Jason Hill admits resigning from his position at Eureka Springs High School was one of the toughest decisions he’s ever made.

“I went back and forth on it,” Hill said. “It took me a little while to come to the decision, talking with my family and trying to figure it out. Leaving the school was by far the toughest decision I think I’ve ever had to make in my life. I enjoyed the kids, I enjoyed the job I was doing.”

Hill, a 1999 Eureka Springs graduate, led the skills trade and SkillsUSA classes at ESHS the past 10 years, and it took an ideal opportunity to lure him away from a job that he devoted many, many hours to his students.

That opportunity was a position “helping develop a department” at Island Airco.

“A new challenge was presented,” he said. “It’s a change but I’m excited to start it. But, I am still torn on still being a teacher. It’s not easy to walk away from.”

Hill definitely is leaving an accolade-filled tenure at ESHS, including his final year, with students again excelling at the state and national levels in SkillsUSA competitions.

In fact, it was just a few days after Hill returned with four students who competed at the SkillsUSA national competition in Atlanta in June that he met with district superintendent Bryan Pruitt and informed him of his resignation and new career path.

Aiden Barker, Evan Agresto, Kameron Agresto and Riley Chapman represented Eureka Springs at the national event, which saw students compete in categories such as plumbing, electrical, cabinet making and masonry. Evan Agresto was one of four students from Arkansas who medaled at the event, finishing third nationally in plumbing.

“Every year that I’ve been there we’ve had first-place finishes in the state and went to nationals,” Hill said. “This year by far was the most successful. We had 16 kids who went and competed in the state competition in April and 11 of those placed. And for the four of them to go and compete on the national state was huge.”

Hill said it was tough for his students to get much practice between the state competition and nationals so he wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Atlanta.

“Was I expecting Evan to improve over what he did last year when he finished 10th in the nation? Yes, I was expecting him to improve, but I wasn’t sure how much he would improve,” Hill said. “So, for him to place third was so exciting. When you hear their name called at the national level when you’re sitting there in front of somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people, along with the other competitors, it’s a special moment.

“For us, as a small school with 620, 630 kids in pre-K through 12th, to see a student like Evan compete on the level and be able to place at national with larger schools that are almost like trade schools, it’s just special and really humbling to see how well they can do. We’re just a little school from a little town in Northwest Arkansas and to see what we could do, not only at the state level, but the national level, was huge.”

Regardless of how a student finishes at the national level, Hill said it’s just the experience of traveling to an area of the country that perhaps a student hasn’t been to before that makes it a special moment.

“Every kid I’ve taken [to nationals], I’ve always felt like, has a good chance to do well,” he said. “For a lot of these kids, though, it’s not necessarily going to place. It’s the excitement of being able to take them somewhere that they may have never been before and see some of the things that are different from our hometown to somewhere like Atlanta or Louisville, or wherever we went.”

This year’s success started in Hot Springs in April when 11 of the 16 students placed in the state competition, including first, second and third place finishes in plumbing and masonry, second and third place in cabinet making and first and third in electrical. Those results even surprised Hill, who said it’s tough to find enough time to get prepared for the events with so many extracurricular activities available to students.

“You’re fighting to get the time with the kids,” he said. “It’s almost like a sports team. Practicing and showing them things that they can do different, different techniques. I was a little bit concerned going down this year to state and they absolutely blew my mind. Our students blew it out of the water and it was nothing short of absolutely being astonished.

“I remember texting the results as they were coming in and it was just overwhelming for me. …It was pretty emotional for me. I was so proud. As a teacher, to pour your heart and soul in it, and have the success that we’ve had, it really hits home.”

Especially since Eureka Springs is Hill’s home and his students walked in the same path he did when he was in school, which helped him accomplish things such as earning his master plumbing license.

“I was in this program when I was in school and it’s always been near and dear to my heart,” Hill said. “… I take a lot of pride in the fact that I was able to teach in the program that made me who I am.

“I’ve poured my heart and soul into the program, trying to make it and get the students better prepared for not only competitions, but I didn’t look at these kids as just anybody’s kids. I developed relationships with them and they know if they ever needed anything they could reach out. I still have students who I’ve had who reach out and I talk to on a regular basis. I’ve helped talk kids through things like how to change out a faucet or something like that. I take a lot of pride in that.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the kids who have come through our program.”

Under Hill, the program also has put an emphasis on giving back to the community, with his students involved in many community service projects throughout the years.

“The kids have gone out and worked on projects such as ECHO Village, going out and helping put trim up and paint and stuff like that,” Hill said. “We worked at the community center, helping them remodel the Highlander Room, and of course we’ve done projects on the school property, whether it be sidewalks or working on a retaining wall on the playgrounds.

“Being able to give back to our community and being able to do things where these kids will be able to come back years from now and look at say, ‘hey, look what we did.’ ” Just like Hill still does today.

“There’s a building down at Lake Leatherwood that I helped work on when I was in school with the shop program and the skills program,” he said. “You can go down there and 25 years later it’s still there, still being used. It gives me a sense of pride to be able to go out there and say, yeah I was a part of that.

“… Being able to be a part of things in the community where students can see the rewards of their hard work, it just really makes a difference in how they perceive the class, perceive the trades. It honestly gets them more involved and helps to be able to have more plumbers, electricians and carpenters around that we need desperately.”

Even if the students end up picking a different career path, Hill said it’s satisfying to know that they have a skill that can help them in the future and possibly also save some money.

“It’s very hard to think that I’m not coming back,” he said. “But, being a part of their life and to hopefully give them tools that they can use not only to possibly make money later on, but to save them money as they’ll be able to do some things on their own, I think is huge.”