Margaret Shelton Wins Agricultural Educator Award

Margaret Shelton, agricultural educator at Pickens County Career & Technology Center in Liberty, S.C., has been selected as the 2012 South Carolina winner of the Outstanding Young Member award given by the National Association of Agricultural Educators.

This is Shelton's second accolade this summer. She was one of only 48 agriscience teachers selected to attend the  this summer.

Outstanding Young Member award winners are agricultural educators who have been teaching for no more than six years and who have demonstrated significant progress toward establishing a successful agricultural education program. Applicants are judged on a variety of criteria, including teaching philosophy, effective classroom and experiential instruction, development of partnerships, and professional growth.

The Outstanding Young Member award was created to encourage early career agriculture teachers to both remain in the profession and become active members in their professional association. Shelton will compete against Outstanding Young Member award winners from surrounding states for the opportunity to be named the 2012 Region V NAAE Outstanding Young Member. Regional winners will receive a plaque and an expense paid trip to attend the 2012 NAAE convention, as well as an invitation to a special awards dinner held in their honor.

The NAAE Outstanding Young Member award program is sponsored by John Deere as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

NAAE is the professional organization in the United States for agricultural educators. It provides its’ nearly 8,000 members with professional networking and development opportunities, professional liability coverage, and extensive awards and recognition programs. The mission of NAAE is “professionals providing agricultural education for the global community through visionary leadership, advocacy and service.” The NAAE headquarters are in Lexington, Ky.