Agricultural Education - What is your passion?
In the College of Agricultural Sciences, everyone has
one similar passion – Agriculture.
When someone graduates with their undergraduate degree, they probably have a
dream job in their head, but sometimes that does not work out. They may be unsatisfied
with their job; or maybe they want better benefits and a steadier paycheck.
Teaching agriculture in a high school or through extension is all about the
passion, the passion of agriculture. This blog will showcase three individuals who chose to return to school for teacher certification; two
teachers that have graduated from Penn State and have been teaching for various
lengths, and a current student. Each of them expresses their passion of
agriculture and teaching as they go throughout their careers.
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| Tracy Marchini & Grassland FFA Members |
The
first teacher is Tracy Marchini,
from Garden Spot High School in South Eastern, PA. Her undergraduate degree was
in Agriculture Economics and Rural
Sociology and it only took her one year to decide that she wanted to come
back and get her teaching degree. Before that decision was made, she was
working in a factory. She decided to teach Agriculture Education after learning about the opportunities when dating an Ag Ed major. She had wanted to be a teacher, but when she
was in school she was told there were too many teachers. (She did not come from
a school that had an Ag Ed program so she did not know it was an option). When
she found out she could combine two or her interests, teaching and agriculture,
she was hooked! Tracy taught for two years in the 80’s before raising her
family and now she has been teaching for eight years since she started again. Her words of the wisdom to share are “Love what
you do. Teaching agriculture is a very demanding career but the benefits are
wonderful. Watching student grow for 4+ years is great. I am now seeing some of
my students move onto college and careers in agriculture. If you love what you do
you can get up each day and give all that you can for your students”.
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| Mackenzie Crooks, Lebanon (IN) Agriscience Teacher |
The second teacher we are profiling is Mackenzie
Crooks who currently teaches in Lebanon, Indiana. She completed the Penn State agricultural education certification program in 2012. Her undergraduate degree was in Animal Science with agribusiness
management and equine science minors; she graduated from her undergrad in May
2009 and returned for her teaching degree in January of 2011. Before she
returned to school she was a manager at a local Tractor Supply store. She said
that while managing Tractor Supply she talked with a large population of people
that were agriculture illiterate. Mackenzie found it interesting to hear the
customers making comments about agriculture that did not make sense. Her
favorite example is when she overheard a customer say that they didn’t like
hunting because animals were hurt. Instead they only bought their meat from the
store, “where no animals were hurt to make the meat”. She wants to be able to
teach the future generations the joys of agriculture. She loves sharing her passion of agriculture with her students now, and has been doing so for a
year. Her words of the wisdom to share are “Teaching
agriculture is like a roller coaster. Every day is different. You will have
days that are great, and you are going to have days that make you question your
decision to be a teacher. But at the end of the day, seeing the kids excited
about agriculture makes it all worth it”.
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| Sean Scanlon, 2014 Elizabethtown Student Teacher |
Our third non-traditional student to profile is Sean
Scanlon, who is currently attending Penn State and will be student teaching
in spring 2014. He graduated from Radford University with his M.B.A in 1994 and returned to Penn
State in the spring of 2012. He spent the previous 15 years actively farming
and got into substituting at high schools which made him want to come back for
his teaching degree. He has been substituting for the past 7 years to add to
his farm income, and he has decided to downscale his farm to enter the
teaching profession because he really enjoys it, and the steady income. He
decided to teach agriculture because agriculture
is his passion! He studied Animal Science and Agriculture Economics
as an undergrad at Virginia Tech and went into extension for two years with the
North Carolina Cooperative Extension service before farming
for 15 years. Agriculture education, unlike some other disciplines, is singular
and unique in its ability to shape, change, and positively impact students’
lives in measurable, long lasting ways. His words of the Wisdom are “If you ever want to instruct at any level in
agriculture education/extension take AEE 412 (a class offered at PSU) and the
lab. It will stretch you, set you apart from everyone else, and make you an
effective educator in any capacity. Keep an open mind about agriculture
education (you can learn something from everyone you meet, if you take the time
to listen), it’s a craft you develop; PSU is a great place to start developing
your craft. Be a true lifelong learner, it’s worth the time, sacrifice, and
money (investment).”
These are three people in the Agriculture Education field
who all have the same passion – The
passion for agriculture. Each one of them has their own individual story,
unique to them as to how they became an agricultural educator. To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog!
2014 Dover HS Student Teacher
Twitter: JRose_Case
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