Alex Rodgers, Southeast Warren, Iowa, FFA Advisor

In this episode, I have a chat with Alex Rodgers. He is an ag educator, coach, and FFA advisor at Southeast Warren Community School District in south-central Iowa, where my sons went to school. He’s pictured above with two of my boys, Luke and Will.

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Meet Alex Rodgers

Rodgers grew up on a farm in southeast Iowa, and after his family got out of production agriculture when the farm crisis hit in 2008, his involvement in FFA kept him close to his ag roots. After graduating from Iowa State University, his first teaching and advising job was at Southeast Warren High School in south-central Iowa, where he is in his ninth year.

Under Rodgers’ leadership, the FFA chapter at Southeast Warren has grown by leaps and bounds. There are 251 school districts in Iowa that have a larger enrollment than Southeast Warren, but only five schools in the state have a bigger FFA program. His students once described him as, “A single dad of 152 kids.”

Episode Highlights

• Rodgers grew up on a farm in southeast Iowa, but when a farm crisis hit in 2008, his family got out of production agriculture.
• He stayed connected to agriculture through FFA, where he served as reporter and president and earned his Iowa degree with an SAE in aquaponics and landscaping.
• After graduating from Iowa State University, Rodgers became an ag educator, FFA advisor, and coach at Southeast Warren High School in Liberty Center, Iowa. This is his ninth year in that role.
• Thanks to support from the community and efforts by Rodgers and FFA members, the chapter recently raised enough funds to build a new livestock barn.
• Many of Rodgers’ former students have gone on to college or trade school studying fields like ag education, agribusiness, mechanics, and welding. He says the most important thing is that they are good humans.

Links and Resources

Transcript

Please note: This transcript has not been edited.

Lisa Foust Prater: Alex, thank you for joining me on the 15 minutes with the farmer podcast. It’s still funny to me to call you Alex because since you were my own boys teacher and FFA advisor, you’re still kind of Mr. Rogers to me.  

Alex Rodgers: Thanks Lisa, thanks for having me. It’s strange to hear anybody call me Alex. Even outside of my parents, I think community members call me Rogers. Half the kids just call me Rog. 

Lisa Foust Prater: So before you became Mr. Rogers, you grew up on your family’s farm near Fairfield and were involved in FFA yourself. So tell me a little bit about your growing up years and your background. 

Alex Rodgers: Yeah, so I grew up Southeast Iowa, just north of Fairfield. Multiple generation family farm. Cattle, pigs, row crop, you know the whole thing. Farm crisis like 2008 ish one hit and things got a little tough and a little tight. So my junior high-high school experience I really didn’t have a lot of on farm experience.

So FFA was kind of a nice little outlet for that. Did some officer stuff, reporter, president. Got my Iowa degree through aquaponics and landscaping SAE. So a little bit different than what some kids in our community have now. So kind of a traditional path, but just a little bit different.

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s cool, because you had the traditional farm background, but then you sort of finished up your high school career with a different sort of path. 

Alex Rodgers: Yep. Yeah, and we see a lot of kids that come through here and whether they have the experience or want to have the experience in livestock production, we offer that. But we have kids get proficiencies in community service. We’ve had some kids do the agriscience fair. know, just FFA has so many opportunities. So what way can we serve that kid, get them career experience and, you know, get them ready for the next phase of life?

Lisa Foust Prater: Right. So when you were in high school doing FFA, did you see yourself becoming an FFA advisor? Is that something you always wanted to do?

Alex Rodgers: So I knew I always wanted to teach. Actually in fifth grade, math is a subject I always enjoyed. So I assumed I was gonna be a math teacher, because I get to walk around and help kids with their homework and stuff. And then my FFA advisor in high school kind of made a big impression on me, a big difference, pushed me on my comfort zone type of thing. was like, you know what, math’s awesome, but if I can do this type of thing for another kid down the line, let’s go do that.

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, I assumed that your FFA advisor must have had a pretty big impact on you because I know that you are having that kind of impact on kids at Southeast Warren. So tell me about your advisor. 

