Agricultural Education is more than just instructional education. A quality Ag Ed program helps students to explore the diversity of agriculture through finding their passions. The agricultural world is growing and we help prepare students to be career and industry ready. Through proper in-classroom instruction, supervised agricultural experiences (SAE) and the FFA, students become well prepared. Not only do students receive content knowledge throughout the school year but also gain leadership skills that can be taken into the workplace.

Students in agricultural education have opportunities every day to get real world experience. Through the many different FFA leadership conferences and events throughout the year, students build their leadership and communication skills. By having the necessary skills to effectively network, students grow their professional profile and gain confidence in their future field. All of these leadership and communication skills start in the classroom.

In schools with quality programs, you can pick out the FFA students walking down the halls because they are different. They are different because of the skills and professionalism they learn through our classroom. We teach these skills every day; whether we are sitting in class or in the greenhouse. My Mission is that my agricultural education program is a building block for students in teaching them the skills of what it means to be a leader in their desired field every day.

Through these doors, we find many friends of the FFA. They are hard workers, leaders, some of the nation’s leading industry people, but most of all, they are stewards of the agriculture and the environment. They help build on what their family before them has worked so hard to grow. They stand up for what is right and help educate those who are wrong. They advocate for what they believe in and are on the front lines of the agricultural research. We stand together as one group of agricultural advocates and we all have one common connection, our local FFA chapter.

I believe that every student should have the opportunity to be a part of this global movement, and I want my program to be a stepping stone for those students to be tomorrow's leaders and stewards of agriculture and the environment for the world.