Author: Neal Fandek

A man in a cowboy hat shakes hands with a younger man in a blue jacket at an indoor event. The younger man holds a plaque, and they both smile. Other people are visible in the background.

Beefing Up Learning

More than half the students at Ash Grove High School are food insecure. That’s a shocking figure for Lawrence County, Missouri’s top county for beef cattle. It’s especially astonishing considering southwest Missouri is among the leading cattle production areas in the country, and the Show-Me State is home to the […]

Man with glasses, dark curly hair, and a beard, smiling. Hes wearing a white shirt and a patterned tie, standing against a plain background.

Chad Murphy Leads ‘an Average Chapter’ That is Anything but Average

Chad Murphy is the ag education instructor for Versailles High School, Morgan County R-II, and sponsors the local FFA chapter, which he humbly characterizes as “a well-rounded program, a good average chapter.” He teaches Agriculture Science I for freshmen, Agriculture Science II for sophomores, Agriculture Construction (shop work, welding), a […]

The Big Tree Lives

The tree dominates the Boone County river bottom, almost 100 feet tall with a canopy even wider and a nearly 24-foot-wide trunk. This is the U.S. co-champion bur oak, aka the Big Tree. It has survived earthquakes, lightning strikes, floods and droughts in its nearly four centuries. It seems impossible […]

A smiling graduate in cap and gown stands beside a woman in a floral top. They are inside a gymnasium with red and black bleachers and championship banners on the walls.

It’s About the Kids

Lesley Newsom, ag instructor and FFA advisor for Senath-Hornersville High School in Senath, Mo., keeps busy with lesson planning, teaching topics ranging from plant science to animal husbandry to biotechnology, and even welding and construction. And that’s not counting the fundraising, bus driving, early mornings, after-hours work and weekends she […]

Not Just Cows and Plows

Dean Reichel, ag teacher and FFA advisor at New Bloomfield R-III, goes above and beyond to make a difference. That’s a cliché in today’s cynical age, but it’s true in his case. He’s making lesson plans for eighth to 12th grade ag education classes that, thanks to COVID-19, he knows […]

A man and a woman stand in front of a sign for Meadville FFA Chapter. The man wears a blue plaid shirt and glasses, while the woman has long brown hair and is wearing a blue patterned blouse. Bright flowers are in the foreground.

The man on the tractor

Like many Missourians, Phillip Martin, agricultural education instructor at Meadville R-I High School in north-central Missouri, grew up on a farm. Unlike most Missourians, he went on to teach in several mid- and northern Missouri high schools after graduating from the University of Missouri, first with a bachelor’s degree in […]