Alex Rodgers: So my advisor was Ann Johnston. It would have been her first year when I was a freshman. So we kind of, maybe growing pains would be the best way to put that of going through a new transition. She was there to answer a lot of questions. She gave me lot of freedom to just, go learn, go figure this out. Here’s this project and go interact with this community member or go work on this. And it really got me out of my comfort zone, which was big for me. I wasn’t a very sociable person. I’m kind of an introvert. So it helped crack that shell, which was something I really needed. So I’m very thankful for her for providing that opportunity.

Lisa Foust Prater: So once you graduated from Iowa State, you came right to Southeast Warren. So you were that person at Southeast Warren your first year. And now school starts tomorrow and it will be what your ninth year. Is that right? Eight or ninth year?

Alex Rodgers: I think this is going into year nine. Yeah, the time just goes by. My cooperating teacher, so when I student taught, I student taught at Gilbert and it was Mr. John Davis. And I was going through all the interview process up in Northwest Iowa, know, 10 hours from home or whatever it is, you know, felt like forever. And we saw this job open. I was like, you know what, let’s give it a shot. He pushed me pretty hard of, you know, small school. It’ll fit well to what you enjoy. And the rest has kind of been history.

Lisa Foust Prater: Well, we’re sure glad that it worked out like it did, that’s for sure. So it’s amazing to me to see the growth at Southeast Warren and just the amazing way FFA has taken off and the way it’s impacted kids. I know that I did a little bit of research and there are 251 school districts in Iowa that have a larger enrollment than Southeast Warren. But the last statistic I could find, there were only five schools with a bigger FFA program than Southeast Warren. That’s insane.

Alex Rodgers: Yep.

Lisa Foust Prater: I mean, you did that. That’s crazy. 

Alex Rodgers: And I would say a lot of it’s really a testament and I really appreciate that. Don’t get me wrong. I do, I’m very thankful for all that. But when you look at the community we have, the administrative support, the kids, I mean, it takes a village to raise a child. And we have a pretty darn good village to be a part of.

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, we truly do. And you know, a big part of that, let’s talk a little bit about the livestock barn. I know that when my middle son, one sec, when my middle son Luke was, was showing pigs at the fair, another FFA member who had graduated donated some pigs and his grandfather donated space. Everyone donated everything he needed to raise and show these pigs. He showed the pigs and then they were auctioned at the fair. Knowing that those were being donated, they brought in a bunch of a bunch more money than they would have otherwise that was donated toward the livestock building. And then this year at the fair, another young man showed and tell us about Spencer Wallace and what happened at the fair.

Alex Rodgers: It’s kind of an emotional thing to be honest. Brandon Smith, who is a long time Southeast Warren alumni, former alumni president, wanted to get back in some way. So he had a Solaire steer and he said, hey, I’m going help Spencer with this project, get him ready for fair, doing all this stuff, and then we’re going to auction it off. The goal was to get $5,000.

We thought, hey, that’s pretty manageable. It’s something we can do from what Brandon and Spencer and I kind of figured out. Then Terry Davis jumped on board and wanted to push behind it. Dustin Wadle got behind it. A lot of our alumni members, you know, there’s so many of them, it’s hard for me to get into the names. But then once that steer came up, went to the auction once, sold for a bunch of money, then they said, “Hey, we want to it again.” Goes again, and I’m standing on the fence going, “What in the world’s going on?” I’m just lost at this point. Gets sold. Let’s send it again. So they do three rounds of selling at the auction at the end of it. We raised $37,000. And that basically paid for our cattle barn. So we’re looking at two pens of three for steers, two pens for individual lead steers. I mean, you’re talking potentially a dozen kids a year that can be impacted by this. That is so incredible. It was huge. And then they donated the meat to the Southeast Warren food pantry. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Like every, everyone won in that scenario. So I know before the big livestock barn was completed, you did have a, you know, a way for some smaller livestock. And that is so key because even though we’re a rural community, there are still kids who live in town, quite a few kids who live in town, who just don’t have a place to keep pigs or a goat or chickens or whatever it may be. And just having a place at school where they can house their animals, take care of them, go in, make sure everything’s okay, work with them for the fair. That means they can do that for the fair. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to. That’s so huge that they can learn that kind of responsibility and just learning about those animals is just, it’s amazing. 

