Jessica M. Jones wins DuPont 2015 George Washington Carver AgriSCIENCE Teacher’s Award.
Jessica M. Jones, agriscience teacher at Chatham Middle School in Chatham, Va., receives the George Washington Carver AgriSCIENCE Teacher’s Award from DuPont in recognition of teaching excellence. The award recognizes the top-ranking member of the DuPont National AgriScience Teacher Ambassador Academy (NATAA) who demonstrates and advocates inquiry-based science teaching and inspires students to pursue science excellence. Jones receives the award at the National Science Teachers Association’s (NSTA) national conference, March 12-15 in Chicago, Ill.A 2010 graduate of NATAA, Jones joined Chatham Middle School in 2007. She mentors more than 500 students each year in Future Farmers of America (FFA). She is the 2015 Virginia Association for Career & Technical Education Teacher of the Year and first runner-up for the 2015 National American Farm Bureau Federation Excellence in Agriculture Award. She is first recipient of the Dr. Glenn Anderson Award presented by the Virginia Association of Agricultural Educators. Jones holds a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Horticulture and Leadership & Social Change, and a B.S. in Education with an emphasis in Agricultural Education from Virginia Tech. She holds a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and is working on her doctorate in Leadership Studies at Lynchburg College in Virginia
“My teaching philosophy is to be challenging and relevant through what I call ‘flearning’ – fun and engaged learning,” says Jones. “I incorporate science inquiry as a way to reach learning goals and objectives. Students investigate various components, find a direct result and apply findings making the inquiry real. I look at problem solving through the student’s vantage and hopefully instill passion as well as the education needed to carry these skills beyond the classroom in order to be universal, productive citizens of our global community.”
As the 2015 George Washington Carver AgriSCIENCE award winner, Jones receives a $2,500 personal award and Chatham’s agriscience department receives a $2,500 grant for classroom resources and equipment. In addition, she receives expense-paid trips to NSTA and the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) 2015 national conferences held in Chicago, Ill., and New Orleans, La., respectively.
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