairs, Syngenta Canada.
Source : AgScape