BERRY ADDRESSES NATIONAL AG EDUCATORS CONFERENCE
COLUMBIA, SC…Blake Berry, agricultural education instructor and FFA advisor at Pendleton High School, recently conducted two professional development workshops for participants attending the National Association of Agricultural Educators conference and others attending the National Association of Career and Technical Education conference held simultaneously in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to John W. Parris, state director of public affairs with the SC FFA organization.
Berry addressed both groups on the subject of “Developing a Successful School Garden” sharing how he utilizes gardens as “tools of learning” in the Agri-science curriculum and explained that the land laboratory provides an exciting learning environment for students. He told the conferees how each student is assigned a plot of land where they experience training in pre-garden activities, soil science, plant anatomy, gardening methods, garden management, integrated pest management, variety selection and food production.
“The curriculum and lesson plans being used by Mr. Berry at Pendleton High School were created by him when he was a graduate student at Clemson University involved with the SC School Garden Project,” Mr. Parris said.
Berry, a native of Fountain Inn, SC, served as president of the SC FFA Association and was the first recipient of the State FFA Star in Agribusiness. He received BS and Master’s Degrees in Agricultural Education from Clemson University.