High Marks

Goshen Agriscience Teacher Honored With Milken Educator Award

When Goshen High School agriscience teacher Christian Stanley was told he was needed for an assembly, his first thought was that the school’s Agriscience Academy was receiving recognition.

He had no inkling that a national awards program wanted to recognize him as an outstanding K-12 teacher and give him a cash prize of $25,000 to spend as he saw fit.

“I’ve always been 1 to push my students into the spotlight,” Stanley says, admitting it was cool and surprising to receive a Milken Educator Award.

In December, he stood in front of cheering students, fellow teachers, and others as his name was announced as Alabama’s 43rd recipient of a Milken Educator Award since the state joined the program in 1998. Stanley is the first recipient from Pike County Schools.

“Christian Stanley excels as an educator, mentor, colleague, and community leader,” Milken Educator Awards Vice President Stephanie Bishop said during the event. “The Pike County Agriscience Academy is unparalleled. Students are lucky to have such rich, hands-on experiences that allow them to make meaningful contributions to the global economy and build the foundation for a bright future.”

The Milken Educator Awards program is an initiative of the Milken Family Foundation and is hailed as the “Oscars of Teaching.” Surprise presentations are held in school assemblies across the country honoring early- to midcareer teachers for their achievements and for the promise they show as educators. There is no formal application or nomination process for the awards.

Bishop, a 2001 Virginia Milken Educator, and other Milken Educators attended Stanley’s presentation along with dignitaries such as Alabama Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey.

“Mr. Stanley represents everything we hope for in Alabama classrooms,” Mackey said during Stanley’s award presentation

“He has a heart for students, provides excellent instruction and has a deep commitment to his school and community.”

The Milken Educator Awards program has given more than $76 million in individual cash prizes since 1987 and invested over $146 million in the national network to help recipients broaden their impact by encouraging young people to consider a career in education.

Stanley, now part of a national network of over 3,000 Milken Educators, says his own agriscience teacher had a big impact on him and led to his career choice.

“Personally, what it means to me is being able to help empower my local community and my students,” Stanley says of the award. “That’s the part that I honestly really care about, being able to utilize this award and the recognition that comes with it to allow people to see how great of a program we have, how great of a community Goshen is. Professionally, it tells me the hard work we’re doing here at Goshen High School is being seen on a statewide and nationwide level, and that’s excellent.”

Stanley’s love of his profession centers around his students. He gets excited when he hears from first-generation college students or those who chose a career path they might not have otherwise known about had he not exposed them to it.

“The thing that I enjoy the most about education is whenever the students come back and tell me about the impact I had on their life, or whenever I see what they’re accomplishing,” Stanley says. “That’s really the biggest thing to me that really strikes me about education that you really don’t get in a lot of other professions.”

While Goshen has students from traditional agriculture backgrounds, Stanley says the majority of students have no experience living on a farm.

Stanley is originally from a rural community in southern Illinois. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in ag education from Southern Illinois University before he came to Auburn University as a graduate assistant to work on his master’s degree. This is his 4th year at Goshen High School and its Agriscience Academy, which is unique in offering dual enrollment for students in 10th through 12th grades. Students can earn short-term certificates or an associate’s degree in agricultural technologies before they even graduate high school.

But Stanley says the Goshen program is also unique in the diversity of agriculture offerings.

“We have 3 commercial- sized greenhouses, we have aquaponics where we have fish, we have cattle, we have goats — so, we hit on a little bit of everything,” Stanley says. “I think that’s really unique for kids because it allows them to see what they really enjoy in the agriculture industry, and sometimes, more importantly, what they really don’t enjoy that much and couldn’t see themselves doing.”

Stanley says he and his wife, Madison, plan to use his $25,000 cash prize for their son, John-Rillis, who is now 3 months old. “We’re going to put that toward a college fund for him to ensure he has that ability whenever he gets to that age,” he says.