Walker teacher Eva Manzke honored by farm bureau

By Carol McGowan

School District 104 teacher Eva Manzke was recently honored by the Cook County Farm Bureau for her work with teaching students about agriculture.

Students at Walker Elementary in Bedford Park, and Manzke herself were surprised when Principal Amanda Venegonia said they were gathered to honor Manzke, as she had been selected as the 2022 Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher of the Year Runner-up.

Manzke incorporates agriculture in anything she can with her third-grade students and others.

From urban agriculture and hydroponics to livestock and crop production, Manzke finds ways to include agriculture in her teaching to make it fun.

What this honor as runner-up means, is that she will be the Illinois nominee for the 2022 American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture White-Reinhardt Scholarship.

“The scholarship will help me to attend their annual conference this summer. This year it is being held in New York. If my parents were alive, they would be so proud.”

In its December 2021 publication of the CO-OPERATOR, the Cook County Farm Bureau says it’s proud to have worked with Manzke on many ag literacy efforts over the past years by having her classrooms attend Ag Day events, partnering with Young Leaders to be their Adopted Classroom, by her attending the National AITC Conference in Little Rock, and through her regular use of ag literacy resources such as books, grants, Ag Mags, and being a partner with their our new Lunch & Library Grant Program.

“In a nutshell, I was awarded the honor for the whole state of Illinois,” said Manzke. “It is usually unheard of that an urban or suburban teacher wins. It is usually for teachers south that live near or on farms.”

“I had no idea I won until they actually came to school. I was genuinely surprised.”