Graham Local School District

Graham Local School Works With Partners to Ensure Real-Wold, Culturally Responsive, and Pathway Driven Learning Takes Place Utilizing Outdoor Education and Falcon Farms as An Incubator

Building on our current FFA and Agriculture pathway at the High School, we recognized the need to provide real world STEM learning experiences at the Elementary and Middle School levels. In order to accomplish this, we expanded the outdoor education opportunities at the Elementary and Middle Schools. A Monstanto grant was the seed money to launch the physical transformation of Falcon Farms at the Middle and High School. In partnership with Ohio Hi Point, we ensured that an Agricultural teacher was available as a viable pathway at the Middle School Level. Graham Elementary and Graham Middle Schools worked closely with Graham High School, business partners, local farmers, and scientists to better understand how to ensure that we were being culturally responsive through programming and utilizing funds in a fiscally sound manner. As Graham emphasizes the 3 E's: enlistment, enrollment, and employment, we felt that this was a natural progression to support every pathway provided. Working with STEAM teachers and industry leaders who will guide them through a series of structured Farm to Table project challenges at each grade level, students learn to take ownership of their plot, working with a project team to cultivate their farmland, learn about valuable agricultural roles and economics as they create product presentations meeting seasonal

deadlines, local partner demands, while receiving critical and celebratory feedback each quarter. Farm to Table PBL benefits local families and community partners as students products are shared via markets and through donations to restaurants, the school's food service program, and shelters, and benefits all students who participate as they learn to own their projects, own their farms, and own their future career pathways through passion projects that encourage, motivate, and inspire the students each

season. Graham's strategic plan calls for personalizing learning experiences for students and providing students voice and choice to experience their chosen STEM path with supports needed to help them achieve their goals, aligning the work of student-planned and student-led farms to our Precision Agriculture pathway, a quality program we want to expand to the middle school as we embed career paths and training through an emphasis on project and place based activities, STEAM challenges

outdoors that stimulate career dialogue and choices.