Day in the life of an ag teacherDay in the life of an ag teacher

What do FFA advisors accomplish in a day? Depends on the day!

On a recent Saturday, Tom Younts, vocational-agriculture instructor and FFA advisor at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Ind., accompanied students to the Purdue Ag Alumni Fish Fry at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds in the morning. Then he helped FFA members host a charity donkey basketball game at HSE that evening. Caroline Mills, also a vo-ag teacher and FFA advisor, assisted with the donkey basketball game.

“[The fish fry is] a good way to expose young FFA members to future possibilities in agriculture,” Younts says. “We also reconnect with former students.”

This year, Younts spent time visiting with former student Drew Kelham and his fiancee, Abigail Powell, a senior in Purdue ag communication, at the fish fry.

His current students studied displays that highlighted everything from new uses for soybeans to new crop scouting tools.

This was the 20th year raising money for the Carrie Colglazier Scholarship fund through the donkey basketball game, Younts says. Colglazier, a 2002 HSE graduate and former FFA chapter officer, was killed by a drunk driver while a student at Butler University.

“Donkey basketball is something she would have enjoyed,” Younts says. “We raise funds in her honor, and also bring entertainment and fellowship to the community.”

Local businesses form teams to compete against each other. Fittingly, this year, Don Hinds Ford Inc. dethroned Beck’s as the current donkey basketball champion. Colglazier’s father, Bud, owns Don Hinds Ford.

Kyle Poyer, an HSE sophomore and former vo-ag student, presented his rendition of the national anthem before the donkeys and riders took the court. Check it out below: