If you wonder what the future of agricultural education might look like, just ask Melinda (Sumter) Tague. This Norman High School agricultural education teacher provides opportunities for 104 urban FFA members, offering them a whole new world to explore.

“Norman is probably a good example of what more agricultural education programs with look like, even in rural areas,” Tague said.

Through classes such as agricultural communications and biotechnology as well as agricultural science and horticulture, these students learn about production agriculture and about the nontraditional career avenues within the agricultural industry.

“We offer a good variety to keep students involved,” Tague said. “The hands-on experiences — shop, floral design, agriscience — are the biggest draw. Kids look for stuff like that.”

What drew Tague into agricultural education as a high school freshman was the opportunity to show her Dorset and Hampshire sheep she been showing since age 9, but as a Claremore High School FFA member she learned how much more the organization offered.

“My father was in FFA, but I didn’t decide to enroll until the night before school started my freshman year,” Tague said.

She said she loved FFA from the beginning.

In addition to leadership activities such as Oklahoma FFA Alumni Camp and Washington Leadership Conference, Tague competed in prepared public speaking and on the soil and water management team, a team that won the state title in her senior year.

“Farm survey was my favorite because of the friends I met,” Tague said.

Those friendships continued as Tague enrolled at Oklahoma State University in Fall 1990 while serving as the 1990-91 Oklahoma FFA Northeast District Vice President.

“My officer year was what opened my eyes to working with kids,” Tague said. “I thought ‘these kids are fun!’”

She graduated with a dual major in agricultural economics and agricultural education, but she left OSU before completing the student teaching experience so she could be with her husband, David, in western Kansas. Once there, however, she worked with OSU agricultural education faculty Jim Key and Jack Pritchard to complete her teaching certification requirements in Kansas.

“The good Lord let things work for us,” Tague said. “In the fall after student teaching, a job opened 30 miles from home.”

Tague taught at Leoti, Kansas, for nine years before taking a position at Lindsay High School in 2005 and then her Norman job in 2006. Tague said they wanted to get their two boys, Zachary, age 9, and Seth, age 6, closer to family and the Oklahoma jobs offered them that opportunity. The Tagues live near Washington, Okla., where their operation includes wheat, soybeans, bermudagrass hay, stocker cattle and cow/calf pairs.

“I am able to show agricultural products and crops in the classroom,” Tague said. “Norman is a strong equine area, but most students are the second generation from the farm. In Ag I, we start with where food comes from.”

Dedicated to her students, Tague does not see any career changes in the future.

“I enjoy being around the kids,” she said. “I have sympathy when they are having a bad day. Teaching is about having a little impact when you can, and I hope I can help them have a better day.”

No doubt she does.