Desire to help turns from nursing to teaching

FAIRBURY, Ill. — While in high school, Becky Freed considered a career as a nurse until an aha moment changed her mind.

“I went to Manteno High School and my high school agriculture teacher, Roger Schnitzler, is the one that really encouraged me to be an ag teacher,” said Freed, Prairie Central High School ag teacher and FFA adviser.

“All along, I thought I was going to go into nursing because I wanted to be in a career that helped people. Then, on the way home from the state FFA prepared public speaking contest, he said, ‘have you thought about teaching ag.’ It was kind of like a light-bulb moment, like, oh, I could combine my passions of wanting to help people and staying involved in agriculture into one career.

“I grew up on a dairy farm, so obviously had a lot of experience with production agriculture growing up. We also had corn, soybeans, and hay.”

She attended the University of Illinois majoring in agriculture education and also earned her master’s degree from U of I.

Freed student taught at Prairie Central in Fairbury and started her career at Dwight Township High School 22 years ago. She’s been at Prairie Central for the past 12 years.

Her 10 years at DTHS included rebuilding its FFA program that had lost its charter before her time there.

“It was a fun challenge to start. Your first year as an ag teacher is really hectic and busy, anyway, and then to be starting a new program, but also to be on the ground floor of trying to reestablish what had happened at Dwight,” Freed said.

“I’m super proud of Sidney Krople, who’s the ag teacher there now, and who’s just run with it. She was one of my students at Dwight and she’s doing an awesome job with the program now.”

Freed’s classes at Prairie Central include introduction to ag, ag supply and service, horticulture, greenhouse management and veterinary science. She serves as FFA adviser along with Kyle Miller, Kylie Miller and Tyson Stork.

The FFA program is known for its successes at both the state and national levels.

“We have a really strong tradition. Chatsworth, Fairbury, Forest, Strawn, Wing, and Chenoa all make up the Prairie Central School District. It’s been successful for several years and with that history of program success, when students are successful, they want to be involved with it.”

About 65% of the Prairie Central students take an ag class during their high school years and are involved in FFA.

“We do have a lot of kids that live in town that want to learn about agriculture, but we are a pretty rural school district and we have a lot of businesses in our school district. So, a lot of businesses were really supportive of an expansion to the ag program with the new addition to give students hands-on skills and experiences in the trades and in fields that they might be able to directly enter the workforce in our in our area,” she noted.

That new Agriculture/Industrial Technology addition opened at the beginning of the current school year. It includes ag mechanics, construction, animal science and ag power classrooms, as well as an 18-by-36-foot greenhouse.

Student Growth

Freed was asked what were her favorite aspects of her ag teaching career.

“I think the best part about being an ag teacher is that for four years you have a front row seat into watching students develop their God-given talents. Sometimes it’s helping them figure out what that is. Sometimes they come in with an idea and you just kind of help foster and provide opportunities for them to really develop their skills,” she noted.

“Every day’s different, every student’s different, and that part’s really enjoyable.”

Many ag teachers recall examples where students who come into the program are very timid at first, and then develop confidence that leads to success.

“That is so true. I can think of multiple examples of students that wouldn’t say boo when they first walked into my classroom. Then through different opportunities over four years and just having a chance to broaden their horizons, get outside of their comfort zone, really figure out what they’re interested in, and then work hard to develop whatever and reach whatever their goals are. It’s really a neat experience,” Freed said.

Over more than two decades as an ag educator, Freed has seen numerous success stories from her former students.

“It’s absolutely fun to see where they end up and also to have them come back and visit with classes and with current students about the opportunities and the careers available to agriculture,” she noted.

“So, I always say they sometimes far exceed what I thought would happen, but I’m always so proud and excited to see where they’re going.”