Jason Frost is the ag teacher at Ronan High School and Mission Valley FFA Chapter advisor for Ronan, Charlo and Polson High Schools.

“I teach many things,” he said, and he does.

His students are rebuilding an engine, welding, forging, using a plasma cutter, fabricating metal, building composters and raised garden beds, and will soon be planting seeds. If problems come up in a project, Frost and the youngsters check out videos and then discuss the issues.

He has a Class 4 teaching license from the Office of Public Instruction, a credential that recognizes expertise in a technical field. “It means for 24 years I went around building buildings, went around the world and talked about farming and stuff, especially in Afghanistan, where we were trying to convince them to stop growing opium and grow wheat.”

He got his first taste of teaching in the military. He served for more than 23 years, helping to teach and train soldiers around the world.

“We taught airborne operations to tactics, to patrolling, to medical. I was very good at it – I trained to teach,” he said. After retirement, he told RHS principal Kevin Kenelty he would “help out here until I die or he finds someone better.”

On Mondays and Thursdays, students focus on classroom work, and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, they participate in hands-on learning. On Fridays, FFA students work on FFA binders and other projects in preparation for competitions, while non-FFA kids have a study hall.

Frost also a substitute bus driver for the Ronan School District and was a substitute teacher before the ag teacher/FFA advisor position came up. Another teacher began the year but sought other employment, so Frost stepped in.

He drives bus morning and afternoon since Ronan School District is short drivers. He also drives event buses and all the FFA buses.

Finding value in helping students

His approach to FFA and his ag classes is to expose kids to wide variety of job types, such as plumbing, concrete, vertical engineering, building, electronics, farming and ranching.

The school has greenhouses, which are being prepped for the growing season. MSU Extension, located “next door” to the high school, will teach soils and gardening and students in ag classes will build composters and raised garden beds.

The students will be begin planting seeds in two or three weeks and plan to sell bedding plants. What they don’t sell, they’ll replant and harvest the produce for the Bread Basket or Food Sovereignty.

“A big part of FFA is helping community,” Frost said.

If a student shows interest is a particular occupation, Frost spends time with them each week and tries to connect them with professionals in that field. One student is keen on electronics, so Frost coaches him on “electrician stuff.”

He’s also got a couple of young men interested in forging and “bending metal,” and found a couple of farriers who are willing to offer a summer internship.

Asked if he’d ever seen himself as an FFA advisor, Frost answered, “No, but I didn’t see myself doing any of the things I’ve done in my life.”

For instance, he was a speech and debate coach for three years, inspired by his youngest daughter who was involved in that discipline.

“Speech and debate, 4-H and FFA — they provide a lot of kids who might not be athletically inclined a chance to be exposed to college and technical school options,” he said.

Frost says he once was an angry young man who lashed out at the world. His dad left when he was about 6 years old, and his stepfather wasn’t particularly kind. He was on probation for getting in trouble, and the sheriff gave him two options: the military or jail. So he joined the U.S. Army and said he’d stay in for four years just to prove he could.

“Then one thing led to another. Before long I was in special forces and had been doing it for 23 years,” he said. “I didn’t like myself so I changed myself. I’m constantly trying to improve.”

Along the way, he also discovered a personal truth. “In order for me to feel happy and to feel good about myself, I have to feel like I have value to the world … so I have intentionally always found a way to have value. It keeps me going.”