Farm Credit East Provides Scholarships to Support Agricultural Education

Enfield, Conn. — Farm Credit East recently awarded $33,000 in scholarships to support 22 Northeast educators’ attendance at Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) institutes this summer. CASE institutes provide educators with training and resources to teach CASE curriculum courses to high school students.

CASE is a project of the National Association of Agricultural Educators. CASE courses integrate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts with hands-on, inquiry-based learning. Teacher recipients will be attending various CASE institutes, including the Introduction to Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (AFNR), Food Science and Safety, Plant Science, Animal Science and Agricultural Power and Technology. 

The teachers receiving scholarships include:

• Annaliese Castellini, Vineland High School, NJ
• Tracey Dahlhaus, Elba Central School District, NY
• Owen Donnelly, North Warren Regional School District, NJ
• Brooklin Drake, Cambridge Central School, NY
• Olivia Drum, Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School, NY
• Madison Dunbar, Schoharie Central School District, NY
• Julia Hudyncia, Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville Central School District, NY
• Rayne Ives, Remsen Central School, NY
• Jacqueline Jurek, Genesee Valley BOCES, NY
• Madeline Keyes, Royalton Hartland Middle School, NY
• MacKenzie Lawrence, Rondout Valley Central School District, NY
• Shazel Muhammad, African Link Initiative, NJ
• Justin Naylor, North Burlington County Regional High School, NJ
• Jeffrey Parnapy, Byron-Bergen Central Schools, NY
• Patricia Parsons, South Seneca Central School District, NY
• Krystal Perrotti, Taconic Hills High School, NY
• Alyssa Roorda, Holland Patent Middle School, NY
• Samantha Sforza, Jericho High School, NY
• Nicole Sickler, Pedricktown, NJ
• Renee Stillwell, Hunterdon County Academies, NJ
• Bethanie Sundlin, Passaic County Technical Vocational School, NJ
• Carol Wright, Canton Central School, NY

Since 2009, CASE has certified more than 3,000 teachers, including more than 300 teachers from the Northeast states Farm Credit East serves. Since Farm Credit East began its educator scholarship in conjunction with the cooperative’s centennial in 2016, it has provided nearly $200,000 in scholarships to support these educators’ endeavors to prepare the next generation of agriculture. To further support CASE’s important mission, Farm Credit East helped CASE develop the agribusiness curriculum first utilized in 2019, and supported a recent update to this important curriculum released in 2024.

For agricultural educators interested in attending a future CASE institute, including the revamped agribusiness curriculum, visit CASE4learning.org. Stay tuned to FarmCreditEast.com in late fall for more information on Farm Credit East scholarships to support attendance at next year’s institutes.

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