Tag Archives: Oklahoma Horizon TV

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: Ag is Everywhere, Just Ask a Teacher

One hundred years ago nearly every man, woman and child had to be involved in growing the food and fiber he or she needed simply to survive. Today only about two percent of the American population grows all we need, leaving the rest of us to grow in other areas: in medical advancement, communication and information technology, space exploration, the arts and much more.

Most of us are three or four generations removed from the farm, but all of us depend on agriculture. Tomorrow’s leaders must be agriculturally-literate to protect and preserve the advantages we gain from a strong agriculture. Building that essential literacy is the purpose of Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom.

The Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom curriculum features lessons for grades pre-K-8. The lessons use agricultural topics and ag-related activities to reinforce core skills in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Visual Arts and Music. Most of the lessons are interdisciplinary and teach many of the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Priority Academic Student Skills (P.A.S.S). On top of that, they’re really fun lessons. In some ways, I wish I would have had Ag in the Classroom when I was going to school. It might have made learning more enjoyable.

Now there are even programs designed for teachers so they can learn how to better teach using the curriculum and also demonstrate agricultural practices to their students. Each teacher has her/his own approach to teaching but some are more creative than others and are able to make learning about agriculture fun and exciting every day for their students.

In this week’s video blog, meet Shirley Lettkeman, this year’s “Ag in the Classroom” Teacher of the Year who you can tell is very dedicated about letting her students know where their food comes from.
~ Alisa Hines

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: Greatest Generation

I was born late in life to my parents, so many of the stories I heard growing up where the same depression era stories my friends grandparents told. Even as a child I was fascinated by the toughness of parents generation; first they struggled through the dustbowl of the 30’s, only to fight a world war in the 40’s. So when I had the chance to sit down with 89 year old Jack Givens I jumped at the chance to talk about his life.

Born outside of Mangum, Givens remembers the black blizzards of the dustbowl that blotted out the sun. His college days at Oklahoma A&M where interrupted by Pearl Harbor. In ROTC, given was off to officer candidate school, only to find himself on the beaches of Normandy in June of 1944. Givens likes to say he walked and crawled across Europe dodging bullets. What he is reluctant to tell you in doing so he earned 3 purple hearts and a bronze star.

After the war Givens found his way back home to run a family farm. His operations grew and so did his success. So much he was inducted into Oklahoma’s Ag Hall of Fame by Governor Fallin.

At 89 his mind is sharp and health remarkable. While we were shooting our story with him, I had to ask to ask him to slow down when we were doing our “walking” shots because he kept speeding out of frame.
In this week’s video blog I want to give you just a glimpse into a life I believe is well lived.
Rob McClendon

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: They’re Just Like Us

On my recent trip to Ireland with the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program (OALP), we visited many farms around this small island nation. What we discovered was, they’re not all that different than farms back home in Oklahoma. They have many of the same concerns we have, government mandates, subsidies, production values, etc., only in some cases, they deal with much more than we do. I overheard one of my classmates saying, after coming here, I won’t complain about the mandates we have to deal with, they’re much, much less stringent than in Europe.

We were also able to see a lot of diversification from dairy farming to vegetable farming to sheep farming and also some of the problems that they have been dealing with for years. In this week’s video blog, travel to Ireland with OALP and see what we saw and learned when it comes to Irish farming.
~ Alisa Hines

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: 40 Shades of Green

I recently went with the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program on their international trip to Scotland and Ireland. Oh how beautiful it was. In Ireland, when they say forty shades of green, they mean it. It’s green everywhere! And like Oklahoma, Spring arrived early just in time for our visit.

While there, we not only visited farms and ranches to see how agriculture is done outside the U.S., we also had opportunities to see some of the sites. In this week’s video blog, we take you to Ireland to see how these Oklahoman’s had a little bit of fun in the Emerald Isle.
Alisa Hines

Oklahoma Horizon TV, Travel

On the Horizon: What an Experience!

I’ve been a member of the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program for the past eighteen months. We have traveled all over Oklahoma and experienced all types of agriculture…from cotton in the Southwest to Mushrooms in the Northeast. Agriculture is still big business here, although only about two percent of the population actually works in the agriculture industry.

At the end of the program, there is an international trip taken to show Oklahomans how agriculture is managed outside of the U.S. It’s held in a different location each time and this year we had the opportunity to go to Scotland and Ireland. I have to say, I was really excited when I found out where we were going. I have always wanted to visit both countries.

I wasn’t disappointed. Both countries are absolutely beautiful! I was afraid that when we went in the later part of February, it would be gray and dreary and not very pretty kind of like it is here in Oklahoma in the Winter. Boy was I mistaken! While it was cold, it wasn’t gray and dreary (okay the weather was a lot of the time but not the scenery). It was quite green. Scotland not as much as Ireland, but green enough.

In this week’s video blog, see what Scotland was like for twenty-five Oklahomans including myself.
Alisa Hines