Alex Rodgers: Yeah, and we’ve done a nice job of getting kids here, you know, and whether it was with the chickens, you know, we started with the rabbits, which was a fun experience. We’ll just put it that way. You know, and then move in some of the bigger stuff. Now we have community members wanting to come in. Hey, I’ll put on a little showmanship clinic. Hey, I’ll show you how to, you know, the different feed rations and work with that. So it’s, it’s really cool. A fun experience. We’ll just put it that way. You know, and then move in some of the bigger stuff. Now we have community members wanting to come in. Hey, I’ll put on a little showmanship clinic. Hey, I’ll show you how to, you know, the different rations and work with that. So it’s, it’s really cool. It’s really neat to see the full picture and everybody wants to get on board and do what’s best for the kids.

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, it really is a community effort and I know, you know, before you had this facility, Rich Thompson, who lives, you know, right near the school, you know, offered a barn for kids to keep animals in.

It really does take a village and we have a great community of people who are willing to step up and help kids learn about agriculture, which is so important because it is surprising the number of kids who live in such a rural community but don’t have anyone in their family who is farming and who have maybe never seen a cow up close. So just having those kinds of opportunities to learn about agriculture is really important because they are in this community but they don’t really understand what it’s all about and it’s such a driving force in rural Iowa and but they just don’t they don’t see it.

Alex Rodgers: Right, and that first hand experience, whether they’re going to go into production agriculture, you had a family that, you you had cattle and stuff and worked all that, so the boys had the experience there. And whether they’re going to move on and, you know, be involved in the cattle industry or not, they at least understand that and have a recognition. For some of these kids that go into communication or nutrition or even, you know, maybe they’re going to be a teacher in a rural Iowa school district, they at least have that connection that they can make with, whether it’s kids, community members, coworkers, business owners, bosses, it’s something that bonds a lot of people together.

Lisa Foust Prater: Absolutely. And I know just looking at Will’s class, my youngest son who graduated in 2023, he has classmates who are studying veterinary science, who are studying agribusiness, who are learning about things like from welding at trade school to ag mechanics, all kinds of different fields within agriculture. And I see them going to trade school, going to community college, going to Iowa State or wherever they may be, following these careers in agriculture and it is so exciting to see their enthusiasm because I watched them in FFA and growing up you know throughout school and just seeing them carry that on and maintain that enthusiasm is so fantastic and I know that a lot of that was because they got so involved in FFA. It was it’s just it’s so it has to be so rewarding for you to see those kids continue that path.

Alex Rodgers: It is, and seeing the ones that want to come back and give back to the chapter, the school, whoever it might be, and really the conversations. We’ve had some that class and a lot of classes, some great kids, just good people. And at the end of the day, if we can just raise good people, we’re doing things right.

Lisa Foust Prater: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, this was your first real gig outside of college and it’s been such a smashing success. Like what did you, when you came in to Southeast Warren on your first day of school. Now at the time of this recording, tomorrow is the first day of school. So think about yourself the day before the first day of school, your first year, and you were probably nervous and not knowing how it was going to go, if you could see yourself and the chapter and everything you’ve accomplished today, what would you, nine years ago, what would you think?

Alex Rodgers: That’s a really good question. I would probably think what took you so long to get to this point? To be honest, there’s a lot of things I look at and we put a good eight years in, but I’m still like, this isn’t quite where I want to. You know, we’ve had some great successes and stuff, but I try to always look at things as how can we be better? What’s that growth mindset? You know, I’m looking right now at the greenhouse to the window and I’m like, ooh, that needs fixed and we got to do this and you know, what we could be doing with some other type science projects. I know kids want involved and you know, I guess in embracing more of the growth mindset with it. I didn’t embrace and enjoy some of the smaller moments, maybe a little more as we’re going through this process. But I think I’d be pretty happy with where we’re at right now.

Lisa Foust Prater: Well, you should be. mean, eight years seems like a long time, but it’s really not. mean, you’ve accomplished a lot and you still have such a long career ahead of you, hopefully at Southeast Warren. And, you know, there’s still so much that you can do. So you touched on a few things that you still want to accomplish. So let’s talk about that. Like what are the other things that you would still like to do with the program at Southeast Warren? 

