Boyd Johnson

There is a catch: "Chess gets harder, because the ones that really like it get a lot better," said Boyd Johnson, an Oldham County High School teacher and chess coach who also coaches chess at Oldham County Middle School.

"It's a very prestigious award," said Boyd Johnson, agriculture teacher and FFA adviser at Oldham High."It's an accumulation of all their years in high school."
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Johnson said Hack might ask his dad to help in a pinch, but the success of his business is his own.
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"He's motivated and has reasonably good people skills," Johnson said."I'm sure he's dependable and does a good job, and those two things go a long way.When people see a kid who will get out and hustle and work, they'll help him out.They like to see that."

Johnson describes Hack as quiet and a good student.
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"He's not a big `hee-haw' kind of kid," Johnson said, noting Hack is more likely to display a dry wit than boisterousness.

Boyd Johnson

Oldham Co.

For the last 26 years, Oldham County High School agriculture teacher Boyd Johnson has been helping to shape the community and its students.From landscaping to horticulture, Johnson and his FFA students have been working to improve the beauty of Oldham County while they learn. FFA is a big program at OCHS.With 142 high school members, Johnson said he feels confident the program is making a difference in the lives of the county's young adults.This year, FFA took first place at the regional competition for nursery and landscape career development.From there the students went on to compete at the state fair against other schools in the Commonwealth, where they placed first again.And a few weeks ago, the chapter took first place in the regional land judging contest.In late October, students competed at the National FFA Convention in Louisville, where they came in 11th. Johnson said the strides the program has made in Oldham County have not gone unnoticed."We do a lot of things throughout the year," he said."The FFA Convention and the regional competition are just a few of the things we do. ...We keep ourselves busy."The study of forestry, water, soils, wildlife and current environmental issues are all discussed when the FFA participates in Envirothon - a program sponsored and hosted by the Soil and Conservation District.Though Oldham's FFA chapter has been very successful over the course of the last few years at state and regional competitions, Johnson said the program has always been strong in the community - and the after effects of that strength have manifested themselves in the community."We have about 15 to 20 past students who have graduated who are now in ag programs at college," Johnson said."And many of the kids will choose lifetime careers that deal with agriculture and what they learned in FFA.... Many former students of mine run businesses in the community, too."Johnson said most of the careers his former students have pursued are in the fields of landscaping and horticulture - both of which are very strong in the county because of the residential boom of the last 20 years.
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Johnson said it's that kind of real world knowledge that he wants to share with his students and the community.
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"He can fix any lawnmower you bring to him," Johnson said with a bit of a smirk; however, it's a talent that will help Lane in the job market, and Johnson doesn't joke about that.
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"He can fix any lawnmower you bring to him," Johnson said with a bit of a smirk; however, it's a talent that will help Lane in the job market, and Johnson doesn't joke about that.
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Johnson said most of his students have a wide variety of occupations to choose from.
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Most of the students Johnson works with in FFA have similar stories."It helps to have some sort of focus when you go to school of what you want to do," Johnson said."There are a lot of scholarships out there for FFA students. ...A student last year was sponsored through Tri-County Ford here in Oldham County and got an FFA scholarship for $1,000."In fact, the entire program is awarded funding on a regular basis. In July, the FFA chapter received a grant from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Council for the development and initiation of a tree and shrubbery nursery on the school's grounds.The FFA sells what it makes in its nursery, and all the profits go back to the chapter.Students learn not only how to grow their goods, but also how to market and sell them.
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"We like giving back to the community," Johnson said."We have a lot of people in the county who call us to do things for them.It could be a business or a group or an organization that we work for, but I usually like to keep it community-service based.We do a lot of landscaping for them, which helps us, too. ...It could be a full-time second job, if we let it."