CULLMAN, Ala. — This teacher comes highly recommended and as a visitor to this school, we see why! This next teacher we're about to meet is all about agriculture. We introduce to you Agriscience Instructor, David Benefield from Cullman High School!
"I try to promote agriculture every way I can. And it's, it's part of me. It's who I am. It's ingrained in me,” said Benefield.
Benefield has been teaching for a while. “Twenty-seven years at Cullman. Thirty years altogether.”
Benfield is an Agriscience Instructor, and it’s not because it was something he learned at Auburn University.
“I go back generations of farmers and just anything agricultural just is a passion of mine. It really is,” said Benefield.
His lineage lit a spark to his love for agriculture and he’s passed his love for this type of life to his students. Just ask graduating senior, Carson Starnes. “I'm a senior here. I've had him all four years I've been here. We'll built stools, benches, tables, stuff like that, and then welding and cutting metal and stuff like that. So we learn a lot, a lot of variety."
Starnes, like Benefield, grew up growing food. “Well, I've lived on a farm my whole life, and so I can relate to it, and I figured it can help me later on in life because I'm wanting to go into the ag industry.”
So as expected, it’s not only work that students do on the inside. It’s outdoor work too.
“Obviously going out with the greenhouse planning, taking care of plants and stuff like that, it's also fun,” added Starnes.
Principal Allison Tuggle sees the fruit of their labor. “He does make agriculture fun. We want to produce students who aren't just college bound, but are in the career bound world. But not only that, but you're learning basic skills.”
“I like to pass that on to the kids and just have them have positive experiences like I've had and just kind of continue to grow intellectually, but not just that knowing where their food comes from, how important just life skills are, just being able to work with your hands and be a productive part of society,” said Benefield.
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{WEB EXTRA: DAVID BENEFIELD SURPRISED}