Huge named Ag Educator of the Year

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Duane Huge, an agricultural teacher at Danville Community High School, received Indiana’s Golden Owl Award and was named Ag Educator of the Year at the Indiana FFA Convention.

Huge received a trophy and a $3,000 Nationwide-funded donation to further Danville’s agricultural education efforts.

Huge received an outpouring of community nominations that described him as being impactful, going above and beyond, and having unmatched dedication to not only his students, but agricultural education.

“Duane Huge is a deeply committed educator who instills in his students a lifelong love of learning and a deep sense of community service,” an anonymous nominator said.

“I credit his personal involvement for helping both of my sons define their life paths, which have now led both through challenging programs at Purdue and to top-rated graduate schools, one an engineering master’s student at Purdue and one a biology Ph.D. student at Yale.”

Indiana FFA also recognized two people for their dedication to agriculture education with the Distinguished Service Award: Blake Hackman and Allen Talbert.

The Outstanding Service Award recipients were Mr. and Mrs. Lehman, of Berne, who have given over $30,000 to the Indiana FFA Foundation in just 16 years.