What do you love most about being an ag teacher? I love teaching students skills and information that is really useful to them and interesting or fun. Like teaching students how to make ice cream, create floral designs, change a tire, hook up a trailer, wash a pig etc. We get to teach really fun topics that I think really make a difference in the lives and experiences of students.

What is your biggest challenge as an ag teacher? Balancing all areas of my job. It's easy to spend more time and energy on what I really like about my job. Balancing the school ranch projects, each of my classes, SAE projects, fair projects, CDE and LDE teams, grading, IEP and 504’s, the department head gets to be a lot to think about. The wonderful thing about who I work with is we can split up some of those tasks and trust that a teaching partner will get it done.

 What have you learned thus far in your teaching career that you wish you would have known when you first began teaching? You can’t change a program or a school in a day. It will take a few years to see the real results of your labor when you come into a program. It takes 4 years to really change the culture of an FFA program at a school.

What advice would you give a novice teacher entering this profession now? Don’t work yourself to the bone. Please go home at 3:30 some days and show up at 7:45. Take time for yourself, say no to things on the weekends if you have plans. Work will still be there the next morning or on Monday. Don’t let being an ag teacher take over your life and free time.

What personal qualities or abilities do you think are important to being successful in this profession?  Patience, following procedure and building relationships. Also reflection or growth mindset are really important.

 What most prepared you for being an agriculture educator? Ag Education department at Cal Poly. As an ag science major I got to take a variety of classes in all ag subjects that allowed me to reuse that knowledge or labs or projects with my students now.

 If you could relive one of your most memorable days as a teacher, which day would it be and why? I do have a lot of memorable days. One of my favorite days last year was with my floral team doing our first wedding. We stayed at school late, got Starbucks and chicken nuggets and we're blasting music while we put together centerpieces and bouquets. It made me really happy to see these girls that have never taken a floral class learn so many skills in one year to be able to confidently help me with a wedding. Plus we have a really good time together.

 Describe ag teaching in one to two words. Never boring.