LEIPSIC, OH (WLIO) - The Leipsic High School students, staff, and community held a surprise prestigious award ceremony for a beloved agriculture teacher.
Donald Barnhart, the agriculture education instructor at Leipsic High School, was awarded the district four Golden Owl Award at a surprise ceremony this afternoon inside Leipsic High. The Golden Owl Award honors one outstanding agricultural educator or teacher in each of the state's ten districts. In May, all ten Golden Owl Award recipients will compete for the Ohio State FFA Educator of the Year at the state FFA convention. Following the ceremony, we spoke with Barnhart about how much this award means to him.
"I just see the worth of what I've done, and working with students my entire life, it's been thirty-five years I've been an educator here at Leipsic. And basically, they've told me that they've appreciated me. I always tell my students that if you do something you love, you never work a day in your life, and I've not worked a day in my life because I love what I do here. I love watching my students grow, become businessmen and women, becoming the important parts of our community, just trying to make our community a better place," expressed Donald Barnhart, Leipsic High School agricultural education instructor.
Barnhart has impacted the Leipsic community for thirty-five years as the agricultural education instructor at Leipsic High School. At Leipsic, Barnhart served as the advisor for two state officers, one national officer, thriving career development teams, and a large number of state and American degree recipients. Barnhart also advised a national proficiency winner in forage production.
