Heritage Magazine: Cultivating Future Ag Educators

Heritage Magazine: Cultivating Future Ag Educators

In 2024, Sam Houston State University’s School of Agricultural Sciences was awarded a $750,000 Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to enhance the learning and preparedness of future ag teachers. To carry out this initiative, SHSU has partnered with Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville and the Texas FFA Foundation.

The collaborative project centers around the Texas FFA Foundation’s Leadership Education Advocacy Development (LEAD) Series, which connects current and future teachers with the best professional development practices in the field. The Cultivating LEAD program features three components for interested students to enhance their learning.

Mark Hainline, assistant professor of agricultural education at SHSU and the grant’s principal investigator, was thrilled to offer the LEAD series to his students. He sees the program as a way to immerse the pre-service teachers into all aspects of agriculture, broadening their horizons and preparing them to fully engage their future students.

“The Texas FFA Foundation is enthralled by this groundbreaking program,” Hainline said. “The feedback we are receiving from the foundation continuously highlights how the program is forward-thinking, to the point where they expect other states to try and copy what we’re doing.”

In 2025, the LEAD program partners brought together over 30 students on a tour around the state, stopping in Austin, Fort Worth, Waco, Houston, San Antonio, McAllen, Edinburg, San Marcos and everywhere in between. Along their route, the future ag educators visited the Texas Farm Bureau, Cinnamon Creek Ranch, Pilgrim Processing Facility, Justin Boots Headquarters, Wonderful Citrus, McCoy Building Supply Headquarters and more. At each stop, the Cultivating LEAD Summer attendees would tour each facility and learn from each organization’s leadership.

The summer program was a roaring success among the attending students, mirroring the success of the Legislative LEAD experience that brought seven students to the state capital last November.

The program was especially impactful for students like Emily Yates, a junior in Hainline’s agricultural education course and a member of the SHSU Ag Ambassadors. As someone who is driven to become the best ag teacher they can be, Yates jumped at the opportunity to attend the Cultivating LEAD program over the summer.

“I knew I wanted to go out there and meet ag teachers and talk to them about their experience in the field,” she said. “I only saw the FFA program at my high school, so it was interesting to talk to all these teachers from different high schools all around Texas.”

It wasn’t just the interactions with working ag teachers that broadened Yates’ horizons. The other stops along the trip exposed her to the inner workings of agricultural processes that she didn’t have access to living in Katy, a suburb of Houston. Following the experience, she gained a deeper understanding of all facets of agriculture and is now better equipped to share that knowledge with her future students by drawing on the new connections she established.

“This program is important because it shows the students on this path not only what it’s going to look like, but what all goes into the foundation that you’re about to grow and teach these kids in,” Yates said. “You’re seeing everything that goes into it, experiencing it all. You’re meeting with all of those who have given to the foundation and want to support us, as well.”

SHSU’s agricultural education students weren’t the only ones providing positive feedback. Hainline shared how those they met with were impressed with the students’ drive to educate the next generation of industry leaders.

“These students are already getting their foot in the doors of mentors and employers,” he said. “Teacher socialization and networking is vital to teacher retention, and many novice teachers feel isolation, which can lead to attrition. This program provides a foundation to socialize these emerging teachers with teachers currently in the field and with industry leaders across the state.”

Thanks to the early success of the program and the accolades Hainline and his colleagues (Professors Maureen Victoria, Shyam Nair, Rudy Ritz and Boot Chumbley) are receiving from the Texas FFA Foundation and state legislators, they are planning to expand LEAD’s reach. Next year, they aim to include students from Stephen F. Austin State University and Texas A&M University in the Cultivating LEAD Summer experience. While they have big plans for the future, Hainline and Alexander Alejandro from the Texas FFA Foundation are also preparing to earn more funding to continue the program beyond their initial grant’s expiration date.

“This is not something that’s going die after the four-year period. Even if we don’t get another grant, we’re going to find more funding sources to keep this going,” Hainline said. “Starting this collegiate initiative adds to the prestigious legacy of Sam Houston State.”

Legislative LEAD – A two-day event covering government and leadership topics, providing students with first-hand experience interacting with legislators to advance educational and agricultural legislation.

Cultivating LEAD Summer Experience – This weeklong program takes participants across the state to learn agricultural literacy, leadership development and engagement with current agricultural science educators.

Online Leadership and Policy Modules – Using these flexible, online resources, students can enhance leadership skills and agricultural policy understanding at any time.

For more inspiring stories about all things Sam Houston State University, read the Fall/Winter 2025 edition of Heritage Magazine here.