Ag in Classroom honors teachers, principal

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — A school principal and two teachers were honored by the Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom program for their efforts.

Erikka Coletta, librarian and interventionist at Maple Elementary School in Loves Park, was named the 2026 IAITC Teacher of the Year.

She will be the state’s nominee for the National AITC Award of Excellence and join IAITC at the National AITC Conference in June in Providence, Rhode Island. She will also be recognized at Illinois Farm Bureau’s annual meeting next month in Chicago.

Coletta’s projects include adopt-a-cow through the Discovery Dairy that includes a field trip to a dairy farm, and she is grateful to IAITC for providing resources, guidance and funding to support her agriculture programs.

Erin Parks of Carrier Mills-Stonefort School District in Stonefort is the IAITC’s 2026 Teacher of the Year runner-up.

A sixth-grade teacher, she has inspired countless students with her passion for learning during her teaching career.

Parks looks for ways to integrate agriculture on a daily basis in her cross-curricular teaching assignment. She is also a 2026 nominee for the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s White Reinhart Award.

Karen Jones, St. Mary’s School principal in Pontiac, was selected this year’s IAITC Administrator of the Year Award honoree.

Jones often shares stories with students of raising livestock on her family farm and partners with the Livingston County Soil and Water Conservation District, Livingston County Farm Bureau and IAITC.

She also promotes the Pontiac Township High School FFA program and encourages students and staff to work with the chapter.

IAITC is a working partnership involving agriculture, agribusiness and agricultural education providing Illinois educators and students with resources that will help them understand the role of a vital agriculture sector in their lives and society.

Working in conjunction with the IAA Foundation, the program serves more than 600,000 students and 40,000 teachers at the local level each year.