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The Plant City Courier & Tribune

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School District Names New Agribusiness Head

By GEORGE WILKENS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 9, 2008

PLANT CITY Plant City native Pam Walden has been appointed Hillsborough County schools supervisor of agribusiness and natural resources, a post left vacant by the recent retirement of Jim Jeffries.
A 1974 graduate of Plant City High, Walden earned her degree in early childhood and elementary education from the University of Tampa in 1978. She began her career teaching kindergarten, first at Glover Elementary then at Trapnell, for a total of 13 years. During her remaining years at Trapnell she taught each of the other grades before transferring to Marshall Middle School, where she taught sixth grade for four years. In 2002, Walden earned national board certification in the field of early adolescent English/language arts.
For the past six years she has taught agri-science at Marshall and been the school's FFA advisor. She earned her agri-science certification in 2003 and in 2006-07 participated in the ag leadership class through the office of Florida Agricultural Commissioner Charles Bronson.
The Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce named Walden as 2006 Farm Credit Ag Educator of the Year.
"I'm very excited," said Walden, who began her new job July 1. "I want to spend some class time with teachers," she said of her early goals. "I'm pretty familiar with the middle school [agricultural] program, but I really want to familiarize my self with the high school program. That's a priority."
She is currently working to prepare teacher and student delegates for the FFA national convention in October, as delegate numbers must be final by Aug. 1. "I kind of hit the ground running on that one," she said.
She is also busy planning for professional study day in August, an event for all of the county's agricultural teachers.
Jeffries, a Plant City resident, held the post for more than 19 years before retiring in June.