GAEL UnscriptED S2:E5 | How Ag Education Changes Lives with Rachel Kinsual, Georgia TOTY

What happens when a teacher treats a classroom like a launchpad? We sit down with Georgia’s Teacher of the Year to explore how agriculture education, FFA, and work-based learning give students real skills, real mentors, and real chances to lead. From the greenhouse to the state boardroom, this is a story about saying yes to hands-on learning and watching students grow into confident citizens.

We trace her path from a farm upbringing and Wyoming ranch camp summers to a career that blends animal science, leadership, and entrepreneurship. She breaks down the ag education three-circle model—classroom instruction, FFA, and supervised agricultural experiences—and shows how each part feeds the others. You’ll hear how national FFA convention opens doors for 70,000 students, why a school livestock barn changes daily teaching, and how SAEs translate into paid work, portfolios, and national recognition.

The highlight is a blueprint any school can adapt: a floral design program launched with $1,000 that now generates $60,000 through wreath classes, monthly subscriptions, weddings, and major events. Alongside that, a citywide service initiative sends hundreds of students to parks, nonprofits, and shelters in a single day, turning service hours into civic pride. We talk candidly about logistics, leadership that finds a way to say yes, and the moments when students transform their teacher—like the welder who found purpose in the shop and the alum who returned to design flowers during a family tragedy.

We also pull back the curtain on her role with the State Board of Education, how funding and accountability connect, and why expanding CTAE and work-based learning drives equity across districts. Public education’s superpower is choice: AP, dual enrollment, IB, and technical pathways that help students discover what truly fits—and what doesn’t—before it costs time and tuition.

If you care about career readiness, community partnerships, and programs that pay their own way, you’ll come away with practical ideas and fresh energy. Subscribe, share this episode with a colleague who dreams big for their students, and leave a review telling us the one hands-on project you’d launch first.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Welcome back, Gail family, to another exciting episode of Gail Unscripted. Today you're in for a special treat. We've got the Georgia Teacher of the Year, Rachel Kinsall here with us. Rachel, a lot of our Gail family met you at Summer Gale. I believe that might have been your first talk as Teacher of the Year. I may be wrong, but we decided to break you in really well, speak in front of 1400 so that everything else would be simple after that. But a lot of our members may not know you, so why don't you take a couple of minutes and just introduce yourself and tell them a little bit about who Rachel is.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Okay. That was my first speaking um engagement, but I was really glad to do it. I was glad you guys pulled me in. I felt like, you know, as Teacher of the Year, kind of got a slow start. They let you kind of get ac acclimated to not being in the classroom and get the swing of things. Um so August was really slow for me. So I appreciated you guys like just letting me jump in and give it a try. Um but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

You did wonderful too.

From Ranch Camp To Ag Education

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Well, thank you. Thank you. I um am originally from Green County, Georgia, and um I grew up on a farm, a beef cattle farm. I did road horses with my dad. We team roped, did rodeos. So when I was looking to go to UGA, I thought, well, um, I'll go in animal science. I actually applied for a Farm Bureau scholarship, and I knew that in order to get the scholarship, I had to have an ag major. And so I just like wrote down animal science. I was like, I like animals, here we go. Um, and then I got in my first class and I absolutely loved it. So I wasn't really sure what I was gonna do with that, but I really liked the animal science thing. Um and then I met um a girl in college very randomly whose high school history teacher ran a kids' ranch camp in Wyoming. And um she just kind of saw what I was doing, she's like, You would love this. So I went out to Wyoming. I worked at Teton Valley Ranch Camp for four summers in college. I was on the barn staff. So I taught kids from all over the country how to ride horses. And when I came back, I was talking to my advisor, and he was the one who kind of said, he said, you know, if you like working with kids and you like ag, have you ever thought about being an ag teacher? And I had not. I mean, my school did not have an ag program. I didn't even know what FFA was. So this was a completely new idea to me. Um, but I didn't want to change my major because I had struggled through science, those hard sciences, wanted my degree to reflect that. So um I finished animal science and got my master's in ag leadership. And um, but it's funny because animal science is the one class I've never taught. So look at there.

