BUHLER, Kan. — Ad Astra Radio is proud to announce John Clark, Buhler High School Agriculture Education Teacher and FFA Advisor, as the most recent Classroom Hero presented by Heartland Credit Union.
Each month, Ad Astra Radio honors a different educator, selected from community nominations, to receive the Classroom Hero Award, along with a “hero” gift basket, courtesy of community partners Heartland Credit Union, Midway Motors of Hutchinson, Stutzman’s Greenhouse, Hutch Putt and The Foto Cowboy.
Mr. Clark has been teaching at Buhler High School for 33 years.
“I was hired in 1992 as the second teacher in the ag program and as FFA Advisor,” Clark said. “Over the last 33 years we’ve grown it to four ag teachers and we’ve also added a seventh and eighth grade class at the middle school. One of our teachers goes there half a day.”
All four teachers teach at the high school and according to Mr. Clark, there are currently about 350 students in the agriculture program. About one out of every three high school students take an ag class every year.
Mr. Clark sees a lot of diversity in the ag program even though the school is in a rural area.
“It’s got a nice mix with the Hutch kids in the city limits, the hobby farmer people in between and the farmers out here east of town,” Clark said. “It’s a nice mix of clientele.”
Mr. Clark said kids aren’t really taught how to farm anymore, but they are good consumers of agricultural products.
“They have a good knowledge base about agriculture, especially being here in Kansas,” he said.
In an anonymous nomination, Mr. Clark was described as a very dedicated teacher who genuinely cares about each student and their success.
“He has been teaching for so many years and truly loves the profession,” the nominator said, adding, “He [Mr. Clark] loves what he does and loves FFA. He has taught many different agricultural subjects and is knowledgeable about so many different things. He has devoted so much of his time taking students to FFA competitions and state convention through the years and is a legendary teacher at BHS! He pushes the students to complete scholarship applications and gives them class time to complete these tedious applications and has high standards for all of his students. He’s the best!”
Four Buhler High School students recently went to the National Land Judging Competition in Oklahoma. They were there from Tuesday, April 29 through Thursday, May 1. The students competed on Thursday morning.
Students will also be competing in the 101st Kansas FFA Career Development events this weekend: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in Manhattan, Kan. Some categories include Agronomy, Horse Evaluation, Livestock, Dairy Cattle, Milk Quality, Floriculture, and Nursery and Landscape.
The Classroom Hero Award seeks to highlight the hard work and dedication of those on the front lines of our local schools. Nominations can be submitted at https://www.adastraradio.com/classroom-hero.
Ad Astra Radio has been locally owned and operated since 1986 and is proud to be your hometown radio station.
