Brian Cox teaches the city-raised students of Wyoming’s most urban high school how to farm and ranch.
And after 21 years of teaching agriculture, mostly in Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Education on Sunday chose Cox to be the state’s Teacher of the Year.
“I was very surprised,” Cox told Cowboy State Daily on Monday, one day after he received the honor at a gala in Casper.
The Wyoming Teacher of the Year award is the state’s highest honor for K-12 educators, focusing on teaching excellence, leadership and a lifelong commitment to students, according to the Wyoming Department of Education. A department panel chooses the winner from among the 48 school districts' teachers of the year.
The role also brings public-service duties, making the winner the designated “champion” to represent Wyoming educators statewide and nationally, the department said in an email. Cox said he figured a “core” teacher of a main educational subject would win the award because they’re so integral to education, he said.
“But I have always told a lot of principals that, as CTE (career and technical education) teachers, and agriculture teachers, we graduate kids that may not have,” he added.
Cox grew up in Burns and graduated from high school there.
He wasn’t a farm kid, but he was able to do 4-H and FFA projects because he was raised on 10 acres. Then he worked farms in high school, he said.
His ag teachers Mr. Spatts, in high school, and Mr. Bromley, in junior high, had a huge impact on him, he said.
Cox attended Casper College for two years and participated in the livestock judging team, then did the same at Texas Tech University.
He taught agriculture there for two years, then came to Pine Bluffs, where he taught for 15.
Pine Bluffs has a lot of farm kids.
But four years ago, Cox took on a different challenge: Teaching at Cheyenne South High School and Johnson Junior High School, in Laramie County School District No. 1.
South High School is ultra-urban by Wyoming standards.
That’s a fun dynamic though, said Cox.
“It’s probably one of the funnest, most rewarding tasks, to teach kids that have grown up in town about ag,” he said.
The subject is wholly new to the kids. They’re prone to surprises and revelations. And really, ag is about “teaching people where their food comes from,” said Cox.
South High has some challenges.
“We are one of the lower-performing, lower socio-economic schools in the state,” Cox conceded. “But I think if you walked through the halls of South High School the pride is incredible, the kids are incredible.”
Winning the district’s teacher of the year award is a prerequisite to winning the state title.
When the district chose Cox in April, a student had nominated him.
Cox said he doesn’t know for sure which student did it, but he suspects that a group was involved.
He interrupted his Monday phone interview to warn some freshmen, on a school trip in Billings, Montana, that if they went into a store they needed to behave.
“Don’t act a clown. Don’t do anything dumb,” he said.
On The Farm
The district has a 406-acre farm north of Cheyenne, set aside primarily for ag students who don’t have enough land to raise their own FFA and 4-H animals. This operation predates Cox’s tenure at the school, he said.
The students are raising pigs, lambs and calves, he said.
“The farm is super busy during the summer,” he said.
It runs like a cooperative. Students feed the animals in week-long shifts. They have weekly chores. Each student pays for his or her own feed and baby animal. They also pay a labor deposit so that if they don’t show up for their chores, they pay someone else to perform them.
But as with most youth auction animals, they can make back all their money plus a profit after showing the animals at the fair, said Cox.
“It provides these kids an awesome opportunity,” he said.
Cox said this kind of skills education is only growing more vital.
“Right now, AI (artificial intelligence) is going to give kids answers,” he said. “We as teachers don’t have to give the kids the answers. We have to provide kids with the knowledge of what to do after they get the answers.”
Cox said ag education translates to more than farming and ranching, especially because FFA has expanded to incorporate parliamentary method and other, society-foundation skills like extemporaneous speaking.
“I’ve taught everything from veterinarians to lawyers,” he said.
Also, though less than 2% of humans produce food for all of humanity, the industry also requires support from people in other callings, from scientists to attorneys, Cox noted.
Congratulations All Around
Cox said, “It’s truly an honor to get this award.”
Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder praised Cox in an email statement.
"Great teachers do more than teach subject matter—they see potential in every single student and give them the confidence to pursue it,” she said. “Brian Cox’s work at South High and Johnson Junior High demonstrates the profound impact a passionate educator can have on a community, particularly in the area of agriculture education, which is critical to our state.”
Degenfelder thanked Cox for his service and said she is thrilled to congratulate him.
LCSD1 Superintendent Dr. Stephen Newton echoed that.
“We are incredibly proud of Brian Cox and thrilled to see him named Wyoming Teacher of the Year,” said Newton in an email. “Brian sees potential in every student and helps them build the skills and confidence to succeed. The fact that a student nominated him makes this recognition especially meaningful. This is a well-deserved honor for Brian and a proud moment for South High and our entire district.”
Newton said Cox has built the South High ag department and FFA program "into a great opportunity for many kids" and he donates countless hours at the ag farm.
Newton added, "Anyone who spends even a little time with Mr. Cox will quickly realize he’s the teacher and person we all aspire to be in the field of education."
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
