The 94th Indiana FFA State Convention held at Purdue last week was a celebration of the hard work thousands of Indiana FFA members put in over the last year, but it wasn’t just a celebration of the students. It was also a celebration of the ag educators who make a difference with these students every day.
“It means so much to me. I’m retiring this year after 38 years in the classroom,” says Duane Huge, an ag teacher at Danville Community High School and winner of the Golden Owl Award, giving him the title of Indiana’s Ag Educator of the Year.
“I served as the ag teacher at Cloverdale Community School Corporation for 20 years, Danville Community School Corporation for the last eighteen, and it is a reflection of, I think, my career and everything I’ve put into both communities and my school and my students in the ag program. It’s a huge honor. I can’t hardly explain.”
Huge received an outpouring of community nominations that described him as being impactful, going above and beyond, and having unmatched dedication to not only his students, but agricultural education.
“I had a couple of my FFA members, one in particular Cara Rogers, was kind of my PR director. She’s one of my officers and she really went above and beyond and got my administration and our community and students…I don’t know how many nominations I received, but it was it was a lot from what I understand.”
After 38 years’ worth of students, I asked Huge what he hopes they would say about him.
“I would hope they would say that I pushed them hard, that I pushed them to accomplish their dreams, and to never think anything was impossible to achieve.”
For Huge’s win, Nationwide insurance donated $3,000 to further Danville’s ag education efforts.
Hoosier Ag Today coverage of the state convention was presented all week long by McDonald’s and Co-Alliance.
