Agriculture is in Naomi Knight's blood.
She was raised on a dairy farm in Frederick County, and she lives on a dairy farm with her husband in Airville, Pa.
"When you are born into it, you just do it," Knight said. "You develop a deep love of agriculture, and preservation, of land and the environment."
For decades, Knight has shared her passion for agriculture with her students at Harford Technical High School where she started an Agri-Business/ Animal Science program. She was recently recognized for her efforts when she was selected as one of six educators nationwide to receive the National Association of Agricultural Educators Outstanding Teacher Award, at the NAAE annual conference in Las Vegas.
Each winner received a plaque, a cash award, an all expense paid trip to attend the annual conference in Las Vegas, and a free two-year lease for a 2008 Toyota Tundra.
The greatest satisfaction isn't the award or the new truck, though both are nice, said Knight. For her, it's about getting kids excited about agriculture. Knight, 50, earned a bachelor's degree in 1980 from the University of Maryland, College Park in agriculture education.
"I liked the agriculture major because I got to learn a lot of different things," Knight said. "But I never aspired to be an agriculture teacher."
But when a teaching position became available at Linganore High School in Frederick County, she took the job.
"Teaching came very naturally to me," she said. "I did it by instinct. It required very little effort."
When Knight came to the Harford Tech High School about 24 years ago, there was no agriculture program, and farming in the county was diminishing, she said. She saw a need for veterinary and general animal health care providers and she decided to shift the program to agribusiness and animal science.
"I changed the name from agriculture because people connect the word to farming," she said. "And this is not a farming program."
She created a program that comprises four years of study, including classes in small animal care and management, animals in society, careers in animal science, production animal care and management, equine science, veterinary professional ethics, animal dissection and anatomy.
"She makes [the program] a lot of fun," said Jennifer Preston, 16, a junior from White Hall. "She actually makes you want to go to class and learn something."
She also finds creative ways to teach, Preston said. Last week, she taught a lesson on bone structure and asked the students to find things in the classroom and make a bone.
"I made my bone from cotton and cardboard," Preston said. "We used whatever we could, and it was a lot of fun."
Knight, who met her husband, George, in college, said he plays a significant role in the success of the program. She brings her students to their farm, and sometimes George brings animals to the school, she said.
During their senior year, students operate the school's dog grooming facility and learn aspects of the veterinary profession, including logging animals in an appointment book, checking vaccination records, regularly handling animals, and communicating with clients, Knight said.
The students groom dogs, cats, ferrets, and rabbits, and Nubian goats that are owned by the faculty and the other students, she said.
Knight said she also works with local veterinarians.
Most of her 80 students, with the exception of a couple of girls who raise horses, do not come from a farm background. She teaches them to be veterinary assistants where they learn not only how to deal with animals, but also to love animals.
Knight said she teaches every child with the intention of building a future leader in agriculture.
"I am passionate about my job," Knight said. "This is who I am. Agriculture is everything, and it's everywhere. When I go to work, I am there to teach every student. When I leave each day, I ask myself if I reached every child, and the answer is always yes."
Knight said she helped nurture Kate O'Laughlin's desire to be a veterinarian. O'Laughlin wanted to be a vet since she was a small child, and Knight said she helped show her that her dream was her calling.
"She teaches us ways to do hands-on activities with animals," said O'Laughlin, a senior at Harford Tech who plans to attend Delaware Valley College and study equine science. "There are some things that we can't do at school, such as work with needles, but she finds ways to teach us about those things anyway. And most of all she teaches us to be all-around better people."
One way of teaching her students to be better citizens is the community service opportunities she offers to them, she said. Recent projects include running the petting zoo at the county's annual farm fair, raising money for the local humane society, helping chapters of the New Orleans FFAs after Hurricane Katrina, and raising money for the therapeutic horseback riding program in the county.
Knight was nominated for a state teaching award by Terrie Shank, 49, an agriculture teacher from Hagerstown. The state award qualified Knight for the national award, said Shank, who teaches at Clear Spring High School in Clear Spring, Washington County.
Shank first met Knight when they attended the same high school in Frederick County. Then they attended the University of Maryland together, Shank said.
Shank said she nominated Knight because she's an outstanding teacher. She cares about her students and she is innovative in her lessons, Shank said. She built the Harford Tech program from scratch, and she has a wonderful rapport with her students, other teachers, and members of the community, Shank said.