Why Teaching Ag Feels Different

SPEAKER_00 3:14

See, I've heard you speak quite a few times, but I've never heard that story. You know, I I would have just assumed you grew up as an ag student and uh and heavily involved in FFA, so that's a great, great story. Tell us what you love about teaching in general and about teaching ag specifically.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

So I think teaching in general, I really love to get to know the kids, to make that connection with the kids and like kind of help them be productive citizens. That's my big goal is to make my students productive citizens. And so that's what I really love about teaching. Um, I I love teaching AG specifically because no two days are the same, and really no two hours are the same. Everything is different. Um, every class period is different. We might be outside in the greenhouse, or we might be visiting a farm, or we might be in the woods, or we might be down at the livestock barn, or we're making flower arrangements, but it it is interesting to say the least. And um also think that, you know, kind of going back to what I said about just loving education and being able to connect with the students, being an ag teacher gives you more one-on-one time, I feel like, with the kids to make those connections because a lot of times when you're sitting there planning plugs in the greenhouse, you have a lot of time for conversations, or you're walking out into the woods to get ready for a forestry lab and you're just chatting about what they like to do or what they did this weekend, um, or you're in the car a lot. Uh so lots of conversations come out of the car. So I just feel like that's what makes being an ag teacher special is the fact that we're given lots of opportunities to kind of connect with the kids on a deeper level.

The Three-Circle Model Explained

SPEAKER_00 4:57

That's a great point. You know, there's a lot of um maybe educators out there, educational leaders that maybe they haven't had an opportunity to work at a school and be connected to the CTAE program. Ag specifically, talk a little bit about what are some of those outside of the classroom things that ag teachers do that takes up an enormous amount of time that maybe some people don't know about.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

So the agriculture program runs on a three-circle model. And we talk about our classroom instruction being one circle, FFA being another circle, and then SAEs or supervised agricultural experiences being that third circle. And they are all the same size, they're all equally important, and they all really work together. So obviously, one third of that is the classroom instruction, and we use that opportunity to kind of give kids the background knowledge. Um the way I kind of see it is um FFA is one of those ways that we can the kids can compete in different areas of things that they've learned. Compete uh with their SAE or compete um with um content skills, career development events is what we call them. And so a lot of my time on the FFA side of things is taking kids to contest. Um we don't do a lot of the CTSOs or career tech student organizations group their contests together and they might have like one or two big days. AG doesn't do it like that. So we have you know uh two or three different contest days a month. So there are two or three days throughout each month where we're going um to different counties and throughout our district to compete with the kids. We also get an opportunity to go to summer leadership camp, which is one of my favorite weeks of the camp of the summer. Um they get to go to the FFA camp. And I like to tell the kids, I'm like, you're going to FFA camp, but we're not like planting corn. Um we're we're working on the leadership side of things. So we're doing a blob and we're doing teamwork activities, we're doing high ropes courses, we're playing softball, we're playing volleyball. But that's another opportunity where you're getting to hang out with the kids and and and learn more about them and kind of bond with them in that way. Um, you know, conventions. We go to state convention, we go to national convention. Um national convention is a fun one because we're taking kids out uh a lot of times it's their first time on an airplane. So just getting to give kids a different experience.

Inside FFA Competitions And Camp

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yeah, talk about that national conference. It's up in Indianapolis. Yes. Uh I went one time. Uh it is a huge, I knew it would be big before I went, but I wasn't prepared for just how big. But basically those blue and gold jackets take over downtown Indianapolis. They do. But talk about that a little bit in the the uh the um, I don't want the career fair, I guess is what you would call it. All of the colleges and companies that are there.

