Welcome back to school! Every year I reflect back on prior students as new groups come busting into my classroom. I subbed a freshman Ag Bio class on Thursday and it really got me thinking...
You know those kids you get in class that make you want to
rip your hair out on a daily basis??
Well this is about one of those kids.
Picture this, my first year at Healdsburg and one of my Ag
Biology classes jacked full of kids I had been “warned” about. I rarely do
seating charts, until the students “can’t handle sitting next to friends”. I
tell them in the beginning of the year this is how our seating charts work.
This class was mixed with freshman and sophomores, so the level of squirrely
was especially high.
I think it was probably three weeks into the school year
that this class got a seating chart. One of the main reasons, was a sophomore
boy who repeated told me he never asked to be in my class, talking about his
hair and shoes, and spent more time wandering the classroom, pretending to get
tissues, than actually in his seat. Even when he was at his seat, he usually
stood instead of sitting. So when I made the seating chart, I made sure to put
him next to a freshman girl that seemed to have her stuff together as a student
and would hopefully rub off on him (sorry Taylor).
All year, he tested my patience and gave me more grey hair
than I can count, faster than I could highlight it. I encouraged him to get
involved and attend conferences, even though the last thing I wanted to do was
spend more time with him. But I figured he needed FFA and leadership in his
life. The more he got involved, the more you could watch the spark in him.
Following that first year, he actually signed up for an Ag class on his own. He
even found a location to raise a market animal for the fair.
Sometimes you just have to tell kids they are going to an event or conference... No option
I think his junior year was a true turning point. He had
straightened out his grades, did his junior internship with a local vineyard
management company, raised a goat for the fair and became super involved in FFA
(with some constant pushing). Through his internship and keeping his goat at a
local grape farmer’s house, you could see a sense of responsibility and
ownership in something bigger than himself growing.
Senior year, he excelled at school, in FFA as an officer and
pursuing college and scholarships (thanks Taylor). He was one of the only
students wanting to pursue a career in viticulture, so scholarships were
plentiful. He decided that SRJC was the right place until he could transfer to
a UC. Since graduating, he’s been taking viticulture and enology courses along
with general ed. Last fall, he even brought me a bottle of the wine he made in
class. Earlier this year, he even got a job for a local vineyard management company
where he’s been working around the clock the past few weeks to prep for
harvest.
It's amazing the transformation a kid can go through from
having no clue about their future and caring more about their hair than
anything else. To then being fully immersed into an industry they want to be
part of while working and going to school learn as much as possible.
When people doubt the effectiveness and importance of FFA
and Agriculture Education, I think of Luis. I call him my poster child—which he
loves, but it’s true.
I still have the grey hair from him, but I am so proud of his dedication to learning everything he can to be the best!
