25 years of dedication.
That is how long Mr. Wiseman was an educator at GRC. His commitment to his students and fellow staff has not gone unnoticed.
Mr. Wiseman retired at the end of the first semester and took a position as 1st vice president of Kentucky Farm Bureau, a perfect new career for a longtime agriculture expert. His impact on students through the years won’t be forgotten.
Senior Agriculture mechanics student Daniel Townsend has been especially affected by Mr. Wiseman’s teaching. Daniel was taught how to work in a real life environment and how to use his skills to overcome a challenge.
“I plan to go into a career in Agriculture engineering with a specialty in machine systems,” he said. “Being in Mr. Wiseman’s class has given me the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of farm machinery.”
Wiseman truly cares about his students. He enjoys getting to see his students succeed outside of the classroom, which for Wiseman, means going to students’ sports games. Wiseman wants his fellow teachers to get more involved with the students in places other than just their classes.
“Your classroom is important, but it’s not the most important,” Wiseman said. “You need to see your students out playing basketball, football, all their extracurriculars. You need to support your students. Let them know that you believe in them and you buy into them.”
Wiseman has affected many students in very positive ways, even bringing one of his past students back to teach with him. Mrs. Pigg has known Mr. Wiseman since 2006 when she was a senior at GRC.
“Mr. Wiseman has taught me a lot about teaching,” she says. “There is more to teaching than just teaching students content. It’s growing them into leaders, good citizens and good workers. Without his guidance and leadership I would not be the teacher I am today. We have taken so many trips together. He has pushed me to be more involved in our community. During COVID our families would get together every weekend. There are so many memories, too many to mention.”
Mr. Wiseman also holds many memories at the old GRC that is now RDC, but recalls being truly excited about the new high school and new facilities that would help the agriculture program flourish.
“At the old school, I never had my own classroom,” he said. “My classroom was in the middle of the shop so I never had my own classroom until I came to the new GRC to start teaching. But being able to design my own classroom and my own shop, my own tool room, that was a very exciting time. I looked forward to coming over here. The new green house, all just the new facilities, it was awesome.”
Whatever building he was in, Mr. Wiseman has awesome memories with his students. He has seen students do a range of things from coming out of their shell during FFA competitions to winning state championships.
“Over the years, all my students have been successful in the things that they’ve done,” he said. “I even had a state tobacco grading team that won state.”
Mr. Wiseman encourages his students to get out and try as many different pathways as possible because you never know what you might end up enjoying, adding that there are countless opportunities to advance in our school.
“Get out and see what’s offered because you may not even know what you like until you take that class and see what it is,” he said. “You can’t just assume when you hear the word agriculture that it’s cows, plows, and sows because that’s not all it is.”
Townsend, also FFA president, will miss Mr. Wiseman and his kind and caring guidance.
“The Ag Department will change tremendously with his absence,” Daniel said. “It will take someone very special to fulfill his position and compete against all of his accomplishments and acts of service he has done for our chapter and county as a whole.”
Mrs. Pigg will lead the Agriculture department with the retirement of Mr. Wiseman. She sees a bright future for not only our small corner of GRC, but also for Mr. Wiseman as he goes on to face new challenges beyond the doors of our school.
“He is a tremendous leader in agriculture for Clark County and the state of Kentucky,” she said. “I know that in his new role he will lead Kentucky agriculture to new heights, although he will be greatly missed here. Mr. Wiseman and I have been through a lot together, and he has always been one to support me. He is a fantastic leader who has such a caring heart, I have seen him buy boots for students before, cook extra food to send home with students he knew would not have a meal otherwise. He is a very selfless person.”
These 25 years of Wiseman’s commitment to our school and community have not gone unnoticed. Wiseman has meant more to this school than one article could ever capture. We here at GRC will severely miss Mr. Wiseman. We wish his the best in his future endeavors.
Thank you for everything, Mr. Wiseman, and Happy Retirement from teaching!
(Editor’s Note: Smoke Signals writer Cole Horn is a longtime FFA member and serves on the executive officer team.)
