As students and teachers jump into the beginning of the school year, Monroe County is also seeing an unusual amount of new agriculture teachers, all of whom are doubling as FFA advisors. 

Gibault Catholic High School is introducing Lindsay Johnson while Columbia High School welcomes Jaci Jenkins.

Both Valmeyer and Waterloo are welcoming back former students Courtney Mosbacher and Colton Henry, respectively. Instead of being taught new material as students, these two will be leading their very own ag classes as teachers. 

While all come from different towns across Illinois, they arrive with a passion for agriculture and plenty of FFA experience under their belts. In fact, all were active in their FFA chapters in high school, so honing a career path in the field was a natural evolution. 

“I always loved being in FFA when I was in high school. It was just a great time, so I think it’ll be nice to get back into it,” Mosbacher said. “What FFA and agriculture education is all about is advocating for agriculture, and agriculture is such a deep thing in this community, but especially for me. I’ve been involved in it my entire life in living on a family farm, I was in 4-H and FFA and I was always at the fair every year. So I think it will be really nice to be so active in it, and this is the greatest position to do that.” 

Henry echoed a similar sentiment. 

“For me, it was kind of a foregone conclusion that I was going to be doing something related to agriculture, just because that made up such a (large) part of my life,” Henry said, citing how he grew up on a family farm near Fults. “It wasn’t really until I got to high school and started my four years under (then FFA advisor/ag teacher) Tim McDermott here that I realized I wanted my role in agriculture to be in the education side of things. It felt like a way that I could advocate for agriculture and give back to an industry that’s given me so much throughout my life.”

McDermott recently accepted a position as Waterloo High School’s assistant principal, creating the vacancy Henry is filling. 

Henry will be co-advising FFA along with Marissa Modglin. 

For Jenkins, who is originally from Elizabeth, her new position is the perfect combination of her love for education and agriculture. 

“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Jenkins said. “When I took my ag classes in high school, I discovered … I really had a passion for not just the agriculture industry, but the National FFA Organization as well. So, I decided that ag education was right for me.”

Johnson – a Wayne City, native – was also always surrounded by agriculture. Originally, FFA sparked her interest in agribusiness and ag production, yet it wasn’t until later she decided she wanted to explore the educational aspect. 

“My senior year (of high school), I toured Wabash Valley College in Mt. Carmel and it clicked: it was a small program and still a farm community, so I went and got my degree in ag business and ag production,” Johnson explained. “Then I realized I didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day and just punch in numbers behind a computer, and I remembered that I loved FFA and I loved helping the freshmen when I was a senior … so I was like, ‘Well, I guess I’m going to be a teacher now.’ It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.” 

Johnson and Jenkins said they are beginning their first year as FFA advisors in Monroe County with one overarching goal: to boost student involvement in the program. 

For Johnson, a large part of this is increasing community presence. She said this is especially important given Gibault is the only Catholic school in the area with such a program.

“I’m all about community service,” Johnson said. “I want the community members to know that Gibault has an FFA program and (know) what they do and what they believe in. I went to a conference the other day in Belleville with all the other Catholic schools and (learned) they do not have FFA or ag in their schools.” 

While COVID-19 caused FFA to change much of its operations on the local, state and even national level, especially when it came to traveling for conferences, Henry is looking forward to trying to get Waterloo’s FFA program “as close to a normal FFA year as we can.” 

“It’s kind of a humbling moment when you realize half of the people that are in high school right now, the freshmen and sophomores, have not really seen a true year of what Waterloo FFA can be (due to the pandemic),” Henry said. “I just want to make sure that all of those opportunities, so long as health protocols allow, are available to those students so they can have the great Waterloo FFA experience that I had and that so many others have had.”

Mosbacher said one of the best opportunities Valmeyer FFA awarded her as a student was the ability to connect with big-name companies and organizations, such as Growmark and Illinois Farm Bureau. This is something she is hoping to pass onto her students as the FFA advisor. 

“I want to be able to provide a source for kids to network,” Mosbacher said. “In high school, you want to prepare kids for the next steps in life, so I really want to make sure that these kids have the opportunity to learn skills – whether that’s leadership, communication and so on.”

For more information on FFA and its role in ag education, visit ffa.org.