Sun Prairie, Wis., (January 11, 2024) – Compeer Financial’s Fund for Rural America has awarded $50,000 to the School for Agricultural and Environmental Studies (SAGES) to expand their agriculture-based research plots, school gardens and add food animals to their project and place-based learning model.
This grant supports innovative programs that encompass four qualities:
Mission: Aligns with Compeer Financial’s mission, enriching agriculture and rural communities
Opportunity: Provides a new opportunity for clients or future clients, fills a known void in agricultural and rural markets and is a new and innovative project
Replication: Can be replicated by others to serve different geographic areas, fostering future collaboration
Evolution: Evolves over time to create a better future for agriculture and rural America SAGES, located in Fox Lake, is a public charter school that partners with the Waupun Area School District. The 4K through sixth grade school has implemented a multi-phase program for agricultural education titled “Growing, Raising and Enriching our Future.”
The school will use the funds for research plots, implementing food animals, expanding school gardens, creating grade-specific agricultural businesses and procuring supplies. The grant enables the school to continue its vision for agricultural education programs. Agriculture classes are part of the curriculum at all grade levels. “The future agricultural career opportunities are endless,” said Kim Pokorny, agriculture science teacher at SAGES. “From farming to finance to agronomy to technology to food service and everything in between, we need to prepare the next generation of agricultural leaders and consumers. By providing exposure, hands-on learning opportunities and experiences, students
can build upon their agricultural interests at the elementary school level. That is exactly what we are doing at SAGES.” Compeer team members were introduced to SAGES through the Beaver Dam Area Community Foundation. The community foundation believed in the mission and education at SAGES aligned with Compeer’s support. Team members at Compeer refer organizations in their community to apply for the MORE for Ag Grant. Since 2019, nearly $1 million has been awarded to 23 organizations. “SAGES does an amazing job of incorporating agriculture in all aspects of the students’ education,” said Karen Schieler, senior corporate giving specialist at Compeer. “Concepts of math, science, physical education all can have a connection to agriculture. The goal of the MORE for Agriculture grant is to partner with organizations who are innovators in the world of
agriculture. SAGES is providing this immersive program to students, which gives students a deeper appreciation for ag, and those students could be the next innovators in our field.”
