Corey Thompson- Agriculture Education

His sixth grade science teacher predicted that the young Thompson would one day become a teacher. Today that prediction has come true. Thompson stays busy teaching an introduction to agriculture class five days a week at Chico High School and spends each Friday night and Saturday in class as a student to earn his teaching credential in agriculture.  Thompson is this semester’s star student for the ag education department because as Prof. Brad Dodson puts it, Thompson is “a model in terms of involvement and positive attitude.”

In his Chico High classes, Thompson encounters a lot of students who are not familiar with agriculture. He aspires to inspire these students with his passion for agriculture and says “hopefully when I’m there they will be interested in it; that’s my goal.”

Thompson is the first one in his family to get a four-year degree, and he laughs when he relays that it took him six years to get it.  He changed his major a few times along the way, but all roads eventually led him to teaching. Thompson says “I found my niche in education,” and acknowledges that many people have helped him get where he is today.

He thanks Professors Dodson, Patton and Doyle for influencing his education. Thompson particularly thanks the former outreach and retention coordinator Trina Kimler-Richards for inspiring him to recruit high school students to get involved in agriculture. Thompson would eventually like to go back to his home town, Tulelake, have a job as a teacher and also work to instill the “right spark” into the region’s FFA programs.