HOWARD — Thomas Jefferson once referred to agriculture as “our wisest pursuit” in a letter to George Washington, stating the tangible, real-world benefits it reaps.
For 44 years and counting, Tom Holton, the lone agriculture teacher and FFA advisor at East Knox High School, has put Jefferson’s words into perfect action.
Holton has not only reaped the benefits of the industry for his own career, but more importantly, he has guided students to their own success as well.
Holton won the prestigious Golden Owl award in February, representing the top agriculture teachers in 13 states, including California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.
Before teaching
Holton’s love for agriculture started on his family’s farm and grew once he became an active member of 4H and FFA later.
While working on his uncle’s farm for most of his childhood and young adult life, Holton learned the importance of hard work.
“[I worked for my uncle] probably from the time that I wasn’t really big enough to do a lot of work until I graduated from college,” Holton said.
“I loved the work and I knew the importance of it.”
Holton recalled that when he was entering his freshman year at Utica, with his class schedule still not set in stone, his parents attended an FFA banquet.
“Well, they came home from that and they said, ‘You need to take an ag class,'” Holton said, chuckling.
“I probably was going to anyway, but they were very impressed with the program they put on and everything for sure.”
After graduating from high school, Holton attended the Ohio State University and started off majoring in agronomy.
“My high school ag teacher had been after me to see if I was in ag education yet, and the first several times he asked, I was like, ‘Eh,'” Holton said.
Unsurprisingly to Holton, before he knew it, he was double-majoring in agronomy and ag education, completing his student teaching and winding up where he is today at East Knox.
Holton’s success in the classroom
Around the corner from Holton’s half-classroom, half-workshop hangs a jaw-dropping amount of FFA accolades.
To be specific, 231 of Holton’s Career Development Event teams have placed top 10 in the state. 21 of those teams reached the national convention.
16 teams went to the Eastern States Exposition, and 29 of his soil teams traveled to the nationals competition hosted in Oklahoma.
When asked to stand for a picture in front of some of those awards, Holton’s humility immediately shone through as he had some of his students stand with him.
These kinds of awards don’t just appear overnight, as Holton runs a fun but efficient three-part program.
“I call it class and shop as one part of it, their at-home plant, animal or job placement projects as the second part and then the FFA is the third part,” Holton said.
Unlike other programs across the area, East Knox incorporates the FFA as an intracurricular activity and not an extracurricular activity.
This incorporation means that when students are in an ag class, they are also FFA members.
“I always say, ‘Do I make you guys do any FFA activities? And they say, ‘No.’ But do I encourage you to? Yes,'” Holton said.
A lasting impact
Holton told Knox Pages he has the best job in the world because of his role in his students’ career development.
I tell people, whether they think I’m crazy or not, we have the best job in the world. We get to work with students and help try to mold their future with a variety of things we teach.
Tom Holton
While all three parts of Holton’s program are vital to his students’ success, he specifically noted how impactful the FFA can be.
Over the course of four years, Holton taught a student who went from being minimally involved at the beginning to attending national events her senior year.
“So, we’re at nationals, and we placed second in the contest,” Holton said. “That’s the highest we’ve ever placed out there, and I think the highest any team in Ohio has placed.”
Undoubtedly, Holton is proud of that student and the win, but the real impact came after that student moved on from East Knox.
“The girl goes on to Ohio State ATI in Wooster and gets a degree in soils,” Holton said. “Now she’s working for either Trimble or Mahoney County’s soil conservation service.”
“I remember talking to her some time ago, and she said, ‘I wouldn’t have done soil judging in class and in FFA, I wouldn’t be in the career I’m in.’ That meant a lot to me.”
What the future holds
Even though the Golden Owl was a big win for Holton, like any good teacher, he just wants to see his students win.
“I was humbled by it, I was very honored,” Holton said.
“But, I like my kids to win things; it doesn’t matter that I’m honored for something. But, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it humbled me and I was honored.”
To complement Holton’s trophy, he also received a total of $6,500 from his best in the district and state wins to use towards his FFA chapter.
As of right now, Holton is still planning a special way to use the money for his program.
It would be pretty easy to go out on top, as folks have been asking Holton about his thoughts on retirement.
His answer?
“I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing. I don’t see anything else that I’m going to move on and do,” Holton said.
So, the East Knox community can take a deep breath.
It seems pretty clear that Holton wants to hang up more banners and see more students fall in love with agriculture, just like he did when he was their age.