Spectrum donates $2,000, tablets to support agricultural education

“We want to make sure our students not only understand agriculture, but also energy and minerals, and outdoor skills,” Jessie Dafoe, executive director of Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom, said before accepting the donations from Spectrum Friday afternoon at a socially distanced ceremony at Frontier Park.

“We want (our students) to know our major economic drivers. We want them to have critical thinking skills. To be our decision makers in 20 years, they need to know about this today so they can solve our state’s major challenges.”

But when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools across the state last March, the nonprofit had to find new ways to reach teachers.

“When we couldn’t get in classrooms this spring, we asked, ‘What’s the need?’” Dafoe said. Her team started putting together virtual lessons called “the family learning series” that could be done at home and applied to different age groups of students. They also developed virtual workshops for teachers over the summer.

As fall rolled around, Dafoe realized they wouldn’t be able to go into schools due to COVID-19 regulations, so they again had to pivot the delivery of their program.

“That’s where Spectrum came in,” Dafoe said. “They were so gracious to donate these tablets and some funding to encourage teachers to actually use this.”

“In Wyoming, if you have key partners who can make a difference – like (Spectrum) or the Wyoming Department of Education – there’s going to be someone to help you,” she said. “It’s going to make our goals possible.”

One of the organization’s goals is to involve at least 120 classrooms in the program by the end of this school year. Longterm, it wants to involve 800 – or half of the state’s second through fifth grade classrooms – in the program.

Mike Mores, who serves as Spectrum’s senior manager of government affairs in Wyoming, said making a big donation to Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom is in line with the company’s charitable giving priorities.

“Spectrum has recognized the growing importance of broadband in our daily lives and the challenges families face when they do not have access to high-speed internet, which is particularly true for Wyoming,” Mores said. “We know that (Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom) is raising critical thinking and problem-solvers who will become stewards of our state.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, who attended the small event, said both Spectrum and Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom “are two really important legs of a stool.”

“You both support education and the next steps, but here’s where the third leg is created: You are both solving problems that will take the next generation into the future.”