MANHATTAN, Kan. – July 2, 2026 – The National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization (NAITCO) has selected Kelsy Sproul, a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Kansas State University, as the recipient of its 2026 CoBank Partnership in Agricultural Literacy (PAL) Award.
Kelsy Sproul’s work exemplifies the mission of NAITCO through a sustained and evolving partnership with the Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (KFAC). As a kindergarten teacher, Sproul initially partnered with KFAC to integrate agriculture into her classroom. She began aligning reading and writing instruction with agriculture-related content. This approach increased student engagement and improved literacy outcomes by enabling students to connect academic skills to familiar contexts. Seeking to deepen this impact, Sproul attended a KFAC professional development workshop and developed a year-long kindergarten curriculum that utilizes National Agricultural Literacy Outcomes (NALOs) as the unifying context for core learning.
Following the success in her own classroom, Sproul volunteered to expand agricultural literacy programming to serve all 200 K-5 students in her district. Using KFAC and NAITCO resources aligned with NALOs, she implemented developmentally appropriate agricultural instruction while maintaining a strong emphasis on literacy. Sproul further strengthened agricultural literacy by building partnerships within her local community. She hosted hands-on learning experiences such as “A Day at the Ranch,” invited agricultural leaders and youth advocates into classrooms, and collaborated with the local agriculture teacher to implement FFA Pals, a cross-age mentoring program that connected younger students with FFA members and agricultural opportunities.
To enhance learning opportunities, Sproul secured funding through the national Rural Schools Collaborative as the Kansas Grants in Place Fellow. This support enabled her to create highly visible literacy-agriculture installations featuring root viewers and vocabulary-rich storytelling displays, reinforcing agricultural concepts and academic language throughout the school. Grant funds also supported a fifth-grade field experience to the Flint Hills Discovery Center, connecting students to regional agricultural practices and environmental stewardship.
Sproul’s impact and collaboration with KFAC were recognized when she was selected as 2026 KFAC Teacher of the Year, which led to her participation in the NAITCO Conference. There, she identified a gap in agricultural education: while agriculture is often used for STEM and social studies, it is rarely leveraged to support English Language Arts (ELA). This insight led her to pursue graduate studies at Kansas State University (KSU) and to collaborate with KFAC as the lead designer of a literacy-focused agricultural micro-curriculum, Growing Readers.
In her current role as a at Kansas State University as a graduate teaching assistant, Sproul initiated a 3-phase project that included strengthening KFAC partnerships with Kansas Farm Bureau, the KSU Colleges of Education and Agriculture, the KSU Rural Education Center, the Kansas and United States Departments of Agriculture, KSU Research and Extension, and other community partners, the design of a microcurriculum, Growing Readers, and a research study to measure the impact of using the microcurriculum. By coordinating authors, educators, publishers, and funders, she has helped create sustainable, accessible resources that will be hosted on the KFAC website and used by educators nationwide—ensuring long-term impact on agricultural literacy through PreK–12 education.
“Kelsy Sproul is a passionate advocate, effective partner, and trusted leader in agricultural literacy. Her work has already influenced thousands of educators and students, and her commitment to collaboration ensures her impact will continue to grow.” NAITCO President, Kevin Daugherty said.
“Kelsy plays a pivotal role in engaging educators with KFAC and NAITCO resources, introducing agricultural literacy to teachers who may not have previously recognized its relevance within their content areas. She serves as both an advocate and a connector—strengthening partnerships among educators, institutions, and community stakeholders.” said Nancy Zenger-Beneda, Executive Director of Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom.
“Kelsy’s dedication to advancing agricultural literacy is truly inspiring. Her innovative approach to integrating agriculture into literacy instruction for students across Kansas and beyond reflects the very spirit of this award. CoBank is proud to honor Kelsy for her leadership, creativity, and lasting impact on agricultural education,” said Leslie Hagele, CoBank Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Kelsy will be honored at the 2026 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference “Illuminating Agriculture,” taking place June 22-25, 2026 in Providence, Rhode Island.
CoBank is a cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing, and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water, and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving almost 80,000 farmers, ranchers, and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country. CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered to support the borrowing needs of U.S. agriculture, rural infrastructure, and rural communities. Headquartered outside Denver, Colorado, CoBank serves customers from regional banking centers across the U.S. and also maintains an international representative office in Singapore.
NAITCO is a non-profit organization representing Agriculture in the Classroom programs in most of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Its mission is to educate PreK through 12th grade teachers and students about the importance of agriculture by providing them with web-based materials, workshops, and awards programs that demonstrate how agriculture can be used to effectively teach core subject areas. To learn more about NAITCO, please visit agclassroom.org.
For more information, contact Andy Guffey with NAITCO at [email protected] or Briana Jacobus with KFAC at [email protected].
