Kathleen Middle Earns Top Honors in Polk County
by SHAYLYNN MARKS
Congratulations to Kathleen Middle School for earning the designation of 2024 Polk County Farm Bureau Agriculture Program of the Year!
At Kathleen Middle, the award marks a milestone moment for agriculture teacher Julianne Ream, who has spent the past three years growing a dynamic and deeply hands-on FFA program. Under her leadership, students are not only connecting with agriculture — they’re thriving in it.
Receiving the Agriculture Program of the Year award was a humbling moment.
“It was just a really cool, full-circle moment of like, oh wow, I really am having an impact,” Ream says. “It was really cool to get that award and that recognition and see how far this program has grown in three years, and not just from my hard work, but the kids’ too.”
Jessica Anderson, Assistant Director of Agriculture for Polk County Public Schools, praised Ream’s work and the spirit she brings to Kathleen Middle’s program.
“Mrs. Ream has taken on the Kathleen Middle School program and made tremendous strides in bringing a sense of community and pride to the KMS FFA chapter,” Anderson says. “Her dedication to her students, willingness to go the extra mile, and positive attitude to work through any challenges have helped to instill similar values in the students she teaches every day.”
Falling In Love With Ag
Ream didn’t come from a farming background.
“I grew up in a subdivision-filled area,” she said. “I joined ag in sixth grade but got really involved in seventh grade.”
By high school, she had found her calling.
“I loved that my ag teachers pushed me and got me involved in it. I wanted to do the same for other kids,” she says.
Today, she brings that same encouragement and sense of belonging into her own classroom.
“There’s a place for everybody in ag,” Ream says. “Whether it’s showing an animal or getting involved in a competition, I feel like there’s a place for them and there’s somewhere they can make a connection.”
The Secret to Her Success
Respect, she believes, plays a big role in that connection.
“Teachers and authority figures come in and demand respect from these kids, but as an adult, I know it’s hard to show respect to somebody if I’m not also given respect,” she says. “I try to give that same courtesy to my kids, and I feel like that gives a lot more openness in the classroom for them to know that I respect them and who they are.”
That mutual respect and relationship-building has helped the FFA program flourish into a space where students feel empowered to get involved and explore opportunities. For Earth Day, Ream took her students outside to explore environmental topics in action.
“A lot of them didn’t even know it was Earth Day,” she says. “So getting to teach them what Earth Day is and protecting our Earth and the animals and plants on it was great — to take them out of the classroom and get them involved.”
The Right Tools
The program’s 36-acre land lab is one of its best features.
“This is the second year we had a chapter heifer, and we had some students who took care of her and took her to different shows,” Ream says.
“We have an eight-pen concrete pig barn, a chicken coop with 16 chickens, a goat barn with two goats, and a greenhouse. This year, we were awarded the Living to Serve grant from FFA. So, we got a shade house this year as well as we have some raised bed gardens.”
Looking ahead, Ream hopes to deepen student involvement even further.
“I think my biggest goal for next year is to get some even bigger involvement with just our regular FFA members, not just our officers,” she says. “I would love in the coming years to just really see some more growth in our CDEs and LDEs, and getting our feet in the water some more.”
“Her program has had great success this year,” Anderson says, “and we look forward to continuing to see outstanding achievements by the Kathleen Middle FFA program.”
She adds, “I am proud to have her as part of the Polk County Agricultural Educator family.”
With Ream’s leadership, a thriving land lab, and students eager to grow, Kathleen Middle’s FFA chapter is setting a high bar for agricultural education in Polk County.