TC agriculture teacher steps back

FAIRLAND — For 35 years, Triton Central High School agriculture teacher Rich McGown has been molding the lives of students.

That was not the path he set out on after graduating high school, though.

"I certainly had a couple of great teachers when I went through high school. I had a lot of fun and success in math class," he recalled.

In college, McGown switched from pre-pharmacy to industrial management and then to math education, only to change to agricultural education."I was looking for that perfect fit and agricultural education seemed to be it, although agricultural education was never offered at my high school," he said.
Fortunately for Triton Central High School and its FFA program, McGown made the change.

In 35 years, there has been a lot of success in the FFA program, including more than 70 state titles and numerous Top 10 finishes at national competitions in agriscience research, agricultural sales, floriculture, horse judging, forestry and soils.

"For me, it was never the winning. It was getting to the point where they were pulling me for more material and practices instead of me pushing them to succeed. The successes were just a validation that they understood the value of self-initiative and the inner drive it takes to succeed in life," McGown said.

McGown said the recent tornado destruction in Moore, Okla., triggered memories of competing at the National Soils Judging contest in 1999.

"We finished second in the nation that year, but only after the highest wind speed tornado tore through town, dumping the cars from the interstate into the indoor hotel pool and leaving us in the only room intact in the hotel. The school van was totaled after it caught on fire when we were coming back from the contest," he said.

In 2010, McGown was named as one of the top four agriscience teachers in the nation, along with being selected as one of 20 agriculture teachers across the nation to attend the DuPont National AgriScience Academy in 2011.

"I've also truly enjoyed having my son walk across the stage at the National FFA Convention after being named as one of the nation's top 10 agri-entreprenuers," he said.

With his retirement nearing, McGown said a trip to Iowa summed up his feelings about education.

"I walked into this mechanical laboratory that had eight tractors that were fit into a room no bigger than two normal classrooms. You had to walk single file to get through the area. I realized then that it is the people that make students great. That has not changed through the years," he said.

In terms of how agricultural education has changed during his tenure, McGown said the emphasis is mirroring the agriculture industry where cells, macromolecules, management, marketing and sales are the focus and less so on the production and natural resources.

"Because of that, I am teaching advanced life science -- plans instead of crop production and teaching about biofuels instead of fence construction in agriculture mechanics," McGown said.

As for what he will miss, McGown immediately says his students. He said some of his best memories are the former students who reach out to him on a daily basis and mention they used the welding skills he taught them to get a job or a boss mentions his students were the best interview they had conducted.

"I will miss helping a student grow in his or her understanding and skills in career development as well as them growing as a person," he said.

McGown said it has always been his belief that Triton Central was both conservative and progressive and has always been centered around the student.

"It has been conservative about how it uses the community's money, but has often reached out to progressive ideas that will help students be successful in the future. It is a size of school that can offer the courses necessary for students to be successful, but small enough that every student has an opportunity to better themselves through several activities instead of having to focus on just a few. Both of my children went to Triton Central, and I cannot think of a better school that they could have gone to," he said.

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