This is a letter written to the Las Vegas FFA Chapter in New Mexico who lost a great teacher and friend a few days ago. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Even if you never knew him, let Mr. Leger's legacy live on in your chapter and in your life.
To Las Vegas FFA members, alumni, supporters and friends:
I have often heard agriculture education classrooms compared to the circus. Students are running in 500 different directions doing exciting, daring things, which typically involve big animals, fire, lots of sugar and some sort of performance.
I think ag teachers really fit into this model as well, each unique advisor resembling a different act. There are the lion tamers who use authority to control their students. There are tightrope walkers who are focused on one CDE, competition or subject and concentrate all their time and effort on that single event. There are even jugglers who use their hand-eye coordination to balance the many roles of an ag teacher trying their hardest not to drop anything.
But, Mr. Leger doesn’t fit into any of these classifications. He didn’t need to be a lion tamer because his students respected him for his character and willingness to spend hours working with parliamentary procedure teams and other students. He didn’t just focus on one goal like a tightrope walker; he had many ambitions for the chapter and its members and worked towards each of them. He may have balanced many students, events and subjects, but he spent quality time with each of them individually.
In the short time I knew Mr. Leger, he proved to be a lot like a circus clown. Before you raise an eyebrow, hear me out. I’m not talking about the kinds of clowns who do goofy things to make people laugh (although he did do that occasionally). I’m talking about the ones with real skill. The clowns who make balloon animals!
Mr. Leger spent each day of his life inflating students with confidence, knowledge, skill, affirmation and growth. Just like blowing up a balloon, he invested time, effort and breath into each student. But he didn’t stop there. After inflating students with the raw skill and attitude it takes to succeed, he shaped them into something amazing, unexpected and beautiful. He helped students discover what they truly wanted to become, achieve and be.
Situations like this are never easy. I know I’ve struggled the past few days trying to wrap my mind around the fact that he’s gone, and I don’t have a relationship near what each of you had with him. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through or how difficult all this must be for you.
But I do know that Mr. Leger considered YOU his children. He told me the night before my National FFA Week visit (after taking me to a special dinner at the Plaza) that he had the best job in the world and even though he has no biological children, that you bring him just as much pride and joy. He loved you more than you can fathom and was so incredibly proud of you. I saw him just last week in Arizona (he volunteered to help judge their parliamentary procedure contest) and he talked my ear off about how great you all performed and behaved at state convention.
I wish you could have seen his eyes light up when I asked about you and how excited he was reliving all your successes over the year. He thought the world of you and wouldn’t have traded his job for anything.
Right now, it’s easy to get sucked into grief and the “it’s not fair” mentality. But please, take a second to really reflect on how lucky you are to have had Mr. Leger in your life. Take time to be grateful for the late nights in the ag room, crazy lock-ins in the shop and early mornings working side-by-side with one of the nation’s greatest ag teachers.
That’s what you should remember! Not the tragedy that stings so sharply now, but all the great memories you have and how your life is different because Mr. Leger cared.
He was a teacher, a mentor, a friend, a parent, a guidance counselor, a life coach, a BFF of Robert and his Rules, and one of the most talented clowns in the circus of agriculture education that the National FFA Organization has ever seen.
Keep the faith, stay strong, and cling to the example that Mr. Leger left for us all.
You are all in my constant thoughts and prayers. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.
Warmest prayers,
Alex
