In this issue of our BCAITC Teacher Champion series, we profile BC teacher Carmen Lucich. Discover her passion for educating students about BC agriculture, food, and the environment.

What school do you teach? A: I teach at Cawston Primary School in Cawston, BC.

What grade(s) do you teach? A: I teach grade 1/2.

How and when did you first learn about BCAITC? A: I learned about BCAITC at a Professional Development Day Farm Tour in the lower mainland in August 2022. It was the best professional development experience!

How long have you been teaching students about BC agriculture and food?  A: I have been teaching about BC agriculture and food for approximately 20 years.  Over my years of teaching, I have shared my love of cooking with local food with my classroom.  During apple season every year, I take my class to visit local apple orchards and teach the class how to make apple crumble using local produce.  I am lucky to teach here in Cawston because we have many local farms within walking distance.  

What are the most important things that you want your students to learn about BC agriculture and food?  A: I want my students to love local food as much as I do. It is important for me to introduce BC vegetables to students in hopes that they will want to eat and cook with BC vegetables. Also, I want to show students that there are many job opportunities in the valley in the agriculture industry.  

BCAITC has over 500 free downloadable resources including lesson plans, activities, videos, recipes, and more! What is your favourite BCAITC resource and why? A: I like the lesson plans available with the Spuds in Tubs program.  I have shown my students many of the BCAITC spotlight and farm tour videos and they particularly liked the BC Greenhouse farm tour video. My students recognized the packaging bags from the video that the peppers were being packed in, as peppers they see at the grocery store have the same packaging.  

What is your favourite BCAITC program and why? A: I really enjoy all the BCAITC has to offer.  I have attended a few of the professional development events and learned something new every time. Also, Spuds in Tubs is a really fun project to do with students in the classroom.

Describe an agriculture or food-based project/program you have implemented in your classroom/school recently.  A: Last year my class participated in Spuds in Tubs and my students loved being part of the program. This fall my school was involved in the vegetable fundraiser program that was very successful. At present, with my class, I am planning out what vegetables we are going to plant using last year's spuds in tubs containers.   

Do you have any advice for other educators on how to integrate agriculture and food education into their curriculum? A: I recommend starting with the videos on BCAITC. I found the videos as a great way to learn about BC’s agriculture and careers in the agriculture industry. Visit local farms big or small! I recently took my students on farm visit to Honest Food Farms in Cawston. In previous years we have visited this farm during a variety of times of the year to experience and learn what happens on the farm. It is therapeutic to dig in the dirt!

About the Teacher Champion Series: This monthly BCAITC series features BC teachers and school staff who are passionate about providing agriculture and food education to K-12 students. For more information, contact BCAITC Communications Coordinator, communications@aitc.ca.