Ag instructor at local high school named Idaho Teacher of the Year
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MACKAY – A teacher at Mackay Junior-Senior High School was given the State of Idaho’s Teacher of the Year award.
During an assembly Wednesday afternoon, State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield and members of the State Board of Education presented Agriscience instructor Trent Van Leuven with a plaque and a $10,000 check.
The 39-year-old man was selected out of 69 nominees statewide. He tells EastIdahoNews.com getting the award is “a huge honor.”
“I really appreciate so many people that have made so many things possible for me and my students here in Mackay,” Van Leuven says. “Seeing all my friends and all the people that showed up was the best part.”
Van Leuven is the president of the Mackay Education Association, chairman of the State and Federal Lands Committee of the Idaho Farm Bureau as well as secretary for the Idaho Agriculture Teachers Association. He started his teaching career 15 years ago in Meridian.
He’s been in Mackay the last 10 years, and currently works with 63 eighth thru twelfth graders in the Ag program.
Officials say Van Leuven has changed the landscape of career technical education in Mackay by enhancing real-world opportunities for students.
One of Van Leuven’s most significant accomplishments, according to Bart Gamett, a fish biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, is the construction of a new fish lab. Here, students work with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s Mackay Fish Hatchery to raise rainbow trout, sturgeon, tilapia and catfish.
The 1,400-square-foot building came about after a student expressed interest in raising golden trout. The student was related to Gamett. Van Leuven helped her get surplus fish from the hatchery. The adult fish were later introduced in the Lower Cedar Creek near Mackay. It’s the first golden trout stream in Idaho.
The old fish lab quickly became too small and Van Leuven worked towards getting a bigger building. He acquired about $300,000 from private donors to pay for a new lab. Students, professionals and community members volunteered their time to help build it. It was completed in November 2022.
“This facility will give students the opportunity to work with fish long after Trent has retired,” Gamett wrote in his recommendation letter, according to state officials. Van Leuven talks about the fish lab in the video above.
Van Leuven also oversees the high school’s two large greenhouses that grow tropical fruits like bananas, papaya, passion fruit and pineapple. Students sell produce at local grocery stores and on campus.
It’s reportedly one of the largest greenhouses in the state.
It’s these types of accomplishments that Critchfield says made Van Leuven “the clear front runner” of all the teachers who were nominated this year.
“Being here today and having presented the award, and then having students, teachers and community members come up to me and say … he’s a great educator, tells me that we got it right,” Critchfield says.
The Teacher of the Year award is presented annually, and anyone can nominate an educator they feel is worthy of the recognition.
Applications are vetted and ranked by a blue ribbon panel consisting of members of the state board of education, teachers, business leaders and community members.
This year, the committee narrowed down the list of nominees to 13 candidates. The top three candidates were ultimately submitted to Critchfield.
“The committee was so solidly behind Trent as their number one that I had no reason to go against what the committee had come up with. Looking through his application, you could just feel his passion about being an educator,” Critchfield explains.
For Critchfield, what stood out most about Van Leuven was his collaborative efforts in creating unique opportunities for students.
As this year’s winner, Van Leuven will serve as a spokesman and representative for Idaho educators at a variety of local and national events in 2024.
Though Van Leuven is appreciative of the accolades and everyone who came to support him, what he’s most grateful for is the chance to work with students.
He enjoys “innovating” with them and “finding their hidden talents.”
“I try to encourage them and (help them) find a path in a career they’re happy in. I have (former) students that I run into or end up calling for expert advice. I love listening to people talk about what they’re really passionate about and it’s great when those are former students of yours,” he says.
Van Leuven wasn’t expecting a cash prize, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to use it when we spoke with him. But there is one thing he has in mind for a portion of it.
“I’ll probably work in a fishing trip, but don’t tell my wife,” he says, laughing.
