Award triggers donation to renovate high school’s ag department

HEYWORTH, Ill. — Big changes will be happening over the summer for the agricultural rooms at Heyworth High School.

Renovations will start on both the outside and inside of the building once the school year is complete.

“All of the things in the shop and classroom are going into storage,” said Kara Barling, agricultural teacher and FFA adviser at Heyworth High School.

“We are getting all new doors and windows, storage, air conditioning and heating systems,” Barling said. “We are getting new cabinets so that will make it cleaner and more organized.”

“There is a group of kids that spend a lot of time here, and having a space that is going to be more welcoming, I think is really great,” she said. “The kids are really excited.”

It was a goal for the school to invest money in this portion of the school over the next several years. However, thanks to a donation the project has been accelerated.

Last year, Heyworth received the Outstanding Middle/Secondary Agriculture Program of the Year award from the Illinois Association of Vocational Agriculture Teachers.

“It was nice to be honored with that award, since I am a single-teacher program,” the educator said.

“The award looks at the program as a whole, not just from the FFA perspective,” said Barling, who has taught at Heyworth since 2016.

“It includes if we are increasing college and career readiness and if the kids can get certifications. Students that take the vet science class are certified in animal CPR and first aid.”

As a result of this award, the Heyworth school received an anonymous donation of $750,000 to renovate the agricultural building.

“This man saw that we won the award on the news and he chose us for a charitable donation because he has an interest in agriculture and education,” the FFA adviser said. “When I heard the number from my superintendent, I cried a lot.”

Barling did not originally plan for a career as an ag teacher.

“My original plan was to go to vet school, so I thought I should join FFA,” she said. “By the end of my freshman year in high school, I decided I was going to be an ag teacher and here I am.”

At Illinois State University, Barling completed a degree in ag education and taught at Fisher High School for two years.

“I student taught at Heyworth, and when my cooperating teacher was stepping down, he called me and said, ‘Come take my job,’ and I said OK,” she said.

In 2023, Barling completed her master’s degree from ISU in ag education.

At Heyworth, Barling teaches an eighth-grade exploratory class and an Intro to Agriculture class for freshman students.

“For the sophomores, the class focuses on physical science, physics and engineering in agriculture,” she said. “So, we talk about mechanics, electricity and now we are learning about concrete.”

Additional classes include animal science and veterinary science.

“This is the first year for dual-credit classes with Heartland Community College for agricultural economics and horticulture,” Barling said.

Currently, 156 students are members of the Heyworth FFA Chapter.

“When I started here, I had about 60 FFA members,” Barling said. “Having the eighth grade class helps a lot with recruitment and retention.”

The FFA members are quite active in FFA activities, social events and community service projects.

“We went to 18 contests this year for section and state, we have two state qualifiers for proficiency awards, five alumni scholarships and one of our members earning his State FFA degree,” Barling said.

Some of the FFA activities include a trivia night, alumni auction, plant sale and Ag Expo with a petting zoo.

“For the Ag Expo, we invite the pre-K through third grade students and we have activities for the kids to do,” Barling said. “This year the kids got a punch card, and when they went to each area, we punched their card and when they finished the kids got a prize.”

The high school students are responsible for maintaining the butterfly garden at the elementary school.

“That is a space with benches and seats where the kids go outside and read,” Barling said.

“We do the weeding and last year we redid all the mulching,” she said. “The year before that, we repainted some of the decorations, so each year we do something to keep it nice.”

Barling set up a point system for the members of the chapter.

“They earn points for going to events, and at the end of the year, we crown the most active member,” she said. “If you are in the top 10, that earns you a trip to the state and national FFA conventions.”

The point system, Barling said, is an easy way to keep the members accountable.

“I find it works really well, because if students want it, they can make it happen,” she said.

“It creates a sense of competition, but it also brings people closer,” said Alaina Backlund, who was recently elected the chapter historian for the upcoming year. “We are a pretty close group and typically the same group of kids go to a lot of the contests.”

For community service, the FFA chapter works with the Farm Bureau’s Harvest for All program.

“It helps with food insecurity and this year we did 342 man hours, we donated $610 and we collected 439 pounds of food,” Barling said.

“One of our students made a rug with our Hornet mascot,” Backlund said. “If you brought cans of food to the football game, you got a raffle ticket and the winner of the raffle received the rug.”

Heyworth FFA members assist at the Day of the Dozer event, held in September in Bloomington. During this day, kids have the opportunity to check out heavy machinery such as excavators and bulldozers.

“It raises money for the ‘Stay 4’ Project, which focuses on encouraging kids to stay all four years in high school,” Barling said.

“We were the welcoming committee and we gave out plastic hard hats that the kids got to cover with stickers,” Backlund added.

Earlier this year, Barling received the Alumni Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Education at ISU.

“This is an award for teachers who have been in the classroom for at least 10 years,” she said. “I was one of eight people who received the award.”

Barling is a member of the Agricultural Education Advisory Council at ISU.

“We work with the student teachers and I sit in on the interviews with the students to determine which school we should place them,” she said.

“I also did a little research with Dr. Solomonson, to look at the work-life balance for ag teachers,” she noted.

This summer, Barling will add one more award, when she receives the Section 9 Golden Owl award from the Illinois Association of Vocational Agricultural Teachers at the group’s annual conference.