Sally Shomo is the flower in so many students’ lives. "If I ever had to pick an ag teacher, I wouldn't pick any other one, she's more than just an ag teacher, she's someone that you can look up to talk to anytime you need her," says Kelsey Grimm, an 8th grade student at Beverly Manor Middle School.

Shomo teaches three agriculture classes and she's the Future Farmers of America advisor at Beverly Manor Middle School. "What really inspired me to be an agriculture teacher was probably my agriculture teacher in high school," says Sally Shomo.

After graduating from Virginia Tech, Shomo moved back to her old stomping ground to get her career in bloom in Augusta County. "There's a saying that I use with my sixth grade students, that if it weren't for agriculture we'd be naked and hungry."

Which is why she's an ag teacher because she says it's everything a lesson the current FFA president understands. "She taught me a lot about agriculture and FFA and she taught me how to be a good leader and responsible and be more respectful for my fellow students," says student Hannah Sayre.

And, it's not what Shomo is teaching, but who that makes this award such an honor. "Any award where you have a student nominating you and then explaining why they want you to win the award, probably means more to a teacher than any other award that they could possibly receive."

Shomo plans on teaching for another five years and then she wants to work with younger agriculture teachers.