2025 NAITCO Conference Scholarship

The Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) Foundation wants to support Minnesota K-12 educators’ participation in the 2025 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in Minneapolis, June 23-26, 2025. This conference is the premier professional development opportunity focused on teaching through a lens of food and agriculture.

Twenty - five teachers from across Minnesota will be selected and supported by the MAITC Foundation with a full conference scholarship. This conference will bring together teachers from across the country to learn from agriculture-focused tours, skilled presenters, engaging keynote speakers, and from one another.

The goal of this scholarship program is to support Minnesota teachers in their agriculture and food system education endeavors, while building their network of educational colleagues who are also using food and agriculture in their curriculum. We aim to empower K-12 educators to infuse agriculture in their curricula to grow agricultural literacy.

Scholarship includes

• Conference registration
• Lodging for three nights at the conference site (Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis)

Timeline

• December 15, 2024: Applications are due.
• December 15- January 15: Applications are reviewed, and scholarship recipients determined.
• February 1, 2025: Scholarship winners are announced.
• March 15, 2025: Scholarship winners hotel reservation and registration finalized.
• June 23-26, 2025: Attend Conference
• July 2025- June 2026: Participate in scholarship cohort community.

Expectations of Scholarship Recipients

• Attend focus group from 4:45 - 6 p.m. on Monday June 23, 2025 (Mirage Room Hyatt Regency)
• Attend the complete conference: Tuesday, June 24, 2025 7:00 a.m. - Thursday, June 26, 2025 11:00 a.m.
• Participate in a scholarship cohort community during the 2025-26 school year. This may include virtual meet-ups, in-person experiences, and networking opportunities. These activities will be determined once the ideas and preferences of the scholarship recipients have been gathered.

Eligibility

Applicants must be:

• A Minnesota licensed K-12 teacher; any subject areas, OR a Minnesota college or university professor that teaches pre-service teachers.
  • Licensed agricultural educators are not eligible for this scholarship.
• Planning to teach in a Minnesota K-12 school or Minnesota college/university during the 2025-26 school year.
• Committed to identifying resources to integrate agriculture in core content and instruction during the formal school day.