Caribou FFA leader awarded honorary degree at convention

Thomas Hale of Westmanland recently received an Honorary American Degree at the 2013 National Future Farmers of America Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. He became the second recipient in the 85-year history of the Caribou FFA chapter.
Hale was bestowed the honorary degree as a result of his 38-year tenure as the agriculture instructor and FFA adviser at the Caribou Technology Center. He retired this past June, and now Casey Cote serves as chapter adviser.    “My goal,” said Hale, “was to open my students’ eyes to the possibilities that lay before them in the vast field of agriculture – to dream big dreams and do the things necessary to accomplish those goals.”
Hale continued, “One example was the Gearhead Tour that I set up each year at the National FFA Convention over the last 14 years. My students visited some of the best teams in motor sports in the Indianapolis area.
“While visiting each stop on the tour, I made it a point to ask the people who worked for those top-notch teams how they got to that level. FFA members would leave each shop knowing the importance of hard work, attention to detail, and not sitting around waiting for success to come to them.”
“He was an excellent ambassador for the FFA program,” said Ralph Conroy, CTC director, “and he even had the Maine agriculture license plate that said ‘FFA.’”
Among the highlights of Hale’s tenure was the annual spring FFA banquet, which drew about 200-300 people each year, Conroy said. During the event, students would give a presentation to those attending, including a slide show of the year’s events. Former chapter presidents were also highlighted and many attended, including some from as far back as the 1960s, he added.
“He was ‘Mr. FFA,’” noted Conroy. “He lived it and breathed it and really believed in the FFA model of education, teaching leadership to his students.”
In Hale’s classes, he used the school grounds as his classroom and took great pride in the looks of the trees, shrubs, flowerbeds and athletic fields. “If a family is moving to The County and looking at schools, one of the first things they view is the grounds, which can make a good first impression or not,” he said. “I wanted our schools to look great.”
Recipients of the Teacher Honorary American Degree are selected on their basis of contributions in the following seven areas: Classroom and laboratory instruction; students’ experiential learning; building partnerships; involvement in the national FFA organization; agriculture education marketing; program development and evaluation; and professional development.
According to FFA officials, the Honorary American Degree is an opportunity to recognize those who have gone beyond valuable daily contributions to make an extraordinary long-term difference in the lives of students, inspiring confidence in a new generation of agriculturists.