Becoming an ag teacher never crossed Josh Bondy’s mind in the 1990s as he stood surrounded by 15 acres of green beans he grew for his FFA Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) project on his family’s diversified farm near Brunswick in #Agri-Ready Designated Chariton County. Josh was an enthusiastic and effective leader as a youth, but it never crossed his mind that he would be honored as Missouri FFA’s first Golden Owl and the Ag Educator of the Year in 2024. Today, he has been an Advisor for the Paris FFA Chapter for 18 years. Innovation and creativity are core to Josh’s strategy to teach and train future agriculture leaders in the Paris community.

Discovering a New Path

Multiple devastating flood losses on his family’s farm in 1993 and the late 90s forced Josh’s family to make changes and were part of his decision to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia and study education. He grew up immersed in youth leadership: his mom was a Missouri 4-H Youth Specialist, he served as a State 4-H Officer, and he was very involved in FFA. As he completed his degree with student teaching in an agriculture classroom in Bolivar, it was as if his eyes were opened to the classroom for the first time. “I had such a positive experience during student teaching, it seemed like suddenly I could see the opportunities. I fell in love with the FFA contests, students, fellow teachers, the families in the community,” Josh remembers. With his teaching degree in hand in 2003, Josh returned to the family farm and began his education career with the Keytesville FFA.

Beginning a New Life Chapter

Josh put down roots in Paris, Mo. in 2007 when he married his wife, Lauren, and also chose to join the community as an advisor and teacher for the Paris FFA and agriculture program. The chapter was endowed with enormous potential made possible by overwhelming community support. The situation was ‘the perfect storm of opportunity that just needed a little fuel’ according to Josh. “The community was anxious for success. They wanted to see everything the agriculture students were accomplishing shared in the local newspaper,” Josh said. 

Becoming Missouri’s First Golden Owl

Josh has now been an FFA Advisor in Paris for 18 years. He has collaborated with seven other educators, some of them former students. He is now teaching the children of some of his first students. The multigenerational achievement of the FFA chapter adds an extra layer of pride in the agriculture department from the community. So far, the most outstanding moment of Josh’s teaching career was accepting the Golden Owl and Ag Educator of the Year awards in April 2024 with his wife and three daughters (ages 10, 8, and 3) by his side. “It was a lifetime moment,” Josh shared. “It will always be a core memory for me to have had them there as the award was announced. It meant everything.” Josh received this recognition because of his positive impact in the classroom and the community he serves. His nominations included ‘tireless’, ‘exceptional mentor’, ‘source of support’, and other accolades.

Leading with Creative Ideas

The variety of Josh’s lifetime of leadership experiences influences his strategy to think outside the box as he helps train students to become leaders in their community. Josh never asks his students to do things he won’t do with them. “We did a tire recycling collection one time. It was hours and hours of nasty, dirty work,” Josh remembers. “And I was right there beside the kids.” A unique, chapter-wide ‘flamingo farming’ project during 2020 earned Paris FFA the honor of being a National FFA Association ‘Model of Excellence’ chapter in 2021. During December of 2024, Josh led Paris FFA members in completing a 24-day Leadership Advent Calendar; each day’s envelope contained a mission, challenge, or community service for students to complete. Josh thinks creatively to get kids involved and accepts the evolving challenges of leading youth. “I can tell you, kids are way different today than when I started teaching!” Josh chuckled.

Renovating for Success

“Our agriculture department space has always been adequate, but blocky and unusable. It was spacious, but ugly. Now, it works! I want this building to be somewhere that students want to be,” Josh said as he described the complete renovation of the Paris agriculture building during 2024. With a lot of ‘extra time’ on their hands in 2020, Josh and the Paris school district superintendent began dreaming and drawing plans to completely gut and remodel the agriculture department into a modern, innovative learning environment that would better serve Paris students and members of the community. The building now boasts 2 state-of-the-art classrooms, a functionally designed shop, and a commercial kitchen used for food science classes and to serve the banquet room, also a part of the community-minded remodel. “During renovations, ag mechanics students worked alongside electricians,” Josh said. “Our town has never had a place to host large gatherings. Our community room can seat up to 250 people. Our FFA chapter offers event catering so kids have food service experience. The community loves it.” Agriculture leadership students manage the community room communications, set up, and schedule which includes workout classes, movie nights, and banquets. The room was recently a part of the community Christmas Open House tour.

Career Goals

Never one to run short of new ideas, Josh has plenty of goals in mind for his next decade of teaching. “A lot of people say you can’t be an ag teacher and a parent and be good at both. I intend to be the example that you can,” Josh stated. Josh and his daughters planted a peach orchard in 2020 that he hopes will become an SAE project for the girls who are currently members of 4-H and have a few sheep. Josh would like to make it possible for more of his agriculture students to get involved with hands-on livestock projects and lead the FFA Chapter to another national Model of Excellence win. “I intend to make it possible for the future agriculture educators of Paris to be able to take the chapter to the next level. The foundation of tradition is already set for them.”

Josh is a member of the Missouri FFA Foundation board. He is a past president of the Missouri Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association, a partner of Missouri Farmers Care.

According to Missouri FFA, the Golden Owl Award is presented by Nationwide in partnership with the Missouri FFA Foundation to recognize agriculture educators who go above and beyond in educating America’s youth and future leaders.