VIDBE-Q 2025 Volume 70 Issue 3
After learning more about the students' projects, I wanted to know more about
Ms. Mitchell and her program. Ms. Mitchell had an agriculture background
working with chickens, goats, and horses. She was a middle school science teacher
when her friend, Ms. Rachel Chastain, at the Helen Keller School made her aware
of a retirement happening in the AG program at ASB. Ms. Chastain thought of Ms.
Mitchell and encouraged her to apply. Ms. Mitchell commented that she had no
idea of what it would be like teaching agriculture to students with visual
impairments and was intimidated at first but was excited to have the opportunity to
make a change in the lives of those with visual impairments. With a willing
attitude toward learning and her passion for agriculture, Ms. Mitchell became the
next agriculture teacher at ASB. She had to take additional certification exams, get
an additional master's degree in teaching students with visual impairments, and
became a 4-H volunteer, all in order to ensure that she was properly credentialed
and ready to teach at ASB. She was blessed with supportive administrators and an
experienced teacher's aide, Judy Barber, to help her transition to the new position.
She says she could not have done everything she has done without the support of
her admins, aide, coworkers, and fellow agriscience teachers at the other AIDB
campuses.
At ASB, students are fully immersed in agricultural experiences in both the
classroom and a working farm, the Joe Tom Armbrester Agricultural Center, that
