Colclasure leaving lasting impression at SHS
<span>STEELEVILLE -- At some point soon, Blake Colclasure will walk through the doors of Steeleville High School for the last time.</span>
<span>Colclasure, who will receive his Masters degree on Sunday from the University of Illinois through U of I's online program, will be attending the University of Florida on a full assistantship to get his Ph.D.</span>
<span>"I'll be working with Dr. Andrew Thoron," Colclasure said. "He taught at U of I while I was there and he used to teach high school in Illinois.</span>
<span>"He'll be really good to work with because he has Illinois roots."</span>
<span>The Environmental Sciences and Agricultural Education teacher has spent three years at Steeleville, helping to revitalize an agricultural education program that had been dormant since the 1970s.</span>
<span>"I knew it would be a challenge, as far as getting the kids active in FFA and then switching from industrial arts to (agricultural) education," said Colclasure, who was a finalist in the Barnes & Noble "My Favorite Teacher" contest his first year at SHS. "And we still have a huge component of industrial arts in the ag. education classes.</span>
<span>"But, I think at first, the students were like 'Well, wait a minute, I'm used to woodworking for every class every day and it's what I like to do.'"</span>
<span>Steeleville's FFA chapter has received the Illinois FFA Gold Emblem Chapter Award for the past two years and advanced to nationals in 2013, winning a National Chapter Award.</span>
<span>Earlier this year, the chapter received a $250 grant through Farm Credit Services and a $750 grant through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to create a schoolyard habitat.</span>
<span>"Since I've been here three years, you can see how the program has grown and it has more of a positive light," Colclasure said. "Now, it's the cool club to join. At first, the seniors were like 'Yeah, I'm not doing that,' and now the seniors are like 'Yeah, of course I'm going to be in FFA.'"</span>
<span>Colclasure said it was difficult for him to get some of the juniors and seniors on board with the changes his first year, but progress was made with the underclassmen.</span>
<span>"The freshmen didn't really know any different, so they loved it," he said. "The sophomores were like 'OK, I can do a change.'</span>
<span>"I think change is hard for a lot of people, so I think it was difficult to get people to realize 'Oh, this is pretty cool that you can have industrial arts and this new Ag. stuff.'"</span>
<span>Colclasure has definitely left an impact on his students, with several responding to a questionnaire prepared by fellow SHS teacher Michelle Mohr. </span>
<span>"My favorite memories of Mr. Colclasure's class would be when we would go out and work in the garden," wrote SHS freshman Alyse Garrett. "When he would tell his bad agriculture joke of the day.</span>
<span>"The way we can joke around and he will follow the jokes and is so relaxed. When he enjoys the subject and he gets so involved that he acts like one of the students, overwhelmed with excitement."</span>
<span>Senior Kelsey Jones also gave her opinion.</span>
<span>"I think the biggest impact Mr. C. left on SHS was bringing back the FFA chapter," she wrote. "It's a great way to get kids who have had agriculture in their life together and to introduce students who haven't had the experience involved."</span>
<span>Colclasure said the Ph.D. program will take him three and a half years, during which he will be helping to teach some of the classes as well as monitoring some of the student teachers.</span>
<span>"You're teaching future Ag. teachers how to teach," he said. "You're giving them all the skills they need, about FFA and all that, so when they get in the classroom, they can succeed."</span>
<span>Colclasure said his ultimate goal is to become a professor at the university level.</span>
<span>"I would like to teach at the University of Illinois," he said. "But, I'm open to moving wherever the wind takes me."</span>