New Faces: Kimball Jr./Sr. High School FFA Instructor

Sally Wheeler is to be Kimball Junior Senior High School’s new Agriculture and FFA Instructor.

Wheeler taught in Wyoming for five years, and she attended the University of Wyoming prior to that.

“Agriculture has always been an important part of my life, and I believe in education. I believe that education is the key to success, so it fit for me. To be an ag teacher really just combined two things that I really believe in,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler believes strongly in helping and teaching kids. She especially believes in teaching agriculture, because it helps kids to gain an appreciation for their community. Kimball is an agriculturally rich community, and Wheeler wants to really get the point across about how vital a good agriculture community is, not only locally but around the world.

“It’s something that’s important to pass on because it’s the way we produce food, stay healthy and stay alive,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler is aware of the fact that the younger generations are indeed the future.

“We have to prepare the future generations. It’s up to us to prepare them to be good future leaders. It might sound cliche, but that’s what it boils down to, if we want a solid future,” Wheeler said.

In the past, Wheeler taught seventh through tenth grade students and her time in Kimball will encompass grades nine to twelve. Wheeler enjoys teaching this age group for several reasons.

“I think this age range is great because the students are old enough to be reliably responsible. That doesn’t mean they don’t need help though, they still need a bit of help figuring out where they’re headed and they need a little guidance. They’re in a very tricky time of life, trying to figure out what they want to do for their careers and it can be very stressful especially if you don’t have someone to help you sort through everything,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler has taken note of students’ learning differences. She understands that no two students learn the same way and enjoys helping each student find their niche that allows them to grasp a new concept.

“It’s important to get to know the kids and have a relationship with them so you know how to make things stick. That’s why I really like the size of Kimball because a smaller school allows you to really get to know the students. For example, I had a student that, as long as you could relate something back to poultry, he got it and it stuck. So I find that it’s very important to try and find that for every student, find the thing that makes what you’re teaching stick for that student,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler has an advantage, because she did grow up around agriculture. Her father was the irrigation director when she was growing up, and she lived on a small hobby farm.

“The farm never made any kind of money, but it kept us all busy. I probably had every kind of animal at some point and participated in a lot of 4-H and FFA,” Wheeler said.

Due to her background in 4-H and FFA, she sees the benefit of these programs in relation to students learning different lessons that can’t really be taught in a classroom.

“It teaches responsibility and hard work. These kids have to get up early and take care of their FFA or 4-H projects and they learn determination and patience and time management skills. They’re valuable lessons,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler was drawn to Kimball, because it’s a smaller school and she enjoys being able to work closely with each student, making sure they understand everything. It was also a good fit for her because her husband is working at High West Energy. So her teaching at Kimball is convenient as well as along the lines of her taste in teaching environment.

Some other teachers that will be starting are Erin Aerni as the part time English teacher, switching for a full-time position, at the High School. Stephanie Kitchens will be teaching Junior High Math, Melissa Pohl will be a full time English instructor, and Jacob Hoffman will be the elementary and high school vocal music instructor. School starts on Friday, August 15.