One Texas Teacher, His Amazing Students, and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Put Vocational Ed on the National Map
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins stands with ag mechanics instructor Dorman Vick and his students from Samuel V Champion High School
Dorman Vick has spent 22 years building a standard in a Texas shop class. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture just told the country its worth paying attention to.
We didn't build this to win a trophy. We built it because it needed to be built and our kids were capable of building it. It doesn't change what we do on Monday. We go back to work.”
BOERNE, TX, UNITED STATES, April 19, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— Dorman Vick, Ag Mechanics Instructor, Champion HS
WHILE THE COUNTRY ARGUES ABOUT WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, ONE TEXAS TEACHER AND HIS TALENTED STUDENTS JUST GOT AN INVITATION FROM THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
Dorman Vick Has Spent Twenty-Two Years Building a Standard in a Texas Shop Class. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Just Told the Country It Was Worth Paying Attention to.
On April 17, 2026, United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins personally invited Dorman Vick and his students from Samuel V Champion High School in Boerne, Texas to a federal groundbreaking at Moore Air Base. This is the government of the United States telling a high school ag mechanics program that what they built matters to national biosecurity and the future of the American cattle industry.
ONE TEACHER. TWENTY-TWO YEARS. ZERO APOLOGIES.
Dorman Vick has spent twenty-two years building the ag mechanics program at Samuel V Champion High School from the ground up, trade by trade, student by student. He does not adjust the standard to fit the student. He adjusts his approach until the student reaches it. His students learn to weld, design in CAD, and produce documentation that holds up to professional scrutiny. They leave knowing how to build something real from blueprints and the willingness to do the work. That is twenty-two years of one man refusing to let the bar drop.
“We didn’t build this to win a trophy. We built it because it needed to be built and our kids were capable of building it. The fact that the federal government agrees with that assessment is something I’m proud of, but it doesn’t change what we do on Monday. We go back to work.”
Dorman Vick | Ag Mechanics Instructor | Samuel V Champion High School
THE ONLY PROGRAM OF ITS KIND. BUILT BY HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS.
Samuel V Champion High School is the only high school ag mechanics program in the United States to have built for the federal government and the State of Texas, both in direct response to active biosecurity threats. The most recent is a fully functional Mobile Dipping VAT semi-trailer with a 2,200-gallon capacity, engineered from 331 pages of CAD blueprints and backed by five documentation binders. In March 2026, after a seven-year absence, Vick brought his talented seniors back to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Ag Mechanics Project Show, the largest competition of its kind in the country with more than 500 entries. They won the 2026 Overall Reserve Grand Champion title and earned something bigger than a ribbon. They earned proof.
2026 OVERALL RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION Houston Ag Mechanics Project Show | Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo NRG Center | Houston, Texas | March 2026
BUILT IN A CLASSROOM. NOW TOURING THE NATION.
The American cattle industry is at a 75-year low. The screwworm threat not seen since the mid-1970s is back on the radar. The skilled labor pipeline is broken. Against that backdrop, Dorman Vick and his talented students are on the road with a story the trades community has been waiting to hear. From Houston to Moore Air Base, these young people are not ambassadors for a program. They are the proof of concept. The government contract came because this program built its reputation one project at a time over twenty-two years, and the federal government eventually ran out of reasons to look anywhere else.
The federal government did not find this program. This program built its way to the federal government. There is a difference. Dorman Vick knows the difference. His talented students live it.
About How Strong Media
How Strong Media is dedicated to finding and amplifying the stories of innovation happening in industries, classrooms, and communities that the mainstream media overlooks. We were built to tell the stories that deserve to be told.
About Samuel V Champion High School
Samuel V Champion High School is part of Boerne Independent School District in Boerne, Texas. Its ag mechanics program, led by instructor Dorman Vick, is the only high school program in the nation to have completed federal and state government commissioned builds in direct response to active biosecurity threats against the American cattle industry.
Troy Beetz
How Strong Media
+1 310-482-9780
email us here
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
