The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and the American Farm Bureau Federation are honored to have awarded the achievements of the 2010 $10,000 Agriscience Educator's Award Columbus Scholar:

Crystal Retzlaff

Agriculture Educator and FFA Advisor
Oconto Falls High School
Oconto Falls, Wisconsin

Crystal Retzlaff was born in New London, Wisconsin, and was raised on a 150 daily cow farm. Her love for animals did not end with the cows; she stated raising sheep when she was eight year old, and joined 4-H so she could exhibit them at the county fair. When her father passed away when she was 14, the cows were sold but she kept her sheep.

Crystal received her Bachelor's of Science degree in agricultural education from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and received her Master's of Science degree in agricultural education in 2010. She has been teaching at Oconto Falls High School for seven years. She teaches Genetics, Biotechnology, Pet/Companion Animals, Exploring Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Food Science, Introduction to Career Foods, Food Processing, Wildlife/Forestry, Animal Science, Landscape/Floriculture and Anatomy/Physiology. She also advises the 125-member local FFA. She received the Wisconsin State Agriscience Teacher of the Year award in 2006.

She is married to Austin Retzlaff and they have two small children. They live on a 25-acre hobby farm raising a flock of 18 Texel ewes.

The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and the American Farm Bureau Federation are honored to have awarded the achievements of the 2010 $10,000 Agriscience Educator's Award Columbus Scholar:

Lisa Konkel

Agriscience Educator
Big Foot Union High School
Walworth, Wisconsin

Lisa Konkel grew up on a registered Holstein dairy farm, and was active in 4-H and FFA programs. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin.

Lisa is a veteran teacher with 17 years of teaching experience. She started a half-time program at Big Foot High School, which quickly become a full-time program after her first year, and now is a two-person Agriscience Department. Curriculum transformation has occurred in the past 15 years she has taught at Big Foot from a primarily production agriculture focus to the balance of production and agribusiness concepts with a strong emphasis on science incorporation.

As an FFA advisor, Lisa strongly encourage participation in all FFA competitions and Agriscience Fairs and wants students to defend their research. Lisa was the FFA's Agriscience Teacher of the Year in 1998 and the National Association of Agriculture Educators' Outstanding Teacher winner in 2008.

Lisa is married to Duane and they have two daughters.

The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and the American Farm Bureau Federation are honored to have awarded the achievements of the 2010 $10,000 Agriscience Educator's Award Columbus Scholar:

Byron L. Ernest

Department Head for Agriculture and FFA
Lebanon Community School Corporation
Lebanon, Indiana

Byron L. Ernest was recruited to start Lebanon's Agriculture Department which now, in its 7th year, has four teachers and an enrollment of 584 students grades 8-12, the largest in Indiana. The flagship of courses of the program, taught by Ernest, are the Advanced Life Science courses in animals, plant and soil, and food science. These are duel credit courses with Purdue University College of Agriculture. Through teaching these rigorous agriscience courses, he learned we must reinvent our classrooms to be places where young people are challenged and engaged; understand what they study and why; and where they have a sense that they belong.

In cooperation with AgReliant Genetics, he has developed project/inquiry-based agriscience lessons where students are doing actual research, and publish their findings through the use of pod-casts and wiki sites. This transparency allows actual scientists from around the world critique the students' work.

Mr. Ernest was named the 2010 Indiana Teacher of the Year. This is the first time an Agriculture Instructor has ever been selected for this honor. He holds two Bachelor of Science Degrees from Purdue University in Agricultural Education and Animal Science, and a Masters in Science in Agricultural Education, also from Purdue. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. in Administrative and Teacher Leadership from Walden University.