When I decided to hang up the “ag teaching” hat in the spring of 2022, I had a lot of colleagues and friends ask WHY…Why would you leave a profession where you and your students found great success?
And at first I found myself second guessing my WHY because I did love teaching agriculture!
I loved the fast paced life where each day brought something new. Maybe it was teaching over 300 elementary students about agriculture or maybe it was traveling to the state house to meet with legislators. But one thing is certain…no day is the same in agriculture education!
I loved the competitive nature of the profession. As an enneagram 3, I am super competitive…to a fault! I had no problem putting in countless hours with my students for them to find success at the local state and national level…and that time paid off.
In the nine years I taught, I had three CDE teams compete at the national level, 10 national proficiency finalists and three national chapter finalists, twice in models of excellence and once in models of innovation.
But maybe most of all, I loved agriculture teachers! They are one of a kind and some of the most selfless people in the world! They are the type of people that will spend their Saturday mornings traveling with students to a CDE competition then turn around on Sunday to bring students to a community service event at the local nursing home.
And that love is where my WHY began…
Over the past three years, I found my love for helping agriculture teachers in this challenging yet extremely rewarding profession. As a National Teacher Ambassador for FFA, pathway chair for the Ohio Association for Agricultural Educators and speaker at numerous professional development events, I discovered a passion for equipping agriculture teachers with the resources they need to be successful…resources that can be few and far between.
This was the basis for THE OWL’S NEST. Through ready-to-use curriculum, CDE and LDE materials and helpful FFA resources, The Owl’s Nest wants agriculture teachers to focus on the most important WHY of their job…THE STUDENTS!
The job of an agriculture teacher is hard…join The Owl’s Nest to save time through resources and tips at owlsnestresources.com/subscribe and subscribe to our newsletter!