SANTA MARIA HIGH SCHOOL
Agriculture Education and FFA
Agriculture Teachers &
FFA Advisors
Mr. DeBernardi has been a Saint all his life; well maybe not completely, but certainly when it comes to school pride and the competitive spirit that all fellow SMHS Saints have. DeBo graduated from SMHS in 1990 and he has been a teacher here for over 25 years. In Mr. DeBernardi’s spare time, he enjoys gardening, refereeing high school basketball and working on his family’s farm. He looks forward to meeting new people and having an outstanding FFA year.
COURSES: Survey of Agriculture, Ornamental Horticulture, Advanced Interdisciplinary Agriculture Science
LIVESTOCK: Market Chickens
JUDGING TEAM(S): Land Judging, Ag Marketing & COOP Ag Pests
Marc DeBernardi
mdebernardi@smjuhsd.org
Luis Guerra
lguerra@smjuhsd.org
Mr. Guerra grew up going to a small country school here in the Santa Maria Valley. In 1994 he graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a major in Agricultural Business. Mr. Guerra is currently the Ag. Mechanics Instructor and stresses to his students that this is one of the most important classes that a student can be a part of in high school. Developing Leadership, citizenship, and a student’s self confidence is his goal for every student. “Teaching here at Santa Maria High is certainly a pleasure; we have one of the best Agricultural Programs in the state and definitely some of the finest students. There’s something for everyone to learn and enjoy”, says Mr. Guerra, “So get involved.”
COURSES: Ag Mechanics, Advanced Ag Mechanics, Ag Welding, Advanced Ag Welding
LIVESTOCK: Beef Cattle
JUDGING TEAM(S): Farm Power, Ag Mechanics
Mr. Ayon is a graduate of SMHS & Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Mr. Ayon makes school & learning a fun experience. He enjoys working with students and getting them excited about life and agriculture. He is an amazing teacher to have you get a great hands on experience and travel with him to learn even more about animals! Mr. Ayon is taught as a teacher educator at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo during the 2014-2015 School Year.
COURSES: Biology & Sustainable Agriculture, Animal Science, Veterinary Science
LIVESTOCK: Sheep & Goats
JUDGING TEAM(S): Veterinary Science, Livestock Judging
Clemente Ayon
cayon@smjuhsd.org
Mark Powell
mpowell@smjuhsd.org
Mr. Powell is an alumni of Santa Maria High School where he was actively involved in the FFA program. During his time in high school, he was on the Livestock Judging Team, a chapter officer and showed all species of animals. Upon graduation from high school he attended Modesto Junior College and receives and Associated of Science in Crop Science, Fruit Science, and Animal Science, in addition to being on the Livestock Judging Team and the Young Farmers President. From there, Mr. Powell continued his education at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo where he obtained his Bachelors in Agriculture Education along with his teaching credentials and masters in Agriculture Education. Furthermore, while at Cal Poly he was the Collegiate FFA President, on the Livestock Judging Team and the secretary on the Student Consultant Fee Committee. Lastly, Mr. Powell is eager to work with the students of the Santa Maria High School Agriculture
Department Chair
COURSES: Biology & Sustainable Agriculture, Chemistry & Agriscience, Advanced Interdisciplinary Agriculture Science
LIVESTOCK: Swine
JUDGING TEAM(S): Dairy Products
Shannon Powell
spowell@smjuhsd.org
Mrs. Powell is excited to begin the new school year with The Santa Maria FFA chapter and is looking forward to what this year has to offer. She began teaching in 2010 and started at Santa Maria High School in 2013; Mrs. Powell raised and showed livestock all 4 years while she was in High School. After graduating high school Mrs. Powell attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo where in 2008 she received her Bachelors in Ag Business and Masters in Agriculture Science in 2013. Mrs. Powell can't wait to see what holds of the upcoming school year.
COURSES: Agriscience & Physics, Chemistry & Agriscience
LIVESTOCK: Market Turkeys
JUDGING TEAM(S): Vegetable Crops
Melissa Flory-Guerra
mflory@smjuhsd.org
Mrs. Flory-Guerra is no stranger to the FFA. She was an FFA member in high school where she received the honors of Star Regional Reporter in 1986 and Star State Degree in 1987. Mrs. Guerra attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where she received a B.S. in Agri-Business Marketing in 1991. After working 2 years in the agriculture industry, she returned to Cal Poly for her teaching credential and masters. In 2000, she was awarded the CATA Outstanding Young Teacher award. Mrs. Flory-Guerra is excited to be at Santa Maria High School where she hopes to make a positive difference in the lives of students.
