HOPE — Word traveled fast when Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School agriculture teacher Aleesa Dickerson found out she had been named the Indiana Association of Agricultural Educators Outstanding Early Career Educator of the Year.
Each year, teachers across the state nominate other teachers in their district to be recognized by the association as one of three honorees — outstanding young teacher, outstanding early career teacher and outstanding teacher. Agricultural programs may also be nominated.
After the nominations are received, the association votes for a winner in each category for each district. To be named a winner on the state level, the nominee must complete an application — something Dickerson said she rarely does.
“I don’t ever really apply for things that require an application,” she said. “I don’t have time. I think if you’re going to get an award in education, you should just get an award for the work you’re doing. You shouldn’t have to work harder to get it. So I wasn’t going to complete the application.”
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A few people found out Dickerson had been nominated and pressured her to complete the application. Sure enough, she was named Indiana’s outstanding early career educator of the year, which is awarded to a teacher who has served in agricultural education for fewer than eight years.
But Dickerson said she’s no one special.
“I’m probably just enough crazy and just enough patient to allow for a lot of really fun things to happen in my classroom,” Dickerson said. “Rarely do I turn down an opportunity that I think kids will learn from.”
Throughout the school year, students in Dickerson’s class receive a great deal of hands-on learning. For example, they’ve hatched chicks, nurtured plants in a greenhouse and even raised a few pigs.
“I’m up for anything, and I try to make learning relevant for all my students so they don’t ask themselves when they’ll ever use it,” she said. “I’m not rare; I just have really great kids.”
Dickerson’s students even surprised her at the annual FFA banquet, an awards program aimed at recognizing the success of the local FFA chapter members.
Dickerson said several students won state contests, qualified for national contests and even earned national recognition as a premiere chapter. But this year, the students wanted to do something to honor their agriculture teacher.
“The kids for the last three years have been trying to get me to cry at the banquet,” Dickerson said. “They managed it this year. I wasn’t even planning on telling anyone because it’s just another thing. All ag teachers are wonderful in their own way.”
Dickerson said being a teacher is one of the most challenging things she has ever done, but she still manages to come to work every day and have fun.
“Hope is a small place that often gets forgotten about in a county with a city like Columbus, but the town of Hope is receiving attention because of this,” Dickerson said. “The kids in our program and school are receiving positive attention because of this. That’s the best part is everybody else is getting to see the great things that I see every day.”
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Career: Eight-year educator, including six years at Hauser
Family: Husband, Casey; two sons, ages 6 and 4
Fun fact: Dickerson loves to travel. Her favorite place is Spain where she spent six months while in college.
Why she chose agricultural education: "I grew up on a farm and always had a passion for agriculture. I thought I wanted to be an English teacher because I had a really awesome English teacher in middle school. Then I got to know my ag teacher in high school and she was and still is everything I aspired to be as an educator. It was the perfect combination of my two passions, education and agriculture."
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