ELWELL NAMED 2006 AGRICULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Eric Elwell, a vocational agriculture teacher and farm manager at the Connecticut Junior Republic (CJR) in Litchfield, has been named the Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher of the Year by the Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation.

The Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher of the Year is an award that is made annually to honor a teacher who incorporates agriculture into their daily lesson plans, while improving the educational opportunities for their students. 

Elwell has been a teacher and farm manager at the Connecticut Junior Republic, an organization that provides residential and community-based care, treatment and education programs for at-risk and troubled youth, since 1992.

At the Junior Republic, Elwell uses agriculture to teach his students many life lessons that will help them become productive, fulfilled adults.  He is quick to point out that agriculture education has been an important part of the Junior Republic’s culture since it was founded in 1904, through the bequest of a Litchfield woman.  Miss Mary Buel bequeathed her farmhouse, more than 150 acres of land and some funds, to create a haven for troubled and wayward boys.  According to Elwell, CJR students have enjoyed the benefits of agriculture education – both formal and informal – ever since.  

Today, agriculture is one of seven vocational areas that boys elect to study at the Junior Republic in addition to their academic classes.  Elwell admits to having something of a bias in terms of the benefits that he feels can be imparted to a student through agricultural studies, but is modest about his role in the transformations that take place in his students.   

“The farm experience builds better people,” Elwell said recently.  “It can be especially valuable with our students,” he continued, “as it develops compassion and a capacity for caring that you don’t see initially,” he said.  “Farming enables our students to develop into people they never thought they could be,” he stated.   Elwell uses the farm program at CJR to teach boys the importance of trust, respect and teamwork, commitment, a strong work ethic and responsibility.  He believes that caring for animals helps his students discover these qualities in themselves.  

Elwell’s supervisor, CJR Director of Education, James K. Obst, was very pleased to hear of the award.  “Eric Elwell is not only a mentor to our students,” he stated, “but also a mentor to his colleagues.”

The Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation presented this award to Eric Elwell on June 21, and at the Agriculture in the Classroom National Conference in Atlantic City, June 20 - 24.  The Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation is a (501) (c)(3) charitable organization that raises funds to increase agricultural literacy in Connecticut.