National Convention Scale And Impact

SPEAKER_01 7:57

But it's a really cool experience because it is the largest youth conference in the country. There's 70,000 kids, and every single one of them is wearing the exact same thing. So it makes it challenging to find your students. Um, but it it's a lot of fun because it's in downtown Indianapolis. We tried to move it around some, um, but Indy seems to be the one place that can actually accommodate everyone. So um we've gone back to Indy. Um, but it's kind of nice, you know where things are, you know where to eat. But um it's a neat opportunity because the kids get to see just how vast FFA is and they get to meet people from all over the country. They do lots of fun little activities to try to get the kids to interact, like getting kids to sign books from each state, so they're constantly looking at the back of their jackets to see where the other states are. Um but we've recently had a good bit of success and had kids competing at National Convention, which is a whole nother thing. So we've had the state-winning agricultural issues team, and that's a contest where the kids identify an issue, they present it to different groups in our community, and then they present to a panel, write a portfolio about their experience. And um, that's just cool because they're getting to see that what they're doing in our state is is relevant in other states, and to hear the issues and ag that are facing other states is cool too. And then, you know, we've had some kids with the SAE side of things do really well nationally too. You know, that third ring is that SAE ring. And um, that is where students are taking things that they've learned in the classroom, maybe sparked an interest. They're working outside of the classroom, and we part of our job is to supervise that. So a lot of times that comes in the way of livestock shows. We have a livestock barn, so I spend a lot of my time at our school's livestock barn checking on animals. Um, that's been a big game changer for us, though. Like I feel like we've been able to stay on top of like illnesses with the animals a little bit more, been able to work with the kids more. So having that barn available at school to do that has really been a game changer. Um, but the other kids, like um, we had a student who was a national winner in the grain production proficiency. He worked with his dad, they did row crops, um, grew a lot of wheat, grew a lot of corn, and um, so they were he was able to fill out a record book, our proficiency record book about his project, and he was a national winner. So um, we've had kids who are national winners in nursery operations. Um I s that's why I kind of say that FFA part is the place like the kids are able to gain some recognition for the cool things that they're doing in the other areas through FFA.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Both locally, state, and at the national level. I I know a man that I go to church with. Um uh his SAE project in high school with FFA started a company right out of high school that is now probably 12 or 15 times bigger than when he started, and it all came about because of that SAE. So I thought that's that's just an example. I'm sure you've got tons of those that you've heard of.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Um I got to go to the work-based learning conference. I'm glad you mentioned work-based learning because I was there this past week and I laughed. I was like, these are my people, because we really are trying to do the same thing. We're trying to get the kids into the community to um better prepare them for the workforce. And so I walked in and saw so many familiar faces. But you know, like I had a student who started a floral business through work-based learning or through her SAE, which transitioned to work-based learning. She got a lot more time to work on it because of work-based learning. Um she's a you uh sophomore at the University of Georgia. She called me last week to tell me that she was getting to go decorate at the governor's mansion. So um, she started a floral business and she got a job with a florist. She was getting cool opportunities. So, you know, like I like to think that that really is an opportunity for us to like match talents with skills and and open the doors for these students. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Rachel and I, we both serve on the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education on that board. And we had a meeting recently, and that was one of the things that we heard from the business and industry representatives. Uh, they're talking about how important it is for the employees that they hire, young professionals, um, to have that importance of having some sort of work-based learning experience, an internship or something like that. And that's what FFA and AG and the SAEs and C T E department provides our students at Georgia's K-12 schools. Well, I know as an AG teacher in Morgan County, you were very, very passionate about community service. So talk to us a little bit about where that maybe where that passion came from and some of the things it blossomed into.

