The Virginia Association of Agricultural Educators recognized current and retired VAAE members who have made significant contributions to agricultural education at the state, regional, and national levels with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The VAAE Lifetime Achievement Award is sponsored by the Virginia FFA Foundation.

During the VAAE annual banquet held on July 24 at the Blue Ridge Hotel and Conference Center in Roanoke, Ron Daughtrey, agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor at Lakeland High School, was named the 2019 VAAE Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

Daughtrey’s award was based upon various criteria, including services provided to agricultural educators, agricultural programs, and/or agricultural student organizations; awards and honors acknowledging achievements in, cooperation with, and service in professional organizations; and membership, leadership and service in professional organizations.
Ronald Daughtrey is known for his quiet spirit, his sound reasoning and his commitment to transition high school students into future community leaders.

“By allowing students to build off the basics that I teach, they put the principles into practice through hands-on activities. Things don’t always work perfectly, but we can all learn from mistakes,” said Daughtrey. “It is especially rewarding to see students use the knowledge and skills learned in my class to move on to rewarding careers.”

Colleagues and students have been somber yet congratulatory of the 40-year agricultural education teaching career of Ron Daughtrey closing with his retirement in 2019. Daughtrey also received retirement recognition from the VAAE during the banquet.

Throughout his career, seven miles is as far as Daughtrey has ever lived from a job, including working at Lakeland High, Forest Glen High and the Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Frequently observed working any time of the day, Daughtrey has maintained a level of professionalism that is bar none. Retiring with 400 days of sick leave on the books, Daughtrey has viewed his role as means to help others as he continued to live out his purpose with passion.

In Daughtrey’s 40 years of service to agricultural education, he has held various roles, including teacher, FFA advisor, cooperating teacher and teacher mentor. Daughtrey serves the more than 300 programs and 335 agricultural educators in the state by assisting with training sessions at the VAAE annual winter in-service, early career teacher’s summit and annual summer professional development conference. Daughtrey has been a lifetime member of the VAAE and the National Association of Agricultural Educators. He has served as VAAE state secretary, state treasurer, state president-elect, state president, state past president, as well as a state and a NAAE national committee member.

With Daughtrey’s state Lifetime Achievement Award win, he advances to national competition with the National Association of Agricultural Educators. One recipient from each of the six NAAE regions will be recognized with a plaque at the 2019 NAAE Convention Dec. 3-7 in Anaheim, Calif. The NAAE Lifetime Achievement Award is sponsored by Ford as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.