Naper Settlement gets grant to create interactive exhibit on careers in agriculture
The Naperville Heritage Society was selected by the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley to receive a $20,000 grant to create the “Careers in Agriculture” segment of the “Inventing Agriculture” exhibit at Naper Settlement’s Mary and Richard Benck Family Agriculture Center.
With tens of thousands of students visiting Naper Settlement from across the region each year, this exhibit will help K-12 students discover the role they can play in the future of agriculture by opening opportunities in STEM and trade-related careers as we create a much-needed pipeline for institutions of higher learning, trade schools, and technology centers.
The new exhibit will transform the existing space in the Benck Family Agriculture Center with the creation of a permanent 1,200-square-feet exhibit.
It will be a future stop for thousands of students who visit Naper Settlement on school field trips. This state-of-the-art exhibit space will honor Naperville’s contributions in agriculture and its farm families while focusing on inspiring the next generation of students to learn about how biologists, engineers, machinists, environmentalists, scientists, policymakers, and many others shape modern food production.
The “Careers in Agriculture” segment of the exhibit will provide a closer look at the surprising breadth of agricultural careers.
The funding will work toward the concept, design, and fabrication of an interactive where students from urban, suburban, and rural areas may explore possible careers in agriculture, from robots, AI, remote farming, and big data to policy and social science, creative experiments and inventions, marketing and communications, food distribution and security, bioengineering, small-scale specialty farming, and more.
In photo features or video interviews, students will be able to see and hear from people from all walks of life who are a part of farming’s future. One potential activity includes a “personality quiz” that would suggest a possible agriculture-related career for each visitor.
“Thank you to the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley for being forward-thinking and for supporting and joining Naper Settlement on this journey,” said Rena Tamayo-Calabrese, president and CEO at Naper Settlement. “This new exhibit will allow us to provide inspiration and a sustainable career pathway for tens of thousands of students along with their teachers and parents, as well as reduce the number of high-paying jobs in ag in Illinois that go unfulfilled each year.”
About Naper Settlement
Naper Settlement is a nationally accredited, award-winning outdoor living history museum set on 13 magnificent acres in the heart of Naperville. Located 30 miles from Chicago, the museum is home to 31 historical structures dating back as early as the 1830s. Featuring exhibits, special events, educational programming and more, Naper Settlement is where history comes alive and the community comes to connect. For more information, visit www.napersettlement.org or call (630) 420-6010.
About the Naperville Heritage Society
Founded in 1969, the Naperville Heritage Society is a not-for-profit organization and administrator of Naper Settlement, the city of Naperville’s museum. With a commitment to the community and a focus to the future, the mission of the Naperville Heritage Society is to collect, document, preserve, and support the history of Naperville, Illinois past and present.