Sturgis Brown High School is celebrating a major accomplishment by ProStart Culinary Arts instructor Mica Sulzbach-Bataille, whose work in sustainable food education has earned national recognition.
Sulzbach-Bataille recently completed the USDA’s Connecting Culinary Arts with Sustainable Agricultural Systems program in partnership with New Mexico State University (NMSU). The intensive program, focused on the future sustainability of the nation’s food supply leading into 2050, selected just 60 educators from across the United States—including only three from South Dakota.
Over the course of two years, participants engaged in six specialized classes and a hands-on immersive learning experience in New Mexico, which Sulzbach-Bataille attended this past June. Each course required educators to develop original lesson plans aligned with sustainability, agriculture, and culinary innovation. In total, more than 360 lesson plans were submitted nationwide.
Among those submissions, Sulzbach-Bataille’s lesson plan, “Thinking Like an Agricultural and Culinary Entrepreneur,” stood out. It has now been selected by both the USDA and NMSU for publication and inclusion on the USDA Teacher Resource Page, as well as in New Mexico State University’s teacher preparation program.
This opportunity has been an incredible experience,” Sulzbach-Bataille said. “Being able to collaborate with educators from across the country and bring real-world sustainability concepts into my classroom has been truly rewarding.