COURSES: Ag Welding, Ag Economics, Ag Government
LIVESTOCK: Beef Cattle
JUDGING TEAM(S): Ag Welding
Mrs. Rodriguez is a former Santa Maria FFA member and graduate of Santa Maria High School. Although she did not come from a farming background, she always had an interest in Agriculture. As a student she was very active in the FFA program in which she held multiple Chapter and Sectional offices, participated in various judging teams, and showed livestock at the Santa Barbara County Fair. Mrs. Rodriguez also earned her American FFA Degree in 2006 while she was attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Mrs. Rodriguez, or Mrs. Rod as most students like to call her, is proud to be working in the Agriculture Department at Santa Maria High School. She believes that the program has something to offer every student and can’t wait to see what the new school year will bring.
COURSES: Chemistry & Agriscience, Beginning Floral Design, Ag Leadership
LIVESTOCK: Market Rabbits
JUDGING TEAM(S): Floral Design & Poultry
Sara Araujo
saraujo@smjuhsd.org
Ms. Araujo was born and raised in the South Coast Region. She graduated from Righetti High School in 1996 and entered Cal Poly in the same year. While studying hard at Cal Poly, Ms. Araujo also worked hard at a flower shop and at a Crop Production office:) Her hard work paid off when she graduated from Cal Poly in 2002 and then received her Teacher Credential the same year. Ms. Araujo has had plenty of experience teaching at Lompoc High School and Golden West High School and she says that her goal is to "Help students gain confidence in themselves and also have them learn the importance of agriculture". Additionally, she also has the hands-on experience as she also worked in the Ag industry for a couple years. We are so lucky to have Mrs. Araujo here at Santa Maria High School FFA and may our years together be awesome.
COURSES: Ag Survey, Agriscience & Physics, Biology & Sustainable Agriculture, Advanced Floral Design
LIVESTOCK: Market Goats & Market Sheep
JUDGING TEAM(S): Floral Design & Ag Pests
Kimura Yamamoto
kyamamoto@smjuhsd.org
Ms. Yamamoto is thrilled to join the Santa Maria High School Team as one of a team of ten Agriculture Teachers. She is from Santa Paula, a small agricultural community in Ventura County, CA. She attended Santa Paula High School where she was introduced to agricultural education through FFA and found her passion for raising animals. She received her bachelor's degree in Animal Science and a minor in Biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. During her undergraduate studies, she was fortunate to study Animal Science for a semester at Massey University in New Zealand. After graduation she lived and worked on a small, urban farm in Goleta, CA. She taught children about sustainable agriculture through afterschool programs and summer camps. The next stop in her journey was alternating between substitute teaching for part of the year and living in Brazil for the rest of the year where she taught English as a Foreign Language. Kimi returned to graduate school at Cal Poly and received her teaching credentials and Masters in Agricultural Education. She was the luckiest student teacher and was placed at Santa Maria High School the year prior and was even more fortunate to officially join the team for the 2020 - 2021 school year. Go Saints FFA!
COURSES: Agriscience & Physics, Biology & Sustainable Agriculture
LIVESTOCK:
JUDGING TEAM(S): Horse, Parli-Pro, & B.I.G.
Mr. Guerra has been in our Agriculture Department here at Santa Maria High School for one year. Mr. Guerra received his Bachelor's in Agriculture Education at Fresno State University. He then Student Taught at Kingsburg High School, and Tulare High School Farm. Mr. Guerra teaches Ag Welding, and Ag Biology courses. If you are interested in plants, Mr. Guerra coaches the Fruit Tree Pruning and Nursery Landscape CDE teams! Mr. Guerra is very eager to get to know all the FFA Members. Mr. Guerra encourages you to find what interests you and get involved in FFA! Go Saints!
COURSES: Biology & Sustainable Agriculture, Ag Mechanics
LIVESTOCK: Beef Cattle
JUDGING TEAM(S): Fruit Tree Pruning
Fruit Tree Judging
Nursery Landscape
Michael Guerra
miguerra@smjuhsd.org
Special thanks to our Advisors for all of their hard work and dedication to the Santa Maria FFA Chapter. Without them, our members would not be as successful!
