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Goshen Agriscience Teacher Honored With Milken Educator Award
Christian Stanley is celebrated by his FFA students, Alabama State Superintendent of Education Eric G. Mackey, far left, and Alabama State Board of Education Member Tracie West, far right. Students from left to right: Jack Redmon, McKinley Smith, Collin Shepherd, Ella Claire Mills, Mason Adair, Amanda Sleasman, Addi Richburg, Mary Michael Jordan, Jaiden Law 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.
The Milken Educator Award includes a cash prize. Goshen High students hold up cards revealing the amount of the award. “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.
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The Next Chapter
David Bailey, General Manager Well, the college football season is over. The Alabama deer season is fast closing. But it’s still winter, so what else is there to do?
For romantic guys like me, you need to turn your focus to your wife or girlfriend. February is the month of love, and Valentine’s Day is February 14.
Lately, I’ve been writing about the changes in the electric industry, but I would like to focus on a specific change at South Alabama Electric Cooperative.
1 of your long-term cooperative employees is retiring in February. Chris Sanders has served the cooperative faithfully for over 40 years. Now he has decided to focus on another chapter in his life.
Chris and I have worked together at the cooperative for 33 years, but we have known each other our entire lives. Yes, we are second cousins, but we are as close as any brothers. Just ask his wife, Tammy. Her regular complaint about our long phone conversations: “Don’t y’all see enough of each other that you don’t have to talk to each other all the time.”
Chris is the general foreman for your cooperative. He has basically held every position for the outside employees. To say I am proud of Chris is an understatement. I think about how God blessed us both with great careers. If you had told us about our cooperative careers over 40 years ago — when we worked together at the peanut-buying point in Ariton — we would have laughed our socks off. No way we could see this in our future. God is definitely good.
Chris’ attention to serving cooperative members is unparalleled. He has done all he can for members and fully understands they pay for us to have jobs and retirements. I don’t want to paint our working relationship as all serious. Laughter fills the office many afternoons, which is why I will miss him.
Chris and I grew up in a time when dads were tough on male children, wanting them to be the best. Chris is younger than me, but I remember a football game in his senior year at Zion Chapel High School. He played running back when he normally played center and linebacker. He scored four touchdowns. We celebrated on the field after the game, and Chris’ dad, Johnny Sanders, known as J.A., came up to Chris and said, “Son, on that last run, if you would have cut it back to the right sideline, you would have gotten touchdown number 5.”
That was how dads were then, always pushing us to be better.
Chris and I have talked about how the tough way they raised us made us into the men we are today. J.A. would be proud of the career Chris has completed.
1 of the hardest things to do in leading your cooperative is saying goodbye to employees/friends because we are family here. Not working with Chris will be tough, but I know his next chapter will be as full and fun as the chapter he’s closing at South Alabama. I may not see him as much, but I’m sure we will burn up the phone, and I am sure I will hear Tammy in the background saying, “My goodness, don’t you all ever get tired of talking to each other?” Well, Tammy, the answer is no.
Happy retirement to my cousin, brother, friend, and employee. You have earned it, and I have to tell you just 1 more time as your boss, “Tighten up, Cod.”
Now that the South is basketball country, February is a warmup to March Madness. But February can produce some very cold weather, and electric bills can still be high. So, please conserve electricity use.
I guess I should address my earlier statement about being romantic.
I am as romantic as an elephant is eloquent moving around a china shop. My first date was to the movies with my to-be wife to see the romantic classic “First Blood.” Being the romantic guy, Rambo was setting a great example for us other romantic guys.
So, I’m not romantic, but I will say Happy Valentine’s to my wife and daughters. Enjoy your time with all your family. It is all way too short.
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Think About It
David Bailey, General Manager A new year serving the members of South Alabama Electric Cooperative has begun. The older I get, the faster the years seem to pass.
As a young lad in 1966, the first season of “Star Trek” aired — I was trying to use some Scottish words (“young lad”) to honor my favorite character, Scotty. On the show, Captain Kirk would order Mr. Zulu to go to warp speed. All I know about warp speed is it was fast, and I feel the years passing by at Warp Speed 7.
I don’t like New Year’s resolutions because most are broken very quickly. I like to think! Mostly, I think about my character as it relates to my faith and service to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Next, I think about my character as a husband, a father, and PawPaw to my grandsons. If I don’t think about these attributes of my character, Satan will get a foothold in my life. I ask Jesus each day to guide me down his path, not mine.
The other day, I read about an organization where all they do is think.
The article addressed the issue of artificial intelligence data centers sponging up excess energy capacity. There are areas around the country where electricity prices have increased twice as much as inflation. This increase is hovering around 18%. Your cooperative has not changed any electricity rates in more than 2 years. For 2026, we budgeted a slight increase of 3.2%, mainly due to the higher cost of power, higher interest rates, and the cost of building an electric distribution plant.
The think tank blames soaring energy demand on AI data centers. But the real impact of data centers is not on the electric grid yet. When you look at the data, which I’d expect those thinkers would do before throwing out solutions, the initial capacity shortage is from regulations causing power generators to close baseload fossil fuel plants before their end of life. These were either not replaced or were replaced with intermittent power facilities like solar or wind. When you close more than you build, you fall short!!
If you can get equipment like generators and transformers, building a baseload natural gas power plant takes about 4 years. Over the past 2 decades, electric use has been flat. Manufacturers have long lead times supplying utilities because they are not tooled up to the new demand for these generators and transformers.
Is the surge of AI data centers causing more electricity demand? Yes. Can we solve that problem? Yes. I believe in capitalism and the American can-do spirit.
