First Days of School!!!

On the first day of school people, whether they admit it or not, always feel some sort of emotion towards it. Whether it is the excitement of the adventure of starting another year or dreading that alarm clock blaring that they know will come. I felt excited and anxious as it is my last first day of school as a student in the foreseeable future. How do I define myself after this year, since I have been a student for the majority of my life?

But I also saw the flip side as my teacher friends, new and seasoned, post facebook statuses about how excited they are for the first day of school and how ready they are to teach agriculture. Nicole Weaver from Twin Valley High School posted a status about starting her 10^th year of teaching and expressed her excitement for the new school year but also thinking about her previous students that she has had and all the different stages of life they are in. Tons of previous students posted on it thanking her for being their Ag teacher and saying what they were doing that day. Some are starting grad school, some are going into teaching careers themselves and asking for advice. It is great to see how one person can affect so many people, and that it stays with them many years down the road.

Mike Woods at Cumberland Valley High School stated that he was excited about his new teaching partner, Darla Romberger who recently graduated from Penn State in Ag Ed. He also said that he is ready to keep helping their program grow and expand and continue to change lives through agricultural education.

Other teacher status yesterday on my newsfeed came from Kristy Brubaker who just graduated from Penn State this spring. She said that today was the best day of school that she has ever had, and is excited about the classroom and the students.

None of these teachers had anything negative to say and are excited about ‘creating positive agents of change’ which is a phrase commonly used in the Penn State Ag Ed Program. Seeing these other teachers' successes, makes me more excited about when my role will be reversed, and I will be standing in front of the classroom rather than behind the desk as a student.  I know that myself and the rest of the 2014 student teachers are up for the challenge that follows that first day of school and are ready to be Penn State Ag Ed ROCK STARS!

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!

Jeanne Case

Student Blogger

2014 Dover HS Student Teacher

Twitter: JRose_Case