Mike Montgomery Named 2025 Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom Outstanding Teacher

Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom (CoAITC) is proud to announce Mike Montgomery of Littleton Public Schools' EPIC Campus as the recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Teacher Award. This prestigious honor recognizes an educator who has made exceptional strides in integrating agriculture into the classroom to foster agricultural literacy among students.

With over 36 years of experience in education, Montgomery currently leads the Natural Resources Pathway at the EPIC Campus, where he teaches plant science, hydrology, horticulture, wildlife management, and conservation ecology to high school students. His innovative, hands-on curriculum connects students - many of whom have no agricultural background - to the natural world through real-world applications in food production, pollination, sustainability, and environmental stewardship.

From establishing a hydroponic container farm that supplies fresh produce to school cafeterias and local food banks, to creating an apiary with six live honeybee hives, Montgomery's work demonstrates how agriculture intersects with science, community service, and career exploration. Students in his classes don beekeeping suits, study bee biology and behaviors, build insect hotels for native pollinators, and collaborate across school pathways to market and distribute - truly illustrating agriculture's reach beyond the classroom.

"Mike Montgomery is an educational magician," said Sue Pahl, a Colorado Master Beekeeper and past president of the High Land Beekeeping Club. "He has inspired an unlikely group of suburban teenagers to develop a deep passion for some of our most important livestock - honey bees."

Montgomery's influence extends well beyond his classroom. He collaborates with educators in other disciplines, community organizations like the Denver Botanic Gardens, and local beekeeping clubs to further expand opportunities for his students.

As the 2025 award recipient, Montgomery will receive an honorarium and travel expenses to attend the 2025 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference, to be held June in Minneapolis, Minn., where he will be recognized alongside outstanding educators from across the United States.

"This award is a testament to Mike's dedication, creativity, and passion for preparing students to understand the vital role agriculture plays in our lives," said Jennifer Scharpe, executive director of Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom. "He is helping build a generation that sees and values the connections between food, environment, and society."

To learn more about the CoAITC Outstanding Teacher Award and agricultural literacy programs across the state, visit CoAgClassroom.org.

About Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom (CoAITC)

Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom (also known asColorado Foundation for Agriculture) is a nonprofit organization with the mission of providing free resources to prekindergarten through 12th grade education to connect students and teachers to their food, fiber, fuel, and natural resources. We envision a world where the next generation is empowered with the knowledge and appreciation ofColorado agriculture. We are the lead agricultural literacy organization in Colorado, providing authentic, standard-aligned programs and resources for primary and secondary formal and informal instruction.