The Nebraska Golden Owl Award recognizes agricultural educators across Nebraska for their tremendous contributions to helping the next generation of agricultural leaders. Out of many nominations, six finalists were selected. Mr. Lee Schroeder, from the West Point FFA chapter, has dedicated his life to growing agricultural leaders in small-town Nebraska.
Mr. Schroeder decided he wanted to be an ag teacher during his freshman year of high school. Although he considered a few other career paths along the way, he took a job at Howells after college and taught there for 23 years. Schroeder took a few years off from teaching before returning to West Point to take over the ag program. The close of the 2025-26 school year marks his 17th year at West Point.
On Mr. Schroeder’s first day at West Point, he had 11 students across all his classes. Since then, the program has experienced incredible growth. This year, West Point built a new ag room, added a second ag teacher, and has 147 high school students in the program, in addition to their middle school students.
“The bottom line is, Mr. Schroeder cares a lot about ensuring that people in our community understand agriculture,” shared one Golden Owl nominator.
The West Point FFA Chapter is known in the community for being willing to do jobs that others don’t want to, such as cleaning up the fairgrounds before the county fair each year—something Mr. Schroeder is very proud of. He also takes pride in creating an exceptional experience for each student.
“We’ve had success doing a lot of things, but what does the average student get out of it? Ours gets a good experience,” said Schroeder.
Schroeder’s favorite part of being an ag teacher is watching what students do after they leave the program.
“It’s really gratifying, knowing that maybe I had at least a little to do with it,” remarked Schroeder.
He has seen his students impact agriculture in a wide variety of careers, from production agriculture back in their home communities to becoming professors at Big Ten agricultural universities.
One humbling and reflective moment for Mr. Schroeder came when a former student of his pointed out the impact Schroeder has had not only on his students but also on his students’ children and grandchildren.
“You never stop and think about the impact that it has going forward, and I guess [that student] made me think about that,” shared Schroeder. “You’re pretty proud of that, that you can help somebody that way.”
Mr. Schroeder’s advice for future ag teachers is that you can’t do it all at once.
“You have to pick and choose,” said Schroeder, “It’s all about the kids.”
Outside the classroom, Mr. Schroeder enjoys spending time with his family and grandchildren, coaching wrestling, and working on his acreage. He would like to thank his family, students, parents, administration, and the community of West Point for all their support.
The Nebraska Golden Owl Award is sponsored by the Nebraska Agriculture Educators Association, the Nebraska FFA Foundation, and Nationwide.