Alex Rodgers: Ooh, that’s a long list. I know one of the big ones for sure. And this would have been around, I think Luke’s class kind of in that ballpark. We got an aquaponics, both stations set up in the greenhouse and we still haven’t used it. You know, whether it’s been trying to fix the greenhouse timing with doing other projects, it’s been, you know, some ups and downs with that. And that’s still something I, when I walk out there and look at it, like, we have to do this. We invested in this. It’s something we need to be involved in. And it’s something that, you know, for a non-traditional kid to see something completely different, you know, the cows, the pigs, the sheep, you know, that’s all very traditional. But when you start looking at, you know, the food security side of things and looking long-term, what we need, aquaculture is something that’s gonna be very important to us. So getting kids into that field, I think, is important. Getting them exposed there is good. 

We have, in our community, we’ve closed the school recently. So we have fifth and sixth graders now coming to our building. One thing we’re pretty excited about doing is starting a fifth and sixth grade ad club. So we start getting those kids involved earlier. And now we’re looking at, OK, how can we get them transitioned so now the point where our seniors are, maybe they’re ready there by sophomore. And now we have two more years to work with them. Okay, now what can we really push to get them career ready or whatever it might be.

Lisa Foust Prater: That is very exciting. I hadn’t thought about that with the new grades coming to the building that maybe and you know, maybe some of those older kids can can work with some of the younger kids and and help out with some with some projects for them, especially if they’re interested in teaching. That’s very exciting. That’ll be you know, that’ll be you got to look at the bright side of these things and that will be a plus. Being able to get them involved.

Alex Rodgers: Yeah, and we have a couple of students that are interested in going into education and that was the first thing we just looked at each other and said let’s do it. Yeah. You know, let’s give it a shot and see how it goes. 

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s so good. What would your advice be to one of your students or anyone really who is who is you know graduating from college or just getting into the field of education and you know being an ag teacher or heading up an FFA program just kind of getting it started or getting into that field what are your pro tips?

Alex Rodgers: Don’t be stuck on being a perfectionist. Be willing to fail in front of your kids, fail in front of the community, and learn from it. Ask questions as much as you can, even if it’s something that’s like, I shouldn’t really know how to do this, or I should understand this. If you don’t get it, ask questions. It’s the only way to learn. And then the second part of that would probably be find the balance between life, know, an Ag program, an FFA chapter. You know, I’m also a football coach. I’ve been sitting here this morning, you know, doodling up some stuff. Find time for yourself. You know, as you know, you’re a professional, you got, you know, your family operation there. You know, the kids are at Northwest and one day I’ll see them. Finding any little minute to just, I’m gonna embrace myself, embrace my family, things I care about, make sure those don’t fall behind or get put in the back burner, because they’re still, that’s the most important thing. That’s your support system. 

Lisa Foust Prater: I think that’s good advice because especially when you’re in a small town, it feels like, and you’re an educator and a coach and an FFA advisor, you know, everyone feels like you’re their dad, you’re their person, you’re their, you know, you belong to all of us. But you know, you need your own time too. And you’re not just a, you know, public commodity for the masses in the district. So it’s good to kind of keep your own space a bit as well.

Alex Rodgers: Yeah, and I’ve had some really good advice from, we’ll just say some elderly community members on finding that balance and maintaining the, hey, you have your own life and go do it. If you need to have us come help you a little bit, take a weekend of, we gotta watch this trip or do this meeting, you go off and spend time with your family or whatever you need to do. So having people around that value that and share that common belief is huge.

Lisa Foust Prater: Absolutely, absolutely. Well, Alex, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been so much fun to talk to you. But more importantly, I just want to thank you for all your work with my boys in FFA and, you know, on the football field as well. And just being such a positive role model and really helping them work through things and helping them improve their leadership skills and just all around helping them become good humans. Them and all their classmates and friends and all the kids here at Southeast Warren. So thank you for all that you do for the kids and keep up the fantastic work. 

Alex Rodgers: I appreciate it, Lisa, and thank you for having me today.