JOHNSTON COUNTY – Johnston County Public Schools (JCPS) Career & Technical Education (CTE) teacher Matthew Barnhill has been selected as a finalist for the second North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) 2023 Career Technical Education Teacher of the Year Award.
One of only 24 teachers from across North Carolina, the award honors CTE teachers for their dedication, innovation, and ability to inspire students to achieve. When the Corinth Holders High educator was asked how he felt about being selected as a finalist, Barnhill humbly replied, “It’s a big honor. I just try to do my job. It’s an honor to be represented by the work the students do.”
Growing up in Southeastern North Carolina, agriculture was a way of life for Barnhill. His family were farmers and had a large garden, but his grandmother was the catalyst for developing his love of plants. There was a large plot of land where she propagated and grew daylilies, and he would spend time helping her, and learning about plants from her. “That’s where my love of horticulture came from,” he said.
In turn, Barnhill was heavily involved in Future Farmers of America (FFA), and several of his agriculture teachers were influential in his life. He went on to study agriculture education and horticulture at North Carolina State University.
Upon graduation from college, he taught in a neighboring county for a couple of years, until his college roommate called to tell Barnhill about a teaching position with JCPS at Corinth Holders High. He was excited that he and his friend would get to work together, so he applied without hesitation. That was 2014, and Barnhill has been there ever since.
The impact that he makes on his students year after year is what excites Barnhill the most. Over 90 percent of the students in his classes have little to no experience with production agriculture or, just agriculture in general. So, his students get their hands dirty from the get go. “The only way to do agriculture is to be hands on with what you do,” Barnhill remarked.
He has students who have gone on to study agriculture in college, and even have their own landscaping company, which, of course, makes him feel wonderful. Many of the students who have no inkling of what agriculture entails eventually have the light bulb come on, and seeing it all make sense is one of the most rewarding things for Barnhill.
His main goal is to create well-rounded citizens and good consumers. “That’s the bright piece of CTE,” he said. “We all need an understanding of agriculture, because without that understanding, we won’t understand daily life.”
For any student who is on the fence about taking an agriculture class, Barnhill’s advice would be to come in with an open mind. On the first day of class, he points out that less than two percent of the workforce is involved in production agriculture.
For his classes that means one, maybe two, students will go on to study agriculture further. However, students can still learn how to be leaders, good communicators, and good citizens. “It opens their eyes to other opportunities they may not have realized existed,” he said. That philosophy in his teaching is exactly why Barnhill was selected as a finalist for the NCCAT 2023 Career Technical Education Teacher of the Year Award.
The finalists will be at the NCCAT campus in Cullowhee for professional development the week of October 16-20, 2023, and the winner will be named in the Bardo Center of Western Carolina University on October 19, 2023.
You go Mr. Barnhill!