McAuliffe Named Oregon Ag Teacher Of The Year

Congratulations to North Lake School teacher Hannah McAuliffe, earlier this fall she was named the 2024 Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Educator of the Year.  Oregon AITC said McAuliffe was selected for her integration of agriculture into core subjects.  McAuliffe said she was very honored by the award, but she noted it this career almost didn’t happen.  She noted after high school she wanted to be an Ag Teacher, and went to Oregon State University.

“Actually when I was student teaching, I didn't want to be an Ag teacher anymore. It kind of just; I didn't think it was for me. And I applied at North Lake to be a K-12 electives teacher and my past teaching partner who sadly passed away last spring, Chad Waldren, he saw that I went to school to be in Ag education and so he kind of just got me back on the track.”

Oregon AITC also noted the McAuliffe, who teaches elementary, middle- and high-school students, has cultivated an extraordinary ag education opportunity for her students.  She added having that elementary elective for agriculture makes her program unique for Oregon.

“So that's really cool to see. And I want to keep it going and I hope other schools will see that as well because it's really important for these students to be learning about agriculture as they grow up," she said.  "And our school also is the only one that I know of. Organ that has a meat lab. So we're teaching students how to butcher and all the cuts of meat. And so when they go into the real world, they can do that at home or they can get a job working for a butcher.” 

North Lake School is over an hour of southeast of Bend, in the “Oregon Outback”.

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