The Catalyst I remember the call clearly. "Hi Amber, I just wanted to let you know that I won't be returning to the classroom next year." My heart sank. She was an exceptional teacher, supervising practitioner, agricultural education advocate, colleague in the profession, and personal friend. "Why are you leaving?" I hesitantly asked, knowing the reason might be personal. She didn't hesitate in her reply, "I want to start a family and I can't realistically do that and remain an ag teacher." As our conversation came to a close, I let out a deep sigh and picked up the phone to make another call to Quint. This was the third one we lost that month. It is no secret that the agricultural education profession, like the majority of education disciplines, isexperiencing attrition at a rapid rate. In 2019 alone, 605 school-based agriculture teachers left the classroom nationwide (Foster et al., 2020). In Arizona, there are always more positions to fill than teachers available, despite a fresh crop of preservice teachers each academic year. Novice and experienced teachers alike face overwhelming demands within our profession. They must juggle all aspects of the three-component model; please administrators, co-teachers, parents, students, and their community; and retain a personal life. The rhetoric of "be everything to everyone at alltimes," is prevalent in agricultural education culture. It can easily become overwhelming. Quint and I see the need for a shift in our culture, as we have our stories too.
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