The value of experience
Melvin Pouncy ’92 named new executive director for the Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas
Melvin Pouncy ’92 has been a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county agent, a high school agriculture teacher in two different states, and now, he’s serving as the executive director for the Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas, ATAT, representing educators across the state.
Regardless of the position or location, Pouncy’s personal mission hasn’t changed a whole lot: teach agriculture to whoever is in front of him.
The Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas Board of Directors named Pouncy the new executive director in December.
Farmland to Aggieland
Raised on a small farm in Bellville, Pouncy grew up raising cattle and showing poultry through FFA. He attended Blinn College before transferring into the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, where he joined Saddle and Sirloin and competed on the livestock judging team.
Two months into his academic career at Texas A&M, he realized he wanted a career that combined agriculture and teaching. Lucky for him, the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications had a degree that blended both of those fields.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education, Pouncy accepted a position as an AgriLife Extension county agent in Bell County. After about a year and a half in the role, however, he found himself drawn back to where his passion for agriculture had really taken root – the classroom.
“I realized that I really missed the classroom,” Pouncy said. “So, I ended up taking a job that came open during a semester in Round Rock School District and got into ag teaching.”
Going beyond the classroom
As Pouncy’s teaching career progressed, he found himself taking on leadership responsibilities, including professional organizations, that allowed him to support not only students, but fellow agricultural educators. He built a reputation as a leader and innovator within agricultural education.
“I just see how important agricultural education is. It’s very important for all of agricultural education to be represented and to have voices that are advocating for it.”
Melvin Pouncy '92
Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas
Executive Director
Throughout his career, Pouncy served in various leadership roles, including Area VII president and member of the scholarship and career development committees of the Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas, building relationships with educators across Texas along the way.
“I considered running as an executive officer, but then my wife and I decided to make a life change and moved to Colorado,” Pouncy said.
And while most might worry about finding work in an unfamiliar state, Pouncy wasn’t. He went back to teaching agriculture and opened a new program in Wellington, Colorado.
Agriculture teaching positions go unfilled nationwide every year, and agricultural education programs are closing nearly as fast as new ones open, according the American Association for Agricultural Education’s most recent National Agricultural Education Supply and Demand Executive Summary.
This is the same gap Pouncy has spent much of his career trying to close: not just teaching students, but inspiring students to become future teachers.
During his time teaching agriculture education in Colorado, Pouncy connected with professors at Colorado State University, the only school in the state offering agricultural education as a major. This experience deepened his interest in advocating for the subject on a bigger scale.
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“I just see how important agricultural education is,” Pouncy said. “It’s very important for all of agricultural education to be represented and to have voices that are advocating for it.”
A realization of his own
Over his career, Pouncy discovered his passion in agricultural education was teaching at urban high schools.
“Most of my students didn’t grow up around agriculture,” Pouncy said. “It’s always special to see them realize there’s a whole new sector of careers that they didn’t know existed.”
Upon returning to Texas, Pouncy had a realization of his own: those eye-opening moments only happened because a teacher was there to make them happen. As a teacher, he could only reach his students. But what if he were in a position to advocate for every agricultural educator in Texas and help them reach their students?
So, when the executive director position at the Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas opened, Pouncy saw a chance to impact more teachers, more classrooms and more students. Now that he has been selected, he wants to spend more time supporting the teachers doing that work every day, the same work he spent 30 years doing himself.
He hopes his experience can translate into successful careers for other agricultural educators.
“I’m very honored and blessed to have been chosen for this position,” Pouncy said. “And I don’t take the task at hand very lightly.”
