Agriculture teachers have many names: educators, FFA advisors and mentors, but the hats they wear go beyond just teaching students about agriculture.
The future
Today there are more than 13,000 FFA advisors and agriculture teachers in the National FFA Organization. 1.2 million FFA members stretch across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For many of those members, their agriculture teachers will go on to impact their lives in major ways.
Christian County High School freshman, Cheyanne Rodgers, sat in her principles of agriculture class with no experience in the field. Now as a senior she is the chapters FFA President, the Pennyrile Region Reporter, and an aspiring agriculture teacher.
Rodgers wants to become an agriculture teacher for the students who, like her, did not grow up with an agricultural background. “I want to show them that they are still a part of agriculture. I want to spark their interest in to learn about what agriculture can and will be with them in it,” she said.
As part of her supervised agriculture experience (SAE) Rodgers partnered with the Christian County 4-H to help teach over 800 students in the county about agriculture during the 4-H Farm Days. This has helped her learn how she wants to teach her future students in the classroom and gave her ideas on how to get kids involved.
To Rodgers, agriculture teachers are important in many ways. “Ag teachers are the backbone of helping agriculture happen and making it grow and that’s what I want to do,” she said.
The middle
With five years of experience as an agricultural teacher at Todd Central High School, Quashawn Quarles has already seen the ups and downs of the job. His passion for becoming an agricultural teacher started when he was a student at Trigg County High School learning from Karen Nolcox and Jodie P’Pool. There he saw his teachers make a lasting impact on student’s lives through education and putting their students first.
Quarles’ time in the classroom and in FFA taught him that the best way to learn is to experiment. Now he uses those techniques in his own classroom. He strives to show his own students that they have the skills necessary to be successful.
“They just need a push and a chance for practice before making it their own experience with their own style,” Quarles said.
The experienced
Karen Nolcox is no novice when it comes to the world of agriculture education. This is her 29th year as an agriculture teacher. She works at Trigg County High School with fellow agriculture teacher, Jodie P’Pool. Nolcox focuses her classes on small animals, greenhouse, and equine science.
Her favorite part of being an agriculture teacher is the opportunity to do hands- on learning experiences, but the job has changed over the years.
“Students are all so interested in their electronics now. It has become difficult to pull kids away and come back to hands-on work and being in the moment,” Nolcox said.
Agriculture teachers work a double job. Not only are they teaching regular classes, but they are in charge of their schools FFA chapter. This means overnight trips, day trips to competitions, after and before school meetings, and various chapter activities. Through her advisor role, Nolcox helps her students learn communication and leadership skills that they can take into adulthood.
But, Nolcox is not just remembered by past students for the content she taught. She is remembered for her famous goodnight “kisses” where she gave every student a Hershey’s kiss each night during trips, the “no noise before 7 a.m.” rule on the bus while the chapter rode to Conventions or FFA Camp, and of course her love of puzzles. Nolcox inspired students like Quashawn Quarles to pursue a career in agriculture education. Agriculture teachers like her show just how much of an impact they have on their students and how important they are to the world of agriculture.
