Broken Bow Agriculture Teacher Caleb tenBensel has received the The Dr. Allen G. and Kay L. Blezek Teacher Retention Award. The Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation awarded 22 teachers with funds in support of agricultural education and FFA programs in Nebraska.
“The Dr. Allen G. and Kay L. Blezek Teacher Retention Award is an investment in the future of Nebraska agriculture,” said Megahn Schafer, executive director of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation. “We are very proud to support these teachers as they get established in their classrooms and communities. Since agriculture is Nebraska’s leading industry, we know that investing in agriculture education and its teachers will continue to produce returns for years to come.”
Blezek Award recipients are all agricultural education teachers in their first five years of teaching. Teachers are eligible for increasing awards over time. As the teachers’ impact grows in the classroom, in their FFA chapters, and in their communities each year, the award recognizes their service and supports their efforts.
A longtime program of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation, the award was renamed in recognition of an estate gift from Dr. Allen Blezek. Dr. Blezek was an agricultural education teacher, the first director of the Nebraska LEAD program, and a founding member of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation board of directors.
tenBensel is in his fifth year of teaching agriculture and technical education courses at Broken Bow High School, and is the advisor for the Broken Bow chapter of Future Farmers of America. He plans to use the award to further his Masters degree in Leadership Education through the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. tenBensel was also awarded a scholarship under the program in 2023.
The Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission to engage youth, educators, and the general public to promote an understanding of the vital importance of agriculture in the lives of all Nebraskans. For more information about the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation, visit www.nefbfoundation.org.
