Professor Bob De Haan is a fourth-generation farmer with more than 40 years of teaching experience. The former agricultural education instructor at MOC-Floyd Valley High School, he continues to welcome high school students to his century farm for field trips and experiential learning.
Continuing the tradition
In 1880, Professor De Haan’s great-grandfather, Henry, established a farm after immigrating to the United States from the Netherlands. Thirty-two years later, his grandfather Gerrit built his present home. Following in their footsteps, Professor De Haan learned the farming trade from his father and feeds nearly 150 cattle each year.
Practical instructor
Professor De Haan holds a master’s degree in agricultural education from Iowa State University. Much of his course material has been developed from scratch, guaranteeing that students will learn topics relevant to the ag and industrial tech fields.
FFA advisor
During his four-decade career at MOC-Floyd Valley High School, he served as FFA advisor, heading up several community service projects. He and his students built restrooms and a shelter house along a local trail, as well as constructing announcer’s booths and Straatmarkt stands for the Orange City Tulip Festival.
Music man
With three daughters who played everything from cello and violin to piano and flute, Professor De Haan says his house was “always filled with music.” His girls must have taken after their musical parents—he played four different instruments in high school, and his wife, Sue, is the flute instructor at Northwestern.
