Carley Feagle

Sometimes, one’s career pathway circles back to the beginning. Such is the case with Carley Dyal, an agricultural teacher at Keystone Heights High School (KHHS) in Clay County.

Carley attended Keystone Heights as a student and was involved in Keystone’s Agriscience pathway from middle school through high school. Carley’s family has a strong agricultural background, as her paternal grandfather farmed. Carley showed steer and raised cows. She participated in 4-H in Elementary School and FFA in High School.

Carley was dual-enrolled, earning an Associate degree from Santa Fe College while attending KHHS. She earned a B.S. in Agriculture Education the University of Florida. It wasn’t Carley’s plan to return to Clay County after her college graduation.

Carley had interned at Santa Fe High School, which had a large lab in conjunction with a veterinary science program. She thought she would stay around Union and Alachua Counties. However, a position opened up in Clay County. Combine that opportunity with a bit of homesickness, and Carley realized she was “meant to go home.”

Currently, Carley teaches 3 Middle School and 2 High School agriculture classes. She taught at Lake Asbury Junior High School for a year and has been at KHHS for the past two years. Her middle school courses focus on introductory information on the basics of the agriculture industry, such as plants and animals. Her high school courses delve more deeply into animal agriscience. Unlike Carley, only a handful of her students work or live on a farm or are involved in 4-H. However, her passion and enthusiasm resonates in the classroom. She knew from an early age that her career pathway involved sharing her skills and knowledge in the classroom.

Carley is motivated to provide students experiences they’ll remember. She recalls student amazement at planting a seed, watching it grow, and harvesting it. She said students enjoy the experience of raising a baby calf to become a full grown 1,200 pound animal by April—an animal they have fed, brushed and provided care. She also cited field trips as being an experience students enjoy, particularly the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Georgia each October. This hands-on event feature vendors such as John Deere. Carley charters a bus for 50 students. This perennial favorite of some students involves horse demonstrations, a livestock pavilion and field demonstrations.

Another fun aspect of Carley’s pursuit of the educational pathways is her ability to reach students who have an interest in both agriculture and technology. Self-driving tractors have GPS technology embedded in the equipment to maximize efficiency in planting and harvesting, as well as maximize crop yield. Weather analysis, automated irrigations, and reduced water usage are all end-products of increased technology used in today’s agriculture. Carley cited one Keystone graduate who was keenly interested in drones, so he pursued a Drone Technology Program at the University of North Florida. He intends to use this skill to fly over farms, providing remote surveillance of properties and helping to identify potential issues with crops or livestock without the cost of manual inspections.

One of Carley’s favorite aspects of teaching is seeing the lasting effects on kids. One parent approached her after a draining first year of teaching and indicated, “You’ve brought him out of his shell. He’s actually talking about his career plans now.” Much like her students tracking the growth of their plants or animals, Carley enjoys monitoring the continued growth of her students after they’ve left Keystone High School. Carley encourages anyone considering education as a career path that they’ll have such a tremendous impact on students. She acknowledges the significant demand for teachers. “It’s a hard job. Some days are rough, especially in your first year. It’s worth it. Kids see your passion and interest, and they’ll appreciate it. Surround yourself with a team of other teachers you can count on and bounce ideas off of, even if they’re not in your content area.”

Carley has made an impact on senior teachers and colleagues as well. Former Agriculture teacher and current Career & Technical Education Supervisor for Clay County Schools, Kelly Mosley, says, “Carley is a wonderful example. She is a natural teacher and she is a tremendous example of a ‘beginning’ teacher. It always surprises me she has only been teaching for 3 years because she has skills and abilities far beyond her years!”

Sometimes in life, the same soil that helps to grow you is the soil you also cultivate for others.