Michigan Ag in the Classroom Manager Michelle Blodgett has been honored as the Michigan Science Teachers Association’s 2022 Informal Science Educator.
Awarded March 4 at the organization’s annual conference, the recognition honors Blodgett’s “unique and extraordinary accomplishments, active leadership, scholarly contributions, and direct and substantial contributions to the improvement of non-school based science education.”
With 20 years of teaching experience in elementary and special-education classrooms in Alpena, Delta Township (Waverly) and Las Vegas, Nevada, Blodgett joined the Farm Bureau family in December 2017 to manage the original Food, Agriculture and Resources in Motion (FARM) Science Lab, which has since begat a twin.
Both labs are mobile classrooms in high demand at public schools across both Michigan peninsulas, bringing STEM-strong lessons cast in agricultural contexts.
“Michelle came in on the ground level and worked to create K-5 lessons and programming that meet state standards and gives students hands-on science learning using agriculture as the platform,” said MFB Field Operations Director Debra Schmucker in nominating Blodgett for the award.
“Michelle is an extremely talented educator with dedication, heart and sincere commitment. She puts every effort into what she does and is always looking to improve things and working on new projects.”
When the pandemic forced remote learning, Blodget helped create and distribute Farm Crates — boxed lessons with farm-tour video instruction on agricultural topics themed by month and seasonal commodities.
“We couldn’t be out with the Farm Science Lab so these materials were provided for use in both in-person and virtual classrooms,” Schmucker said. “Michelle wrote the lessons, worksheets and provided educators with connections to curriculum.”
Farm Crates were a huge hit, reaching 4,790 teachers in 267 schools.
Blodget is a graduate of Saginaw Valley State University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she earned her master’s in special education. She and her husband Steve live in Lansing.