***This article is written by Chase Palm, a participant in The Kewanee Voice Student Journalism Program, funded by the Harry Anderson Memorial Trust.
“It’s more than cows, plows and sows,” said Kindra Callahan, an agriculture teacher at Kewanee High School. To Callahan, agriculture education hinges on combating this common misconception as much as anything else.
“Everything that we do here is to create this space where students want to be and feel successful,” Callahan said.
KHS’s agriculture department has grown significantly in the past year. With a new face among the teaching staff and a recent building addition, the ag department strives to be at the forefront of agriculture education.
“What we want people to know is that in agriculture, that’s the smallest part of our industry, the people doing the ‘cows, plows and sows.’ Agriculture as a whole is the number one employer as an industry across the United States,” Callahan said.
Callahan started her agricultural career in corporate agriculture before joining KHS’s faculty six years ago. Today, she shares this department with Jacob Meyer, the latest member of KHS’s ag family, and Lexi Ruemker, who started teaching Boilermakers in Aug. 2023. This trio has also welcomed student teacher Annie Johnson to their ranks this semester.
Johnson shared that she “looks for the small wins” while student teaching, a goal she developed with Callahan, her mentor teacher.
“At any given moment in my classroom, I can look out and see something that makes me happy. I just look out and I find one person, one student who looks like they’re having a good day, or doing something amazing,” Johnson said.
Callahan and Johnson both teach their students that essentially everything that they do on a daily basis is tied to agriculture in some way.
“What we do in class and what we learn about we all need. We all need food, clothing and shelter, and so regardless of what they’re going to do someday, where they’re going to go, what they might study, the things they’re working on in their other classes: It’s all connected,” Callahan said.
In addition to success in the classroom, the KHS Agriculture Department has a thriving, dedicated and award-winning FFA program. FFA used to be referred to as “the Future Farmers of America.” However, the nationwide organization changed its name to simply “the National FFA Chapter” in 1988. This change was made to reflect that the organization encompasses every aspect of agriculture, not just farming.
“Similar to the band, if you want to be in a marching band, you take band class. If you’re interested in being in FFA, you walk into the Ag classroom,” said Callahan.
She emphasized her appreciation for the KCUD #229 school board’s commitment to making the agriculture department an intra-curiccular environment before the Illinois Department of Agriculture made that decision for all agriculture classrooms across the state.
“Every student who walks into our room has the opportunity to participate in FFA events,” Callahan said, “That student leadership and their growth, their personal success is impacted by FFA,” she said.
Ever forward-focused, Callahan has her sights on the upcoming FFA week, which will start on Feb. 18 and wrap up the following Friday. KHS’s FFA Chapter will be involving the entire school in the week-long celebration as the organization highlights agriculture’s vast and varied presence in Illinois and around the United States.
Callahan and Johnson also shared the journey they took to get to the point they’re at today. Both instructors enrolled in agriculture classes in high school and fell in love with the subject matter.
“I was raised on a family farm and had been around agriculture my entire life, and I didn’t know any differently than Ag,” Callahan said.
When she entered high school, she was very active in her school’s FFA program.
“My interest in agriculture was really started in my Ag classes. Finding something that I was passionate about [mattered to Johnson], and as I went through my Ag classes and FFA, I realized that I was passionate about everything that I did,” Johnson said.
During her senior year, she had the realization about what drew her to agriculture.
“One day I was standing in my pig barn, looking at my pigs. It was March of 2020, and it clicked, and I texted my Ag teacher and I said, ‘Do you think I would be a good Ag teacher?’ And that’s when I made the decision that this is what I want,” Johnson shared.
Each educator in the agriculture department teaches different subject matter when it comes to agriculture, but they share the same belief: Agriculture is connected to everything we do on a daily basis. This is one of the main reasons why the agriculture department has been so successful day after day.
In addition to supporting FFA week, Callahan ended with a beloved, time-honored sneak peak.
“Be paying attention because the pigs are coming back,” Callahan said.
