The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Carol Montana

Tara Berescik believes in being a role model for her students. So, when the opportunity came along to apply for an award, she took it. “I tell my students that they should go for this award or that scholarship. So I’m being hypocritical if there’s one that I’m eligible for that I don’t apply for.”

And so, the nine-year agricultural sciences teacher at Tri-Valley Central School (TV) in Grahamsville finds herself the recipient of the National Outstanding Agricultural Teacher for 2009.

It’s not the first time Berescik has won an award. “In 2008 I won the New York Outstanding Agricultural Teacher Award, which is what made me eligible to win the national one. The national award is actually six winners.” The National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) chooses a winner from each region in the United States. TV is in the Northeastern Region, which encompasses 18 states. Berescik also won Outstanding New Teacher in NY in 2002 — her second year teaching.

The ag program at TV has had its share of honors, also. In 2008 it was named the Outstanding National Program, which came about because it had won against 30 other programs in New York in 2007. “We were recognized as an Outstanding National Program, too, through the National Future Farmers of America (FFA),” says Berescik. “We’ve been recognized pretty much every year for the ag program – that’s not me, that’s the students and what I do with them.”

What she does with her students is very impressive. For the past eight years, the TV FFA chapter has run the haunted house at the Giant Pumpkin Party, put on to raise funds for the Daniel Pierce Library in Grahamsville. A food drive in 2008 collected over 5000 items for area food pantries, and the ag students have worked with Sullivan Renaissance for community beautification with the program’s other teacher Robert Hayes.

“If you can’t be a member of your community, there’s no point in living in the community,” said Berescik. “Since I’ve been here – I’ve stopped adding them up – I’ve done over 10,000 hours of community service, because when the kids are in something, I’m in something. There’s no reason for us not to try to give back just as much as the community is giving to us.”

That community support is very important to the TV ag program. It includes support from parents for trips and fundraisers, from businesses for intern and work possibilities, and from fellow educators who teach the students what they need to know about math and computers and business – all of which figures into the ag program, which, Berescik says is “different from traditional education.” …

To read the full story go to – Teaching Her Students to Seize Every Opportunity in the new Sullivan Faces Section of The Catskill Chronicle or just click on the link.

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