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KALEB SELMAN
Cordell Schools will be welcoming their newest ag teacher Kaleb Selman for the 2021-2022 school year.
Selman, who grew up in Burns Flat, graduated from Weatherford where he was a part of a state champion livestock judging team.
After graduating high school, Selman went on to study livestock judging at Redlands Community College before moving over to Oklahoma State University to get his agribusiness degree.
While this will be Selman’s first year teaching, he said he’s excited to get started and hopes to make a big impact on students’ lives.
The Cordell Beacon had the chance to talk to Selman about his upbringing, agriculture, FFA, and the upcoming school year.
What is it that got you interested and started in the world of agriculture? Well to be honest with you, my grandpa.
My grandpa is one of the most influential people in my life, and he was really the one that was pushing all of his grandkids towards the agricultural industry.
I showed for him when I was a kid, and then when I moved to Weatherford my ag teacher was a really big influence in my life.
He was always willing to show me, and then, it’s kind of funny because my brothers and some of my siblings are really really good athletes and I’m not.
I’m not even a kind-of-good athlete so the world of ag just kind of gave me a way to compete in something that I guess I didn’t have to throw a ball or something like that.
Why did you want to become a teacher? Is it something that you always wanted to do or how did that come about?
Well, you know, I wanted to do it for a little while, and then I kinda didn’t want to do it for a long time.
But I kind of came to the realization that if it wasn’t for my old ag teacher, I don’t know where I would be in my life. I don’t know the things I would be doing in my life.
I just wanted to be able to give back to somebody in that same kind of fashion.
There’s always going to be somebody out there who doesn’t have the kind of role models or are blessed with the same kind of people in their lives as some other people, and I want to be that for somebody else.
I want to show somebody that somebody cares and that there’s somebody out there that’s willing to go the extra mile for them.
How does it feel getting to go into teaching now that the pandemic has died down? Are you relieved to be going into a year that will likely look “normal”?
Yes, I am so relieved. Now don’t get me wrong, we could have made it through if I came out last year.
I’m still going to have to deal with it on some fronts, but it is nice knowing that I don’t have to deal with it completely.
Do you have anything planned or things you’d like to implement into classes that students can look forward to this upcoming school year?
Well the biggest thing, and it’s as simple as it could possibly be, the biggest thing is that we’re gonna work hard no matter what.
We’re never going to get beat because of lack of work. We’re always going to be the team that’s giving the most effort.
We’re always going to be the team that is always ready to go and put in the extra mile for what they want.
To be honest with you, that’s really what they can look forward to the most.
There are certain specific things that are coming up that I haven’t really worked out all the details on them yet, but you better put your work boots on because we’re going to go hard this year.
Cordell Schools made a post announcing you as the new ag teacher, and you said “there is more to FFA than [students] could imagine.” Could you elaborate on that and give everyone some examples?
Well, most people think when it comes to FFA, it’s only showing.
A lot of people think that it’s just show pigs or just show cows, and that’s really not the truth at all.
You can do speeches, you can do ag mechanics, you can do a number of different things that people don’t even realize that are in there.
And when you don’t realize that it’s not there, then you don’t ever give it a chance, but I’m telling you, there are more things to do in the FFA than people could even imagine.
I mean, there’s horticul ture, there’s all kinds of stuff, that if you would just give it a chance, people would understand that, “Oh my goodness. This is what I want to do with my life. This kind of stuff is how I want to go about this stuff.”
What do you think are some reasons that students should join FFA?
The biggest thing to me that the FFA does, and I was actually talking to somebody about this yesterday.
To me, the biggest thing that the FFA does is it teaches people how to communicate with others properly.
In my opinion, one of the most important things in life is communication with people and how to communicate with people properly.
The FFA, it teaches young ladies how to speak to one another, and what kind of tone that they should use, and what kind of demeanor they should have.
It teaches young men, when you shake somebody’s hand, squeeze it hard and when you walk, walk with some authority.
It teaches all that kind of stuff and how to communicate with people on a level that they probably didn’t even think was a thing, because they didn’t have that kind of background, or they didn’t have that kind of upbringing.
We talked a bit about the different facets that FFA has to offer. Can students who are maybe interested in joining ag come talk to you more about this?
If anybody wants to join ag, or just to give it a chance, or maybe even just want to know what’s going on that they could possibly do, my door is always open. It is always going to be an open policy door for me.
If there is anybody that is interested in doing ag, just come talk to me, we can figure something out.
Like, we have a shooting team. If you like to shoot shotguns, we have a place on the shooting team or we have a competition shooting team.
Then, if you like growing plants and doing arrangements and stuff like that, we have a horticulture house.
If you really want to learn how to speak in front of people, we can get you as many speeches until your head spins off.
We can do anything that you want to do. I just have to know if you want to do it and if you’re willing to put in the time and the effort.
What do you say to those students who are kind of interested in joining ag or FFA but are unsure whether it’s the right move for them?
You gotta give it a chance.
If you’re interested and you’re wondering whether or not it’s going to be the cool thing to do, I promise you, you gotta give it a chance.
There are unbelievable ways to absolutely just change your life and change what the course of what you thought your life was going on to if you just give things a chance.
You have to, in life and just in general, you have to give things a chance. You have to put your neck out on the line sometimes.
You have to go a little farther than other people would just for the chance.
I really feel like that if the kids gave the FFA a chance and gave me a chance as a teacher that there’s unbelievable things that we could accomplish together.
In talking to you about all this, you seem very passionate. What is it that motivates you in doing all of this?
What motivates me? It’s a lot of my family, a lot of my previous support.
I don’t know where I would be in my life if it weren’t for my family, if it weren’t for my old ag teacher, if it weren’t for my judging coaches in college, I don’t know where I would be.
And I want to be that person for somebody else.
I really want to show somebody that I care.
I really want to show somebody that I’m willing to go the extra mile for them, and that I’m willing to give them opportunities that they wouldn’t have had without me.
I want to be that for somebody.
And you know, it’s tough because there’s all kinds of kids out there. There is. There’s all kinds of them out there and they all come from all kinds of different backgrounds.
Not everybody is blessed with the same kind of mentorship and the same kind of household mentorship, and that’s just the world and that’s just how it is.
Those that are out there that don’t have that same kind of leadership and that same kind of person in their lives that they can look to for all kinds of stuff, I want to be that for somebody.
Lastly, I feel like the answer is very clear here, but are you excited to get into Cordell schools and be the new ag teacher this year?
Oh, absolutely! I absolutely am.