Sweet Grown Alabama Celebrates SHORT the Squirrel "Turning Four on the Farm" with Pine Level Elementary School
February 22, 2024
To celebrate Alabama farmers and children’s literacy, Sweet Grown Alabama, the state’s non-profit agricultural branding program, partnered with Alabama’s Literacy Mascot SHORT the Squirrel to celebrate his fourth birthday on February 22. Students, teachers, farmers and others gathered at Pine Level Elementary School in Autauga County to celebrate agriculture as the theme of SHORT’s birthday party.
Students enjoyed cupcakes as they sang “Happy Birthday” to SHORT.
Alabama State Superintendent of Education, Dr. Eric Mackey, spoke on the importance of reading to young children and building a confident, literate generation that will shape the future of our state.
“SHORT is so important to us because we want to make reading fun and we want children to love to read,” Mackey said.
Among other public officials, Sweet Grown Alabama board member and Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, Rick Pate spoke at the press conference and read to a classroom. He stressed the importance agriculture has on our state as one of Alabama’s largest industries.
“I am proud that SHORT the Squirrel chose agriculture to highlight for his fourth birthday party because agriculture brings in over $70 billion to the state’s economy, and not only is literacy critical for our students, but agricultural literacy is just as important,” said Pate. “We want Alabama students to understand that chocolate milk doesn’t come from brown cows and that the food doesn’t appear magically in the grocery store.”
Commissioner Rick Pate read “Modern Farms” to a classroom of students.
Sweet Grown Alabama donated 75 copies of the book “Modern Farms” written by Autauga County author and Sweet Grown Alabama member Jackie Nix to Pine Level Elementary School.
“We are so excited to be at Pine Level and work with Sweet Grown Alabama to celebrate SHORT turning four,” said co-founder of SHORT the Squirrel, Monica Anderson Young. “We saw a need and developed a passion project where we can teach about literacy through different avenues like agriculture.”
SHORT the Squirrel enjoying his birthday celebration at Pine Level Elementary School.
In addition to Pate, Mackey and Nix, farmers and elected officials read “Modern Farms” to student classrooms while the SHORT the Squirrel mascot visited students. Other guests included:
- Rep. Van Smith
- State Board of Education Member Tonya Chesnutt
- Autauga County Commission Chairman Jay Thompson
- Allen Mills, farmer from Prattville Honey Farm
- Mike and JoAnn Hodum, farmers from Hilltop Farm
- Sharon and Rebecca Jones, farmers from Jones Farm
Sweet Grown Alabama exists to connect farmers and families. Consumers can search for locally grown products at SweetGrownAlabama.org, or by looking for the Sweet Grown Alabama logo when shopping.