Alumni Check-In: Alan Willmore

Alan Willmore, an agricultural educator at Jerome High School, has been teaching agriculture classes for seven years. Willmore was first interested in teaching ag because of his two ag teachers from Rigby High School — Mr. Hale and Mr. Burrie. However, his current teaching partners, Tom Clifton and Nicole Lebsack, are what keeps him going. Willmore goes on to say, “I would not be the teacher I am today without their help or inspiration.”

Willmore says that his favorite part about his teaching career is seeing the passion in his students. He has been able to offer a senior course based in animal science. He describes the experience by saying, “These senior students have stuck through numerous classes with me. I’ve been able to watch them grow as students and individuals and helped them find their passion in agriculture.”

Willmore thinks fondly of his time at U of I. He says, “I will always remember the trips I went on as part of the courses I took, from traveling to North Carolina to participate in the National Dairy Challenge, to numerous ranches I toured with SICA and the Tyson Processing plant with AVS 363.” Willmore also says that the hands-on courses he took and learning different ways of practicing concepts is something from his time in college that prepared him for his teaching career. He tries to teach concepts in different ways in his own classes to cater to different learning styles of his own students. Willmore is a great example of an outstanding agricultural educator, and he uses his passion for agriculture to educate the future generations.