SAEs, School Barn, And Student Wins

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Yeah, well, I I I I just have a big heart for our community and trying to plug our kids into the community. And I you know, one thing I've really been able to see is that if I am connected with the community, doors open up for my students. People come to me with opportunities, um, being sitting in meetings in the community, I see opportunities for my students to plug in. And I just think it's so important for the kids to be connected with what's happening. Um, but one of the big things that I realized when I was helping the my students write these FFA degree applications, they have to have 25 hours of community service in order to earn their state degree. And that seemed to be a a barrier for a lot of the kids. Like we were constantly trying to figure out how to get them their last couple hours or what they needed to do. And it honestly, if a kid wasn't in like a youth group, an active youth group, then they didn't have a lot of community service opportunities. You know, we do things through FFA, but it might be like one hour here, one hour there. Um, it wasn't these long sustained 25-hour ordeals. And so I went to my principal, Dr. Mickey Edwards, at the time, and I I I laugh now because I I think back of what she was thinking when I said this. But, you know, in my head it was like perfectly normal, everything was fine, it was gonna work out. Um but I was like, I want every single kid in our school to go out and do a community service project on the same day.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

And how many kids were at the end of the day? 1100. I just want our listeners to do that.

Work-Based Learning And Real Careers

SPEAKER_01 14:28

I want eleven hundred kids. It's like, oh I can do it, we can do it. We can figure out places for them to go. I'll figure out transportation. I want every kid to go out and do something on the same day. And yeah, I appreciate her so much now because she didn't like laugh in my face and and send me out the door, tell me no. But she that that was the power of her leadership. I feel like in so many different instances was her ability to ask the right questions and and really help you morph something into something that could actually work instead of just crushing you and you know, crushing your dreams and sending you out the door. So um she suggested, she said, How about we just start with one grade level? And so Sophomore Serve was born. We actually had it planned. I had it planned to go on um in April of 2020. But you all know how that happened. Um but honestly, it was probably better that we didn't do it that because this idea happened in like February and I threw it together. Um so I I don't think that we were really fully prepared to go in 2020, but she was gonna let me do it. Um and the next year we hit it full force. So for the last five years, 250 of our students have gone out into the community. Um we have a state park, we have a special needs camp. Um, so those two places took 60 to 70 kids each, and we could split them up into different groups, but the rest of them were small groups. We'd send 10 kids to the community garden, we would send 20 kids to the Humane Society, we sent 10 kids to the food pantry, five kids to the foster closet, three kids to the library. So there were a lot of small groups that were going out, a lot of buses would make multiple drops, but the kids would work for about two hours. We had sponsors in the community who donated money so all the kids could have lunch and get a t-shirt. And um, so it really turned out to be this really awesome thing. Now, was it a logistical nightmare? Absolutely. Um it was crazy that day and um trying to figure out who was going where. And then, you know, there's not many teachers teach straight sophomores. So the teachers that we were pulling out to go on these trips, you know, we had to figure out where the the other kids in their classroom were gonna go. So it was it was crazy, but I felt like the kids learned so much from it, you know, they started asking questions like what do they do here anyway? Like, who pays for this? And they're realizing like what opportunities are available in their community that they could benefit from, but also how they could help them later. And another you know, like I think about what it says to our community. Our community gives so much to us, and this is our opportunity to like give back to our community.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

I think it's incredible. You're like you said, you're you're helping the students learn how to volunteer, the importance of it. They're learning all of the different volunteer opportunities in the community, how they're funded, who supports those, who's doing all of this work. I think another important lesson for leaders out of this is listening to you talk about your principal. She could have easily said no. She could have just shut it down. She should have she could have said, Rachel, we've got enough, um it's hard enough to do our job while we've got them here contained on our campus. But I like what you said. She figured out a way to listen to you and to help find a way to say yes. And I think that's an important lesson for all of our leaders out there. You know, when our teachers come to us with ideas, let's figure out a way to say yes before we say no. But I I love that story. That's the second time I've heard you say that. Um but I think that's a very, very important piece. I know that the you know, flowers and there's reefs, there's all kinds of things that I want you to tell our listeners about. Maybe let's start with the reefs, which I just recently saw, like happens when someone has a great idea. Uh, the beautiful thing about teachers is we steal ideas from each other. That's what Gail's all about, networking, uh, borrowing ideas. But I saw there was a a school not too far from here that had borrowed your idea and was doing this now. But tell them about what you do with the preachers in your community.

