Dixon High School ag program effort moves toward finish line

DIXON, Ill. — It has taken a village, actually a city, and many months, but the effort to bring back agriculture education to Dixon High School is nearing completion.

“It has been a long time coming. You see the surrounding communities and school districts being able to offer ag classes and FFA and it is exciting that we are at this point,” said Aaron Book, a Lee County farmer and serves as the assistant girls basketball coach at DHS.

Book has led the effort to restore agriculture education to the largest school district in Lee County. On Feb. 21, the Dixon School Board planned to vote on hiring a teacher for the DHS ag program.

Book, a graduate of Amboy High School, said he wanted students in Dixon to have access to the same ag education and FFA experiences that he had in school.

“I go back to my Amboy days and now as an FFA alumnus and the amount of learning and leadership qualities I gained from my FFA experience. I just want these kids to be able to experience that,” he said.

Book started the effort over two years ago with then-DHS principal Mike Grady. Grady, who retired in June 2022, grew up on his father’s farm in rural Amboy.

“He is a farm kid, so I brought the idea to him and he was a supporter of it,” Book said.

Another supporter was Jared Shaner. Shaner taught physical education and was the head football coach at Mount Vernon before being hired as athletic director at DHS in 2015.

“I’ve known him since he came here as athletic director. He came from Mount Vernon and they have a big ag education and FFA program, so he was familiar with the program,” Book said.

Shaner was hired in December 2021 to become the DHS principal upon Grady’s retirement.

“He’s been very supportive of athletics and activities and Dr. Grady passed the project on to him,” Book said.

Another DHS ag connection that has helped Book bring the program to fruition is Amy Ebert, DHS guidance counselor.

Ebert’s husband, Justin, is the agriculture instructor at Highland Community College and formerly taught agriculture at Oregon High School.

Margo Empen, Dixon Public Schools superintendent, and Doug Stansford, assistant superintendent, rounded out the group on the administration side.

“We had multiple meetings with the administration and with the support of the administration. We worked out what the concerns were, what potential problems we might run into. We had a lot of meetings to figure out the best way to do this and we took our time in doing it,” Book said.

From the agriculture education sector, John Heiser, District 1 program adviser for Facilitating Coordination in Agricultural Education, provided assistance and input.

“It’s encouraging when you see the bigger schools like Oregon, Byron, Stillman Valley, Rochelle, have ag programs and now Dixon is set to join them. They see the opportunity and that is what this effort is all about, teaching students to be good consumers, good citizens and showing them that there are good paying jobs in agriculture,” he said.

Heiser said he was impressed at the support that Book had gathered for bringing an ag education curriculum back to DHS, which hasn’t offered agriculture classes since 1986.

“I think it’s really turning into a model. Dixon saw the importance of providing that opportunity to students,” he said.

Heiser said the timing of the Dixon efforts worked to the program’s advantage, too. When officials from FCAE meet with community and school groups to talk about starting or restarting an ag program at their high school, a timeline is one of the first topics they discuss.

“We talk about a timeline to post. I think that’s why Dixon had a great opportunity. When you are starting a new program, we tend to advise them that you post the position in the fall of the year before the program will start. You interview around December and January. Most schools around here do scheduling in February and March. So, you can have that new teacher come in and introduce themselves to the students,” Heiser said.

“A lot of students choose their classes on their comfort with and being able to relate to the teacher. So, you want to build that relationship and respect level. That is the key, you get your teacher hired and then you start signing students up for classes.”

Book also has cultivated connections outside of the school to generate interest in the ag program and support for a future FFA chapter.

“About a year ago, I started an ag, FFA and alumni support group. It’s about 10 to 12 people, supporters of the program from the community. They are not necessarily directly involved in agriculture, but members of the community who wanted to get on board and who I knew would support an ag program at Dixon,” Book said.

“We had a kickoff and introduction meeting to get students and parents interested and excited. The ag club will flow right to FFA,” Book said.

For Heiser, the effort to bring agriculture education back to DHS and the support that Book has had, from Dixon schools administration and from the local community, serves as an example of how a community can support agriculture education in schools.

“There are so many opportunities for students and we have to provide that for them and meet those local needs. When schools start this process, they see that need and they see all the groups who are invested and want to see this succeed,” Heiser said.