“This past year, Lighthouse became the first private school FFA chapter in Idaho,” says Johanna Hyink, teacher of agriculture and animal science at Lighthouse Christian School in Twin Falls. “I started teaching a high school agriculture course at Lighthouse. This coming year, we will be adding a middle school course.”
“I approached our school in the spring of 2021 and told them our school needed some sort of agriculture course. Growing up in Twin Falls my whole life, I knew how important agriculture was to the way of life. My husband and I are partners with my parents on a dairy farm south of Twin Falls. We have four children that attend the school, and it is very important that our children learn about agriculture and be a part of FFA,” Hyink says.
She says, “I then called Jaysa Fillmore from the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) and asked her for help. She sent me to the right people, and I went back to college to get a degree from University of Idaho (UI), which I just completed this past May.”
Hyink and Fillmore became friends through a local women’s hiking group a few years ago and once Hyink learned Fillmore had a background as an ag teacher, she pulled her in to help with her vision for an ag program and FFA chapter at Lighthouse.
Fillmore says, “Jo was selected to participate in Leadership Idaho Agriculture and her project during that experience was to get an ag program established at Lighthouse. She initially wanted to convince the school to hire a full-time ag teacher but because funding and full-time positions were limited at the school, she jumped right in and took on the role of ag teacher and FFA adviser. Jo’s own kids are not yet in high school, so for her to take such an active role in the program while her kids were not yet old enough to participate really shows the passion she has for this program.”
Hyink was not an FFA alumni herself but has always been a strong supporter through her work in the dairy industry. She has seen the positive impacts of students being involved in FFA at other schools and wanted that for her own children and their peers at their school.
Fillmore says, “Johanna has done an amazing job of reaching out to her network within the agriculture industry and forging new connections. She consistently invites guest speakers to talk to her students about careers in agriculture. While many of the students who attend Lighthouse Christian School have an agriculture production background, commonly in the dairy industry, there were only a few students who saw themselves pursuing a career in that industry. She has worked to help students understand the depth and breadth of agriculture and opened their eyes to new opportunities they had not considered before. Johanna has worked diligently to immerse herself in the world of ag education by attending professional development events with the Idaho Ag Teachers Association and the local South Magic Valley FFA District advisers. While she has run into numerous hurdles, she has persevered to make the program a reality.”
“Lighthouse school agreed to give an agricultural course a shot at the school,” says Hyink. “I had 15 total students in my ag course this past year. Everyone told me that teaching your first year is difficult. I wanted to start FFA but the suggestion was to wait a year. Within the first couple of weeks, my students were asking if I would start FFA. At first, I said no, but I said I would check it out. I started by finding out what I needed to do. I was given a list of steps to start FFA from Clara-Leigh Evans at UI. I started plugging away and completed the steps on Nov. 11, 2022. Our application was approved and 12 of my students finally became FFA members.” There are currently 67 students in the high school.
Lighthouse Christian is in the South Magic Valley District with eight other schools. The school was recognized during the charter signing ceremony at the FFA State Leadership Convention in April as the 125th chapter.
“I am teaching Introduction to Agriculture, and Food and Natural Resources. We started with high school. This coming year, we are adding a middle school Intro to Agriculture course as an elective,” says Hyink.
She says, “Our FFA chapter attempted the dairy judging Career Development Event (CDE) at state this year. We were all nervous but when I asked my students after the event, they said they really enjoyed it and would do it again. We have established an advisory board of past FFA and 4-H alumni. They are a wealth of information, and we are hoping to add more CDEs this coming year.”
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