HERNANDO County, Fla. — Rick Ahrens has a big heart, he loves hard and he believes in his students.

Ahrens has spent decades making the agricultural education program at Hernando High School into one of the best in the country.

For 40 years, he’s put in countless hours of hard work at Hernando. And for him, it’s all about his kids.

“I’m an Ag teacher by choice, not by chance,” Ahrens said. “I’ve chosen to stay an Ag teacher for 40-years, and I’m pretty proud of my body of work with my kids.”

Ahrens is an Agriscience teacher and senior Future Farmers of America advisor. He teaches kids how to be winners at the highest level.

In fact, for nearly 20 years straight, “Brooksville senior Future Farmers of America” has been named “Florida’s Finest Chapter.”

And Ahrens has been honored at the state level and nationally.

Hernando High Principal Leechele Booker said it is easy to see why Ahrens is so highly revered.

“He believes in his students and he takes the time to spend a lot of extra hours with the students because those moments are so precious to him,” Booker said. “And it’s evident in everything that he does, how much he truly loves being a teacher, and that he takes it very seriously. He’s just amazing.”

Now, with retirement looming, Ahrens is making his final rounds in the classroom as the school year nears an end.

“It’s really about relationships,” he said. “I try to talk to the kids and I understand their hopes and fears. I had the same ones when I was a kid

“I don’t have former students. They become my kids, and they’ll always be my kids and they know that. They all have my cell phone number. They all have my email. They still contact me.

I hopefully will be in these kids’ lives until my last breath.”