Hunter Smith is a teacher here at Andale High School. He teaches mostly all Agriculture classes. Smith is super involved in the community of Andale, and is a Track and Field coach for the Andale Middle School. When asked if he would like to answer some questions asked about him, he had no hesitation in responding yes. Inside the classrooms of teachers, it can be messy but it can also be really fun when you open your mind to it.

Before Smith started teaching at Andale, he taught at Chaparral Jr./Sr. High School in Anthony, KS. He taught there for one year, but did some substitute teaching off and on while in college. At Chaparral, he taught Physical Science for the Freshmen, Intro to Ag, Exploratory Ag, and Horticulture. Exploratory Ag lets students get to know the ground bases of Ag, and lets them get a taste of what Ag is in case they find it interesting, or don’t want to keep doing it in future years. Horticulture is the practice of garden cultivation and management. This allows students to further their knowledge on certain parts of Ag, and lets them continue to do what they love just at a higher standard.

I asked Mr. Smith why he wanted to teach Ag and his response was, “I really enjoyed participating in the FFA organization, the Agriculture education, and education people on the two. So what better career to go into than agricultural education”. Currently at Andale, he teaches, Exploratory Ag, Intro to Welding/Intro to Industrial Arts, Plant and Soil Science.

I asked Mr. Smith if it was different teaching at Andale now after Chaparral, he replied, “Yes. Andale has a high expectation culture. Students, staff, and community members want to thrive in everything they do. Which is always great to see and be apart of “. Hunter’s favorite part of teaching is seeing students learning and having fun while doing it.

The last question I asked Mr. Smith was what he thinks is the most fun or interesting lesson he teaches in any of his classes. He responded with, “My favorite lesson I teach is the “FFA Trail mix” lesson I do with the middle school class. They learn all of the different components of the FFA organization while making trail mix using different types of food (cereal, M&M’s, marshmallows, teddy grahams, etc). Then they get to enjoy the snack afterwards!”.