Agriculture teachers have competative edge
Husband, wife make light-hearted bet at competitions
HARLINGEN - When Jacque Stevens' Harlingen High School agriculture students win a contest, her husband might prepare roasted tenderloin with pasta and a vodka cream sauce.
When his agriculture science students at another high school, Harlingen High School South, win she might prepare pork filletino with roasted potatoes.
The husband and wife team - the husband is 35-year-old Harlingen High School teacher Joe Stevens - engage each other in some light-hearted competition each time their agriculture students go to contests. The students study shop, welding, wildlife management, animal science, pre-veterinary medicine and horticulture.
Stevens said he and his 31-year-old wife take their students to many of the same competitions.
"We're both very competitive," said Joe Stevens, who has taught in the Harlingen school district for 10 years. "We get to see each other, because we train teams that compete in leadership and career development events on top of just showing animals. We train teams to go and we travel all over the state competing. And we actually help each other train each other's teams. It's interesting, when your team wins, you kind of almost have to be cordial about it and not too overzealous."
The couple, who has a 1½-year-old son, met in college and has been together for 13 years.
"We keep the bet ongoing," he said. "It keeps it friendly, but that first time we made the bet, she ended up beating me. I cooked steaks and pasta and brought a nice bottle of wine."
The two often assist each other in various aspects of the profession, Jacque said.
"With the stock shows, since we both have animals, they're all at the Ag farm, so we help each other out," she said. "If I need to get something for him, I will, and if he needs to get something for me, he will, and so on, so forth. But when it gets time for the competition, we make bets."
Who lost the bet last time?
"Well, it depends on which competition you're talking about," said Jacque, who has taught in Harlingen for six years. "The leadership events are in the fall, or there's job interviews, a FFA (Future Farmers of America) quiz team, and a radio broadcasting team. And then, of course, there are livestock shows. And then in the spring, we train the entomology teams, which is, you know, bugs, because insects directly affect not only our livestock but our crops."
While some couples may feel stressed from seeing each other so much, Jacque feels that's the best part of the arrangement.
"I do get to work with him," she said. "That way I know what's going on. I know what he's going through, and he doesn't have to sit down and have lengthy conversations. If he says, ‘I had a hard day working with a steer,' I know why."