Building Community Through Service

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Yeah, so I guess I'm I feel I need to tell you a little background about how our floral program came about too, because I think that has a big part of it. Um but so when I started in Morgan County, I was teaching ag mechanics and it's where I was needed. It's not my area of expertise, but I like you know, as an ag teacher, I am the literally certified to teach everything from ag mechanics and metal fabrication to floral design.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

So for our listeners that maybe don't know what ag mechanics is, why don't you give them a brief little so they can hear what Rachel used to teach?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

So uh electrical, small engines, woodworking, welding. Um, I learned pretty quickly that welding was a smart or not welding, wiring was a smart kid thing. And so I could figure that out and I could show the the boys in my class who had grown up in their daddy's shop. I could show them that I knew more than they knew in electrical wiring. So then after I'd humbled them just a little bit, we could move on to welding and small engines, and if we were learning together, it was Was okay. Like I had built a little rapport. They they knew I was kind of legit at least. Um street credit. Yeah, I got some street cred. So um so yeah. And after I taught that for a while, I went to my CTA director and I asked her if I could teach floral design. Um it was something that honestly Texas is doing really well. Texas has got a big all there a lot of floral design happening in Texas. And so I'd kind of seen things on Facebook, the Ag Teacher Network um even you know expands across the state. So I asked her if we could teach floral design. And she said, again, you know, like I think back to that same story I told about Dr. Edwards, this would have been an easy opportunity for her to say, no, we're not doing that. We don't have any money, we don't have the funds, all this stuff. Especially when I think about when I came to her with this, I don't remember exactly when it was, but the kids had already done their course selections. And I was saying, can I do this next year? And she told me, if you give me a list of kids that want to take it, we'll make it happen. And so I went.

unknown 21:08

Wow.

Launching Sophomore Serve Citywide

SPEAKER_01 21:08

I handpicked my first class, which I also think was really great because I got my my eye kids that I knew would be interested and gave her a list. But the other barrier that was money, um, it is a very expensive class. And so I told her, I was like, if you can give me a thousand dollars, I won't ask for another dime. And I am very proud to say that I have not. Um last year we had over$60,000 come through just our cut flower account, so that's how much we are generating um throughout the community. So I tell you that to say, we had to figure out ways to come up with money. And um because I love I love talking to people, I love the community, I love making those connections. Um, this wreath class kind of came about, and my co-teacher at the time, Caitlin Marchant, she's actually the program manager for Ag Ed now at the DOE. So um I laugh because we both have golden name badges now. And um, but we went down in the basement of our school and we found these wreath forms. I was like, let's do a wreath class, and so um we threw it out there. The first class had six people there. It was my mom and my aunt, and two of my friends, the culinary teacher and the head football coach.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

I remember this story. Yes, yep.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

The legendary Bill Malone um was amazing, but there were six people there, and like I feel like it would have been really easy for us to quit or not do it again, but we tried again and we tried again, and um couple at the beginning of December, we had our tenth wreath making class, and I had 70 people there. We did another class with 10 the next day. Um, it's the hottest ticket in town. We've increased the price, nobody even bought. Um, one of the big things, too, that you know, for that we collect all of the materials. That's the hard part, is going out. I take a dunk trailer to a bunch of different farms in town, and we cut Leland cypress and cedar and magnolia, and so we collect all of the stuff. So it's really turned into a good money maker for us because we don't have a lot um of overhead in our wreaths, but everyone loves it. And people come back year after year, they bring their sisters or their moms or their friends, or and and it's just a it's a fun night to to make wreaths.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

And do I remember you told me y'all do that like a certain night of the week, multiple weeks, or well no How do y'all do that?

