September 21st, 2022
Teaching
Schools: Somonauk High School and Leland Middle School/High SchoolGrades: 6th-12thSubjects: Agriculture and Food ScienceNumber of years teaching: 6Farm Bureau/Ag Literacy connection: I served as the Kendall County Ag in the Classroom Coordinator for 11 years. While I loved it, I missed working with high school students and being an FFA ...read more
September 20th, 2022
It’s been nearly 25 years since Prairie State Winery began making wine. They were the first commercial winery in DeKalb County.
Prairie State Winery was established in 1998, a time when there were very few wineries in Illinois. They were number 16. Now there are about 165 wineries in the prairie ...read more
August 18th, 2022
Teaching
Schools: Southeast Elementary, SycamoreGrades: 3rdSubjects: AllNumber of years teaching: 15Farm Bureau/Ag Literacy connection: I love participating in the Ag in the Classroom presentations each year and have enjoyed completing the Summer Ag Institute for teachers several times.What is your favorite unit to teach? My favorite unit is our Mystery Science ...read more
August 18th, 2022
My name is Ava Splear and I am currently studying Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications (ALEC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and minoring in Public Relations.
I’ve held the position of the Agricultural Literacy/Communications Intern at DeKalb County Farm Bureau this summer and last summer! I’m pleased that the skills ...read more
August 18th, 2022
Have you ever heard someone say, “Education sure has changed since I was a kid?” or “That’s not the way we did math when I was in school?”
It’s true education has changed a great deal in the 144 years that Old North Grove School has been standing, on its original ...read more
August 18th, 2022
The DeKalb County Farm Bureau Foundation is reaping the benefits of the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program of Bayer thanks to two local farmers.
Colleen Hogan Marshall, DeKalb farmer, and Ken Stark, Malta farmer, directed $5,000 each from the Bayer Fund to the Foundation for Ag in the Classroom and other ...read more
August 18th, 2022
Sycamore has had a long-standing tradition of providing students with a robust agriculture education.
Starting in 1929 the program commenced after the charter of the National FFA Organization.
Since then Sycamore has seen much success in all areas of agriculture education. The program has countless section, district and state winners in proficiency ...read more
August 17th, 2022
The Schweitzer women personify the spirit of education with generations of teachers
Mary (Gregurich) Schweitzer
Mary (Gregurich) Schweitzer chose to be a teacher based on the advice of her big sister in college. “She told me that teaching was something you could always fall back on,” stated Mary, “and it ended up ...read more
August 17th, 2022
Looking back at rural education with schoolteachers from farm families
At the turn of the century the number of one-room country schools dotted the countryside. Each of DeKalb County’s 19 townships had between 3-12 schools. Teachers were in high demand to educate rural youth from first through eighth grades all under ...read more
August 16th, 2022
The DeKalb County Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture recently awarded 19 scholarships to deserving college students of Farm Bureau families.
The Foundation congratulates these students receiving the Ag Discipline, DeKalb Ag Scholarship, Raymond & Frances Katz Ag Scholarship, Leonard & Vivian Nelson Ag Scholarship, Orville A. Olson Ag Scholarship, Bob & ...read more