There are about 52,000 teachers across Louisiana who educated more than 680,000 students.
Through the Louisiana Ag in the Classroom Program, they all have the opportunity to learn about the importance of farming and ranching.
But in the words of the Highlander, there can be only one - and by that we mean the Louisiana Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year. For 2025, that teacher is Kessler Landry of Lafayette Parish.
Kessler Landry/2025 AITC Teacher of the Year
Lynda Danos/Louisiana AITC Coordinator
Christy Hayes/Principal, Martial Billeaud Elementary School
It's harvest time at Martial Billeaud Elementary School in Broussard. Instructional leader Kessler Landry shares her wisdom about how to pull up the potatoes that students planted in February.
"What did you think this was attached to? Do you think it was a root? Do you think that was part of the stem?" she asks.
Before learning sprouts in the garden, Landry provides a fertile foundation in the classroom. For this lesson on potatoes, Landry has these students label the parts of the plant, learn the geographic regions where people first cultivated potatoes and even has them look at nutritional value based on how they're prepared.
"Ninety calories from fat. The whole potato only has 110, and 90 of those calories are from fat in the potato chip," she says.
That impressed Louisiana Ag in the Classroom Coordinator Lynda Danos.
"Today we saw a lesson on potatoes that covered science, plant parts lifecycles that covered world geography. When we talked about where they were originated. And then she managed to bring math and nutrition into the lesson as well. What more of a complete lesson can you ask for?" she said.
Landry's passion for gardening grew from her experiences with her grandfathers. Once the school started this two years ago with the help of LSU AgCenter Master Gardeners, she decided it was time to add this diploma to the two bachelor's degrees she already holds.
"Everything that I had was experiential knowledge or things imparted to me from my parents or my grandparents. So to see their technical knowledge and how they related to the kids and all the giveback that they were doing with the students here at our school, and I know what they do in the community as well. I was like, I want to be part of that," she said.
By making her students part of this garden experience, Landry has seen students blossom, despite the difficulty of having to learn a new language.
"We had a friend last year and she had limited English, and when she came to us, it wasn't the very beginning of the year. So she missed out on the first parts of the lessons that we were doing. But she kind of fell in line really easily and went from saying one word to answer a question to full sentences, to asking questions. It was just an amazing transformation. And yes, she does get that in her regular classroom, but the way she bloomed in the garden was just amazing," Landry said.
"I remember the first time when the kids went out there and we first got the garden rolling. They were just enamored by what to do. And as I watched them over the first couple of months and they were lifting up the hay and watering under there and using things, looking for the bulb, I mean, I couldn't believe the attention to detail that our third graders was giving to this garden to see it grow," says Christy Hayes, principal at Martial Billeaud.
Hayes was there when Landry received her plaque for being named Teacher of the Year.
"She has worked so incredibly hard. And she puts that garden. She has so many tests at school, but the garden is top notch like everything else she touches. And so when we were told, I mean, I was I wasn't shocked, I wasn't surprised. I was, of course, of course she did," Hayes said. "That's how I thought to myself, of course she won. She deserves it."
For being named the 2025 Louisiana Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year, Landry received an Ipad, $500 cash and an all-expenses paid trip to the National Ag in the Classroom Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She'll also get special recognition at the Louisiana Farm Bureau's 103rd Annual Convention, while she won't be there.
