Larry Case Retirement Annoucement
All,
On January 24, 1966, I began a career of service to Agricultural Education as a local agricultural education instructor at Northwestern High School in Mendon, MO. Now 44+ years later I am writing you this email to announce something that I have always thought of as being a long time in the future. Most of the time, I really did not think about it, at all! The time has come, however, that I will be doing more than thinking. I will be starting a new phase in my life on Jan 1, 2011 called retirement. This date is 23 days short of being 45 years of service in public education. With your permission, I am going to call it 45 years!
I started my Federal journey on May 29, 1984. I have worked with many dedicated and competent professionals in the U. S. Department of Education. I especially enjoy my work in the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE). The OVAE staff is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of students through the effective administration of Federal policy. They take their work seriously and enjoy working together. It is a pleasure to work with them.
It goes without saying that I truly enjoy working in the best profession in existence! I have enjoyed being a part of the changes and growth in agricultural education over the past 26 years. Many victories have been won for the benefit of the profession, program, teachers and most of all our students! The work is important! As agricultural education professionals, we provide educational services that help students to be successful in their careers and lives. The agricultural industry and our Nation are served by providing well prepared and highly motivated leaders who will effectively lead and operate our Nations’ agricultural business sector. Our communities are well served with local leaders who care about the places they live and the success of others as well as themselves. I thank each of you for your work!
I look upon this next phase of my life as an opportunity to continue to grow, learn and serve. I also am excited to be able to spend more time with my wife Joy, our children Jeff and Chanda Case; Becky and Mike Carter; and Matt and Rebecca Case. I am especially excited to be able to spend more time with Riley, Rachael, Aaron and Annabelle. They, of course, are the brightest children in the world as they are Joy's and my grandchildren. In addition, Joy and I will be traveling. So it is my hope to see many of you on one of our “unhurried trips” sometime in the future.
I look forward to seeing all of you at the 83rd National FFA Convention. It will be my 27th and final National FFA Convention where I will serve as your National FFA Advisor "Stationed by the Owl." I hope you will celebrate agricultural education as I intend to do the rest of my life! Best wishes to all!!!
Senior Program Specialist-Agricultural and Rural Education and National FFA Advisor/CEO
US Department of Education
National Convention News
2009 Marks the 40th Year with Young Women in the FFA -- Kim Lippert was the first female president for the Minnesota FFA in 1976-1977. "Not only were women getting involved in agricultural education, but we started to see more people from non-farm backgrounds taking agriculture classes and expand the kinds of offerings we see in our high school curricula; FFA has kept up with the same kind of changes seen in agriculture." During the National FFA Convention, Lippert received her honorary FFA degree. Lippert is now an agriculture instructor at Ridgewater College. Listen to the RRFN report at http://rrfn.com/news/425dw.mp3. RRFN's coverage of the National FFA Convention is sponsored, in part, by the Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council.
Larson Honored -- Minnesota State FFA Advisor Joel Larson received the Outstanding National Association of Supervisors of Agricultural Education Award. "There's so many people in state supervision that I look up to as mentors; to be named the outstanding member was not only a surprise, but also an honor." Minnesota started the year with 185 ag education programs, up two from last year. This report can be found at http://rrfn.com/news/431dw.mp3.
Star in Agriscience -- A Foley, Minnesota FFA'er is the 2009 American Star in Agriscience, one of the organization's highest awards. Amy Robak was recognized for her work in agronomy and conservation. Robak is now a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. After being named one of the four American Stars, Robak encouraged other FFA members to pursue their passion. "FFA can develop skills, not only for agriculture; doing those CDE's are so important and those leadership experiences; doing the internships in your career field is very important to do, too." RRFN's coverage of the National FFA Convention is sponsored, in part, by CHS Incorporated.
Jordan Hanson, Chatfield FFA, was awarded National Entrepreneurship Award at the National FFA Convention
Tom Eilertson, United South Central FFA, was awarded Diversified Agricultural Production-Entrepreneurship/Placement at the National FFA Convention
85 Minnesota FFA members received the American FFA Degree
Kim Lippert, Tom Anderson, Robin Kinney, and Lisa Moorhouse received Honary American FFA Degrees
Mike Rowe with Discovery Channels “Dirty Jobs” was the keynote speaker at the first general session at the National FFA Convention this past week. Below is the link to the video of his speech. It’s about 45 minutes long. http://www.ffa.org/convention/2009/video.cfm
To view other presentations from the convention visit: http://www.schooltube.com/user/nationalffa.
On behalf of the Minnesota FFA Alumni Association we would like to announce the following chapters have been awarded $500 each for the purpose of bringing one of their administrators to the 2009 National FFA Convention:
Red Wing, Pine Island, Randolph, Foley and Dassel Cokato
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Paul Day and Ed Frederick were honored September 6th at the Minnesota State Fair when they were awarded the first Day-Frederick Award for a Lifetime of Dedicated Service to the FFA and the FFA Alumni.
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Dassel-Cokato FFA Alumni was recently notified that it will receive a National FFA Local Program Support Grant of $1000. They will be receiving it at the National FFA Convention in October. The grant was titled ”Enhance Our Curriculum To Beautify Our Dassel Cokato Campus.” The grant will be used for updating the Nursery/Landscape and Horticulture study guides and curriculum. We will also focus on the Emerald Ash borer to develop a plan in case it would infest our school site (which is about 70% ash trees.)