OCONTO – As the general public’s change into additional faraway from agriculture through the years, David Lee Schneider is targeted on closing that distance for the scholars of 1 space faculty district.
There’s little that’s extra essential, the Oconto man argues.
“Educating our youth about agriculture — the place our meals comes from, how it’s grown, and the dietary worth of the meals from all 5 meals teams — is significant for the survival of future generations,” he stated.
In recognition of his efforts, Schneider was just lately honored as considered one of two AmeriCorps Members of the Year on the 2022 Governor’s Service Awards.
The awards are organized by Serve Wisconsin, the state board accountable for supporting the work of AmeriCorps packages and selling volunteerism all through the state.
Schneider serves AmeriCorps as a Farm to School Educational Specialist for the Howard-Suamico School District.
While his objectives are easy — offering meals and instructing others how to feed themselves — Schneider’s effort has been something however.
Since becoming a member of this system in February 2021, Schneider usually visited all 9 colleges and 5 day care facilities within the district as a visitor speaker to clarify agriculture, farming and diet.
Sometimes he takes college students on farm discipline journeys, resembling to a dairy farm. In different weeks, he might do seminars for courses on three consecutive days to cowl all 5 meals teams. Students of all ages will assist backyard, with highschool college students additionally elevating chickens. He additionally speaks to culinary arts courses.
“Jumping into his first term of service in the middle of the school year during the COVID-19 pandemic, David taught nutrition education to over 500 Howard/Suamico School District students through in-person and virtual learning,” in accordance to the abstract highlighting the explanations he was chosen for the award. “This year, David has taught hundreds more students.”
In the spring of 2021, Schneider cleaned up overgrown fields filled with rocks, rubble, tall grasses and branches on a 10-acre plot the district transformed into a college farm that beforehand had small yields.
He then labored with six courses of summer season faculty college students to plant their faculty backyard, now often called Inspiration Acres.
“David and his students grew 31 different varieties of crops and he was able to harvest over 2,700 pounds of produce (last) fall for use by the school nutrition program,” the abstract states.
In the abstract, Howard-Suamico Director of School Nutrition Laura Rowell stated Schneider “has shown off his blood, sweat and tears” all through the district.
“He never disappoints and always carries a smile,” she stated. “I am beyond proud of him and thankful for his hard work and commitment to not only farm-to-school efforts through AmeriCorps programming, but as a beacon of hope for the future of agriculture in Wisconsin.”
Schneider credited each Rowell and Kara Ignasiak, the state director of AmeriCorps Farm to School Program, for their assist in receiving the award.
“School systems and schools don’t have agriculture in the classroom anymore, so the AmeriCorps Farm to School program really closes that gap,” Schneider stated. “It’s a really nice program to educate the kids.”
Since the program was launched in 2008 by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, the Trade & Consumer Protection, tens of thousands of students have benefited. After the program transitioned to the Department of Public Instruction in 2017, AmeriCorps members have served nearly 75,000 hours.
Schneider, 55, who operates Schneider Family Farms Red Angus Ranch, said he’s trying to rebuild the direct relationship with agriculture their ancestors had.
“I bring as much of the farm as I can to the school, he said. “I bring it right to them, they actually see it … a live calf, or a live chicken, or live pig. Agriculture is the base of all societies … so the more they learn about that, the better, in my eyes.”
Schneider is within the second of his one-year contracts with AmeriCorps, which offer residing allowance and educational awards, and plans to serve his most 4 contracts.
At the identical time, he’s engaged on a grasp’s diploma in agriculture from Colorado State University, which Schneider stated he expects to full by the point his AmeriCorps service ends.
Schneider additionally takes time to promote the Wisconsin Local Foods Database, which was launched in 2021 by the AmeriCorps Farm to School Program to join native farmers and faculty meals service administrators.
The database comprises detailed data on farms all through Wisconsin to assist faculty diet administrators or group members simply discover and keep partnerships with native farm companies, Schneider stated. The database additionally comprises contact data for colleges wanting to buy Wisconsin merchandise, so farmers and ranchers can attain out to faculty meals service administrators straight.
Farmers can join to be part of the database at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYUdca47_S2SrRhS45FNKWaUXlAhVrxqZOG_0aBJnc97Eqew/viewform?usp=sf_link
School meals service administrators can join to be part of the database at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeWINYERAYT_Q2qNYVocscsK5O4RZ6YGGYaSmLkGa0pFcNyCw/viewform?usp=sf_link
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Contact Kent Tempus at (920) 431-8226 or ktempus@gannett.com.