SPEAKER_01 23:39

We do it, we do a four o'clock class and a six o'clock class, and then this year we did a sec uh the night the next day it was a smaller class for a group. But um we try to do it all in in one swoop because it takes so much to collect all the stuff and we want it to be fresh and be good, so we don't like to let it be.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Well, I heard you give that story in front of a group of middle and high school principals and their eyes all lit up when you said principal gave us a thousand dollars and we turned it into a sixty thousand dollar business, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Well, and you know, we also do a floral subscription, and that's where the the money came from up front was the fact that um people would buy a subscription and then we deliver flowers to them once a month, and that gave us a little bit of money on the front end of that to really get started. And then we broke into the wedding business and um events. We do the College of AGs um alumni dinner, we do the Georgia Agribusiness Council's harvest celebration.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

As a teacher, why why don't you share a story or two maybe about some students that you know teachers make great impacts and influences on students, but sometimes those students have the same effect on us as teachers. Have you got a favorite story or two?

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Mm-hmm.

Lessons In Leadership And Logistics

From Ag Mechanics To Floral Design

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yes. Um so I think a lot about um a s a girl in my floral design class, and um she took the class because she just needed an elective. I will say, you know, for the CTAE teachers out there listening or CTA directors, we offer our floral design class as a general elective. Um and they're they're still in FFA, they still have to do an SAE, but we're just trying to get kids in the door. The idea is that we're getting them in the door, and um then we can convince them to take other classes. And so um this student just took a floral design class because she needed an elective, and um her brother was shot and killed, and she wasn't even in my class anymore. This was maybe the next semester, but she called me the very next day and asked me if I could help her with her brother's casket spray. And um I went up and said something to my principal, and that she was the one, she said, Rachel, this is your ministry. This is your this is your way of impacting your kids. And so that was a really special moment for me um to be able to help her kind of handle her grief in that time, um, and and just kind of give her something to smile about and be be able to be a part of her brother's funeral. Yeah, I think then I like to tell the story of Jake Ferguson. Jake um Jake was loud and full of energy, and sitting down to write an essay was not his thing, and I spent more time defending Jake Ferguson to all the teachers in the school um more than any other child I've ever taught. And um, because it was because like when he would come to my shop, I saw like pure focus. Like you gave him a welder, you gave him a wrench, and and he was great, you know, and I think he was one of my first Agnec boys, and he I think he also like wanted to help. He wanted to be needed, and he knew that I needed him, and he was that kid that would kind of help me behind the scenes without like underminding me in front of the other kids. Um, and I really appreciated that about Jake. He would stick around after school and say, What do you need me to do? What do you need me to do? And um, so I got to do the flowers for his wedding. His fiance called me and she said, Jake doesn't care about anything about this wedding except for the fact that he wants you to do the flowers. So um, and I don't I don't think I've been telling everybody this. I don't think you might be telling it on a podcast, but there were two teachers at his wedding. It was me and his seventh grade teacher from alternative school. So that tells you a little bit about Jake Ferguson. Wow. But you know, he graduated, he had a TCC uh technical college credit in welding, graduated, bought a house at 19, makes more money than I do. He's doing really great things.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

So I've heard both of those stories, and I was gonna be prepared so I didn't get emotional hearing them, but it's still it tells those are fantastic stories. Well, part of being teacher of the year is you you get the opportunity to serve on different boards. So what are some of the boards that you're I mentioned G P E E, but what are some of the boards or or duties uh you get to serve on as Teacher of the Year?

SPEAKER_01 28:19

So I also serve on the State Board of Education, and my role on the state board, I'm not a voting member, I'm an ex officio member, but I get to be the voice of the teacher. And so I do think that all of the members of the state board have been very cognizant to ask my opinion about things. Um they really do want to make sure that any of the policies that they're passing through aren't gonna have an effect on teachers that they're just not thinking about. So that has been a special experience. Um it's been interesting to see kind of how all of that works. And I think the the when I realized it was when the light bulb went off for me, was when the extended day, extended year budget came out for AG and the allocations, we were approving the allocations. And I know how that process works. So I know that our state staff does program reviews, there's a lot of accountability for the funds, they decide or determine based on your program of work who gets that money. So seeing the fact that they do all of that legwork behind the scenes, and then it comes to us for approval kind of made me realize that that's what's happening in all of the funding that we're approving, is that you know, people and employees in different department agencies are doing the legwork behind the scenes and doing all of the allocations, and we're just there to kind of oversee those things.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Yeah, it was great. Tell us why you think public education is so important to our state.

