ATU Alumna Wins Agriculture Education Honor

Arkansas Tech University alumna Angela Kirby Jones is Arkansas Farm Bureau’s 2018 Ag in the Classroom Outstanding Teacher.

Founded in 2006, the award recognizes teachers who excel at including agricultural concepts in their instruction.

Jones, a 10th grade English teacher at Greenwood High School, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in health information management from ATU and is enrolled in the ATU Master of Education in school counseling and leadership degree program.

According to a news release from Arkansas Farm Bureau, Jones worked agricultural concepts into all of her year-long curriculum, which included the students in her English II classes reading and writing about the classic “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, along with Ruta Septeys’ New York Times bestseller “Between Shades of Gray” and agriculture-themed articles from magazines, including Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Front Porch.

“I have a special interest in agriculture and an understanding of how it affects our personal lives, the environment, the economy, our national heritage and national security,” said Jones, who with her husband, 1999 ATU graduate Cody Jones, raises chickens in four broiler houses and runs a small cow-calf operation.

By winning the Ag in the Classroom Outstanding Teacher award, Jones earned an expense-paid trip to Portland, Maine, to represent Arkansas at the National Ag in the Classroom Conference, which will be held June 26-29.

“Agriculture is easier to teach in a science or a history/social studies class,” said Arkansas Farm Bureau Senior Education Coordinator Matt Jackson. “I’m impressed at (Jones’) ability to integrate agriculture into a high school English class.”

Photographed: Arkansas Tech University alumni Cody and Angela Jones and their daughter, Hallie.