Students and fellow ag teachers will be missed by Kent Weber after retirement

SENECA, Ill. — The students and ag teachers, those are the two things Kent Weber will miss when he retires from teaching at Seneca Township High School at the end of the school year.

Weber is completing 34 years of teaching high school agriculture classes and advising FFA chapter members, with most of those years at Seneca. After graduating from Illinois State University, Weber taught at Mazon High School for one year.

“I didn’t want to leave Mazon, but I came here when Mr. Dunn retired and Jeff Maierhofer was hired at the same time,” Weber said. “The year after I left Mazon they consolidated with Seneca, so I got all my kids back.”

Prior to the consolidation, Seneca and Mazon were already co-oping several sports teams.

“It was a natural blend when they came together because the kids already knew each other and they knew the coaches,” Weber said. “And it was great for the FFA because our chapter went from 100 kids to 180 members.”

Once Weber started his teaching career he also started taking classes at the University of Illinois for a master’s degree.

“Those were the days when I drove to Champaign for classes and I also took a lot of classes in the south suburbs of Chicago,” he recalled. “I took one class a semester and one during the summer, so it took me four years to get it done.”

Weber, who grew up on his family’s dairy farm near Cissna Park, set the goal to become an ag teacher as a high school freshman.

“I knew I didn’t want to live on a dairy farm, so when the Illinois state FFA officer came around to our school and asked us to write our goals down, my long-term goal was to be an ag teacher,” he said. “I still have that card.”

While at Cissna Park, Weber was taught by four different ag teachers — two that were only at the school for one semester, another ag teacher for one year and then Ron Lynch, who taught at Cissna Park for 29 years.

“I would not be where I am today without the help I received from Ron Lynch in high school, in college and when I started teaching,” Weber said. “That’s what ag teachers do — we call someone who knows, so I leaned on the ag teachers with more experience.”

During his more than three decades of teaching, Weber has seen a lot of changes, including five years ago when the ag department started an all-year class for welding.

“I love welding and I’m not an expert, but I’m trying to get kids career ready,” he said.

“There is an employee shortage and the biggest shortage is employees that can communicate, show up on time and work hard.”

From 10 to 12 kids at Seneca enroll in the welding class each year.

“If they’re on their cell phone during class, they get a zero for the day,” Weber said. “I have several kids who have joined the Local 597 at Mokena and they want smart kids that are willing to learn, get along with others and show up to work every day.”

Weber enjoys teaching ag mechanics.

“I try to teach the basics of electricity, welding and small engines,” he said. “Two young men from Seneca are now in the electrical apprenticeship program and they didn’t even think about a career with electricity until they took the ag mechanics class.”

Seneca FFA Chapter members are involved in over 150 activities each year.

“Last week was one of my favorite projects,” Weber said. “About 20 years ago we started the project to pick up garbage on 30 miles of roadside in one hour.”

Prior to the COVID pandemic, the entire school would go out in the area surrounding Seneca and walk a mile.

“The last two years, kids in the ag, auto and PE classes volunteer to do the project and this year they covered 36 miles,” Weber said.

Last month Seneca FFA held the 32nd Annual Toy Show.

“I started that show my first year of teaching here,” Weber said. “We had the entire gym and commons filled, over 700 people came through the door and we had over 50 kids involved that day.”

Another activity Weber really enjoys is the Seneca FFA Calf Sale that marked its 63rd year of providing a place for young people to purchase animals.

“When I was in high school, my buddy and I drove the one and a half hours to come to the sale and we bought two calves,” he said. “I would never bet as a high school kid that I would be in charge of this sale one day.”

Weber has led the Senior Student Ag Trip every year since he started teaching agriculture at Seneca. Typically, eight to 10 FFA members travel to Canada each year for a wilderness fishing trip.

Since the border was closed in 2020 and 2021, Weber switched the trip to northern Wisconsin, which is where the group will go again this year due to the uncertainty of COVID testing requirements at the Canadian border.

“It is a way for the seniors to have one last opportunity to be together,” Weber said. “Kids earn to go by working in the concession stand and this year three of the 10 are going for free and none of the kids are paying full price.”

Every kid that wanted to go on the trip has been able to participate, Weber said.

“I started doing this because Ron Lynch took me when I was in high school,” he said.

All these FFA activities have resulted in success for the Seneca FFA Chapter that was named the No. 1 chapter in the state for 18 years in a row.

“And 1991 was the last time we were out of the top 10,” Weber said. “That’s because we have great kids, great families and great administrative support.”

“I know it’s year 34, but it feels like year five. I have loved being an ag teacher,” Weber said. “The part most people can’t believe is I missed five days of school and not one of those days was for me.”

“When I was here a week, I said I never want to leave with the resources we have and the support from our administration,” he said. “We had Butch Cotter for 10 years and Rod Engstrom for 10 years and they would say if an activity is good for the kids, then do it.”

Two ag teachers have been hired to teach at Seneca starting in the fall of 2022, since Maierhofer plans to retire next year.

“Jeff will co-teach with them, so they can get hands-on experience,” Weber said. “Both Cally Diss and Mitch Miller are familiar with this area.”