Wreath Classes And Sustainable Funding

SPEAKER_01 29:54

So I think the most valuable thing about public education is the diversity of opportunities that it gives our students. I think a lot of that comes from CTAE. Um, but out even outside of CTAE, um, these students can take AP classes, they can do dual enrollment, they can do work-based learning. Some schools have IB programs. You know, I think we we talk about special education and individualized education plans, but honestly, I think that every student in our school system has an individualized education plan because we're determining whether they're taking honors classes or not. And then they can go into cosmetology or culinary or healthcare or ag. Um, you know, I think that is the power of public education. I think that is something that public education has. Private institutions do not offer as many different opportunities and options for kids. So really, it's not one size fits all. Every kid can find something that they're interested in.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

That's great. Um early in my career, you know, I didn't see a whole lot of mixing between uh the smartest kids in the school taking CTAE courses, but as time has gone on, uh that seems to be coming more of the norm now. So students that are heavily involved in AP or IB courses also have a pathway. And I think that's perfect. I think that's where they get that hands-on knowledge, and it really helps them to figure out what they want to do with their career.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Well, there are so many different, you know, like we're we're all trying to prepare kids for careers. You know, even if you are a college-bound four-year institution student, you're still trying to prepare for a career. And if we can help these kids, even maybe it's narrowed down, maybe, maybe it's kick out some things. Maybe they take a healthcare class and they're like, I cannot handle blood. Maybe I should not be a nurse. You know, there's value in that too, and and so many of the things. Like I think about like biotechnology, engineering, healthcare. These are classes that the kids can't just jump into right out of high school, they're gonna need further training. Um, so we're j we're just we're focusing on the careers and getting kids to the careers.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

I think that's a great point. And what's great about CTAE and work-based learning and SAEs, just like you said, it it may be just as important for a student to figure out what they don't need to do or aren't interested in rather than going all the way through school thinking that this is what they want to do and then figuring out later. Well, Rachel, let's say that you had an opportunity to share a message with our state legislators, our representatives in the House, the state senators. What's one thing you would want them to know about public education and teachers?

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SPEAKER_01 32:46

That's one thing I would like them to know about public education. Um I think if I want them to know something about teachers, it's the fact that um teachers are doing everything that they can with the resources that they have. And you know, oftentimes I think about the fact that uh there have been a lot of times where I've gone to different schools and maybe they don't have as many career tech options. Um and that's been one of their their struggles is like having they would love to offer more opportunities for the kids, but not having the resources to do that, um, or trying to figure out what's important in their district and how to handle things like that. So that you know, I know money doesn't solve all of our problems, but it sure helps. Sure helps. Um, and so just kind of keeping that open to allocate funding to provide more resources to the students and open up more opportunities so that every child has the same opportunities. And that's one thing I've learned. Like I feel like I'm in this very special place in Morgan County. And I would love for every school to have the same career tech opportunities that we have in Morgan County. Um, I I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that our system uh sees the importance in that. And so trying to sp spread that news and the awareness of of the importance of CTAE and the importance of just expanding opportunities for the kids so that the districts see the value and funding that is important.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Well, thank you so much, Rachel. Congratulations again on being named Georgia Teacher of the Year. You're about halfway through with your tour. Uh thank you for joining us today. I know you'll be at Winter Gail speaking as well. Uh, but thank you for everything you do and everything you stand for in public education. Um, and thank you for for serving those students so well. Not just the two examples you gave, but all of the students. But we really appreciate you at Gail, and uh hope all of our members enjoyed this episode of Gail Unscripted.