Van Heule recognized by school district, state CTE association for teaching

Earlier this year, Britton Van Heule was recognized as teacher of the year by the Wyoming Association for Career and Technical Education, but the Hot Springs County School District Board of Directors wasn’t able to recognize him until Sept. 20, when it was mentioned that he was also selected as a teacher of the year, out of a pool of four “Bobcats Champion for Children,” for the school district.

Although Van Heule has also applied for state teacher of the year, he noted he did not make the list of finalists. For the Wyoming Association for CTE, he was nominated by teachers from the region, then filled out an application that a committee of teachers from around the state evaluated to make their selection.  

Van Heule graduated from Lander Valley High School in 1998, then pursued an associate degree in agricultural education at Northwest College in Powell, before transferring to the University of Wyoming in 2000, where he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 2003.

In June of 2003, Van Heule accepted the job as agriculture teacher and Future Farmers of America faculty advisor at Hot Springs County High School, and has held the same job for the past 20 years.

“I have stayed in this district for a few reasons,” Van Heule told the Thermopolis Independent Record after the school board meeting. “I love living here, and enjoy all that Hot Springs has to offer. I have put in countless hours, days, weeks and years to build a successful program, because a program like ours does not get built in a short amount of time.”

Van Heule returned to the University of Wyoming to receive his master’s degree in educational leadership in 2013, and his current job consists of teaching agriculture and trades to grades 9-12.

“We have developed a very modern and diverse program for a small school,” said Van Heule, who also serves as the head high school FFA Advisor. “We have 46 FFA members in grades 9-12, who are competitive at the state and national levels with our CDE (Career Development Events) and LDE (Leadership Development Events) teams.”

Indeed, Van Heule reported the district FFA’s livestock judging team is headed to the American Royal in Kansas City, Missouri, in October, to represent Wyoming.

In addition to his teaching and coaching duties, Van Heule manages and writes the Perkins V grant for the district. 

Just as he seeks outside sources of funding for the district, so too is Van Heule quick to credit the district’s partners within the local community with lending their time, talents and resources. “Our community, admin team and district are really supportive of our program and our students,” Van Heule said. “Agriculture education and FFA are the vehicle. Yes, we learn about agriculture, everything from animal science to farm and ranch management, but within that, we teach leadership, public speaking, communication, writing and decision making, all skills that are needed to be successful.”

Ultimately, Van Heule described his approach to teaching, “and why we are successful,” as focusing on the opportunities that such programs provide students.

“I help open doors for them, to help them accomplish their goals,” Van Huele said.