The think tank’s road map to solving the problem includes AI data centers putting heat pumps in households currently using inefficient electric heating, cooling or water heating. They also want data centers to provide batteries and a 5 kW solar panel system for suitable homes.
They say it’s time to reject the idea that the solution is adding more fossil fuel power plants to the grid, while ignoring the missed opportunity inside millions of households with existing links to the grid.
We don’t need to be exclusively in any 1 source of energy. We need to be diversified in our energy portfolio. But let me address each roadmap scenario.
First, heat pumps work best when a home is properly insulated. Otherwise, homeowners may use more power to get to their comfort level. How will manufacturers produce all those heat pumps, and who will install them? It puts us back into the same short supply scenario as we are in with generators and transformers.
Second, investing in home batteries and 5 kW solar panels. As my oldest grandson, Kristian, would say, “Pawpaw, what would happen if?” What would happen if we were to have 10 days of extremely cold weather with some snow and limited sunshine? The batteries die, and the solar panels do not produce. The electric grid would have to be able to support the additional demand from those homes. This has already occurred, sadly, in February 2021. The electric system failed in Texas, and people died. This scenario from the thinkers increases that risk.
In my opinion, the underlying goal of these thinkers is not to solve the electricity demand issue. It’s to push their plan for exclusive renewable energy at any cost.
Your cooperative has a reasonable, not perfect, track record for serving our members. We’ve been pushing energy-efficient heat pumps and insulated homes over my 33-year career.
Y’all have a great month, and think about it.
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Family-Owned Adams’ Glass Studio Evolves From Selling Pecans to Art
Melanie and David Adams took over the operation of Adams’ Glass Studio after David’s father, Charles, died. They manage the studio while still working their other jobs. The craft behind stained-glass art hasn’t changed much over the years. There are water jet machines for cutting repetitive pieces or making more difficult cuts, and software makes it easier to resize original designs.
But the art still takes the same hands-on skills David Adams learned from his late father.
“I started doing glass when I was 11,” David says.
At the gallery of Adams’ Glass Studio in Troy, high windows allow natural light to shine through the many stained and beveled-glass creations. Near the front entrance, candy and packaged nuts are sold.
Sam Adams, David’s grandfather, started the family business in 1953 as a roadside pecan stand on Highway 10 in Clio.
U.S. Highway 231 was being expanded to 4 lanes through Troy, and Sam sought to catch the business from the traffic detoured around construction.
The business, first located under a big oak tree not far from the Pea River, did so well that Sam decided to buy land on the completed 4-lane U.S. 231 south of Troy and open a permanent location.
Charles Adams, David’s father and Sam’s son, started the stained glass side of the business years later, making Adams Nut Shop a place where 1 could stop for boiled peanuts, pecans, and artistic glass. Charles taught art at the school in Clio before attending art courses at Troy University, learning kiln-formed glass techniques from the late Troy artist Ed Walter. It was during that time that Charles also learned to make stained glass.
Family Business
Stained-glass flowers are a popular item with customers at Adams’ Glass Studio. The original store had a nut and candy shop on the top floor while Charles created his glass pieces in the building’s basement. That building burned in 2011 when a pipe slipped loose from a wood-burning stove, spreading fire rapidly through the old building. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, and the family rebuilt the business.
David and his wife, Melanie, worked behind the scenes of the business with Charles until he passed away in 2021. Even since taking over, they still work their other jobs. David has worked for the Retirement Systems of Alabama in Montgomery for 20 years, and Melanie is the secretary at Brundidge Methodist Church. The family attends services at Brundidge Methodist, and it is also home to the first stained-glass window Charles crafted for a church. There are a few part-time employees at Adams’ Glass and 1 full-time employee who has been with them for decades, helping manage things during the week.
But in the evenings and on Saturdays, the couple is at the glass studio.
David and Melanie have 4 daughters, and they hope will 1 day take over. While Melanie worries about losing the glass art craft, she loves how the business has evolved and wouldn’t mind seeing 1 of their daughters help the business evolve more into other art mediums.
Melanie says it means a lot to them when customers who knew Charles visit.
Charles would sit near the front counter and solder like David does now, and customers would come in and talk, Melanie says. Charles could carry on a conversation while soldering, never even looking up.
“People loved him,” she says of her late father-in-law. “It’s neat to see the history, to be a part of something like this.”
The Right Touch
Repeat customers often return to buy gifts, selecting from a collection of stained glass flowers and topiaries, bride and groom cake toppers, crosses, and angels. David can create custom pieces from photographs, although without details of people’s faces. Nativity sets are popular, and customers add to their collections every year.
The studio buys glass in sheets, already colored or in clear textures. The glass is then cut for the custom stained-glass designs. With kiln-fired glass, powders and pieces of glass are heated together to form colors and designs — it’s a form of glass art that David hopes to do more when he retires from his job in Montgomery.
Adams’ Glass Studio uses the same copper foil method of stained-glass art created by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the 19th century.
“With the copper foil, we can get a lot more detailed design,” David says.
Melanie wraps the edges of the glass in the copper foil for David to solder together, using a worn wooden dowel to press the foil to the glass. A chemical agent known as flux is used to ensure the soldering wire adheres to the copper foil smoothly and creates a strong bond between the glass pieces.
The glass art industry and tools have evolved, David says. Glass is more expensive, and vendors have gone out of business. After the 2011 fire destroyed the Adamses’ original hand-drawn designs, David used software to recreate them from photographs. The software also made resizing designs a lot easier. The craft, David says, still requires a human touch.
“Glass is just an unforgiving medium if you don’t have the right touch,” he says.
