Introducing our PSU Visiting Global Teach Ag! Fellow: Michael Cahill - Creating the Journey

Hey everyone! My name is Michael Cahill and I am from Richmond, Virginia. I am happy to be the new Global Teach Ag! Fellow and excited for this opportunity to advance global competency in education for educators and students across the nation.

Waimanu Valley, Big Island 

I am married and I have 2 boys, Forest, who is 2 and Barrett, who is 3 months old (as of September 2015) and they are awesome. I love being a dad and my little family is very important to me.  My wife and I both love to travel. For our honeymoon we lived on an organic farm of Oahu, HI for a month and then backpacked/hitchhiked around Big Island and Kauai for another month. On our flight back to the mainland, we each made a list of all of the countries that we had traveled to in order to see who had been to more (we are also sorta competitive); as it turns out we are tied at 10. So, hopefully I will get the chance to travel somewhere while I am at school and officially be in the lead.

Gocta Waterfall in Peru

I don’t have a background in agriculture or education, but I love them both. After graduating from high school I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I decided, with a shove from my dad, to go to college. I attended Virginia Commonwealth University for a year and I didn’t really like it so, my good friend and I went to live for the summer on an intentional community that sold organic, heirloom seeds through a catalog.  That was my first real experience with agriculture and I really liked it.  That fall I left to serve a 2 year volunteer mission in Peru for my church. As I had mentioned before I had traveled a bit when I was younger, but 2 years is a bit more than traveling and I think that it is safe to say that I lived there. It was an amazing experience, but it was really hard at times. If I had one experience that really defined my life and build who I am today, that was it.

         


Today, I am working on earning a Master’s Degree in Agricultural and Extension Education and International Agriculture and Development. I am driven by my passion for agriculture and inspiring youth to actively engage in making the world a better place.

It may seem banal, but life really is a journey and we create that journey by choosing what experiences we seek after. I have loved my journey so far and I look forward to what is to come.

Feel free to email me to chat about anything, cahillms89@gmail.com