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Hernando Today

An Ag Teacher Acknowledged

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: February 4, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Anna Gray pored over the book that instructed her how to properly dissect the pig fetus.

The dotted lines on the diagram showed Gray where to maneuver the scalpel for this lesson as part of her Veterinarian Assisting course at Hernando High School. But she hesitated and looked toward her teacher, Rick Ahrens.

"Just start cutting," Ahrens said matter-of-factly. "Ain't nothing to it but to do it."

Gray made the cut.

Ahrens, an agricultural science instructor and FFA chapter adviser, has been giving guidance and bolstering the confidence of Hernando High students for the last 18 years. At a banquet in Spring Hill Saturday, he accepted his second district-wide Teacher of the Year Award.

Ahrens, 49, was selected by a review committee from a field of nearly two dozen teachers, and now he'll go on to compete on the state level.

To come out the top teacher in the county is an honor, Ahrens said during a lunch-hour interview in his office Monday. But to be up for the district-wide award, teachers must be named teacher of the year at their own schools. They earn that distinction through a vote of their peers.

"To get their vote of confidence, that's what means the most to me," he said. "The rest is icing on the cake."
Ahrens said most of the credit, however, should go to his students: "My kids make me look good, don't they?"
Ahrens said he's fortunate to work with students who "want to be here." They're the kids who, like Ahrens, are cultivating a passion for agriculture.

They're the students who tend to swine and poultry, rabbits and steer on the way to prize ribbons and a sharper sense of responsibility.

And they're the students who have helped the FFA chapter earn accolades that line the wall of Aherns' classroom.

"When it comes to doing the dirty work, my kids will be there," Ahrens said. "I can't come up with enough adjectives to describe my students."

Students have plenty of adjectives to describe Ahrens. A popular one is "funny."

"He's lively," said Rachael Jackson, a 14-year-old freshman.

"Mr. Ahrens is kind of a comic," said Brittany Huston, a 17-year-old senior who has taken classes with Ahrens all four of her years at the school. "It's not just, 'Here's a book, read it.'"

But Ahrens' skills go beyond comic relief, Huston said. He has a knack for getting students to buckle down when they need to. Huston said she'll always remember his "Five Ps" lesson: "Prior planning prevents poor performance."

"I've talked to him about my future," said Casey Stewart, a 15-year-old freshman who described Ahrens as her favorite teacher. "He'll help with anything, not just animals."

A native of Hudson, N.Y., Ahrens fell in love with life on the farm while working on one as a boy. He earned a bachelors degree in agricultural science and a masters in vocational education, both from Morehead State University in Kentucky.

He took his first teaching job in Lisbon, N.Y., where he stayed for eight years. He worked for a year in a prison horticulture education program before moving to Hernando County around 1990.

One benefit of the job, he said, is getting to spend more time with students at FFA and 4-H events. "I'm not bound by the four walls of the classroom," he says.

Students get to know his wife Brooks and his two daughters, Karly, 22, and 14-year-old Delaney, who attends Parrott Middle School in Brooksville and is active in 4-H.
Ahrens also coaches the Hernando High girls soccer team.

Because of those extracurricular activities, and because he teaches a range of classes, Ahrens gets to see students through the entire trajectory of their high school careers. That gives him plenty of time to reach his main goal of, as he puts it, giving students "ability to think, make decisions and solve problems."

"You give them those skills, regardless of what field they go into, they'll be successful," he said.

"He believes strongly that every child has great potential, and he pushes them to find that potential," said Nancy Moores, the 4-H agent at the Hernando County Cooperative Extension Service, who has known Ahrens for 10 years.

"He really goes all out for his students," said Howard Thomas, another veteran teacher and former chair of Hernando High agricultural sciences department who now works at STAR Education Center.
Ahrens named Thomas as an influential mentor, and Thomas said Ahrens followed his advice: "Work hard and enjoy what you do."

"I love coming to school," Ahrens said. "I haven't worked a day in my life."
Ahrens admits he's "not the most politically correct" teacher in the ranks. He once got a fine for offering a few choice words to a reporter about the call made by a referee in a soccer game.

He says he learned from Thomas never to be afraid to ask administrators for books or equipment to make the program stronger.

But he also acknowledges there are days when he doesn't feel like he's making a difference. On those days, he consults what he calls his "pity pouch," a manila envelope overflowing with letters and cards of thanks from students.

One of them came from Lindsay Wagner, who graduated last year. In the letter, Wagner told Ahrens he "made such a great impact on my life" by bringing out her confidence.

"I've gone from expecting the world to give me something, to working to get something out of this world," she wrote. "Keep on teaching and improving lives."
Ahrens said that's his plan. He wants to finish his career at Hernando High. How long will that be?

"For as long as I can continue to drag my fat butt in here," he said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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