Moving on: Jason Smith
This year Smith taught Family Consumer Science. He taught foods in particular.
June 4, 2018
What do you teach at West?
A: This year I just taught food classes.
Q: Do you have any advice for people that want to teach?
A: Find a content area that you are passionate about and go for it.
Q: How long have you been teaching at West?
A: One year.
Q: Where are you switching to?
A: I’m going to Midland Schools in Wyoming, Iowa. I am going to be their agriculture teacher, FFA (Future Farmers of America) advisor, and environmental teacher in one biology class.
Q: Why are you teaching so many classes?
A: Because Agriculture is really broad and there are a lot of different aspects to the industry. So you have to teach the whole gambit of the industry in the school.
Q: What are the different parts of agriculture?
A: Agriculture is natural resources, agribusiness, agronomy, agriculture, agro-mechanics, soils, so there are tons of different things.
Q: How do you feel about teaching agriculture?
A: I love teaching agriculture. It’s what I went to school for, and it’s what I’m really passionate about.
Q: What made you decide to become a teacher?
A: My high school agriculture teacher, he had a really big impact on my life and I want to try to do that for others. [I want] To show how important agriculture is and how much of an impact agriculture makes on everything.
Q: Did you want to do anything else besides being a teacher?
A: When I was first at college I had agribusiness as my major, and then I decided on education my sophomore year.
Q: What do you like the most about teaching?
A: Interacting with the kids and seeing how they grow and progress as people.
Q: What do you love the most about agriculture?
A: That it impacts everybody, everyday, no matter what they do. Everybody eats, everybody drinks, everybody wears clothes; no matter what, you are impacted by the ag industry.
Q: What will you miss the most about West?
A: I’ll miss some of the kids I made connections with. That’s probably what I’ll miss the most. Just being able to connect with them on a personal level and them coming in between classes or before and after school to just talk about things.
