Janae Herr: Penn State Ag Council Youth Leadership Award #psuaged16 #studentsuccess

Leader [lee-der]

noun: a person or thing that leads, a guiding or directing head

A leader is someone who isn’t afraid to take charge and accomplish much in a short amount of time. It is someone that is kind, delegates work, and is someone who isn’t afraid of complicated situations. At Penn State, there is an award to recognize students that are youth leaders through the Penn State Ag Council. To be qualified for this award, the student much demonstrate outstanding communication and advocacy skills, exhibit high levels of professionalism, and serve as a role model or mentor to others. This year, the Penn State Ag Council has selected a leader that has gone above and beyond in the Agriculture College. That leader is Janae Herr.

Janae is a senior majoring in Agricultural and Extension Education and is minoring in Agribusiness Management and International Agriculture. During her time here at Penn State she has dedicated her time to numerous clubs and organizations and has had several leadership roles in the college. Some of her leadership roles include, being President of the Teach Ag! Society, led a 8-day trip with several Penn State students to Mississippi to teach students in rural Appalachia, being a College or Ag Sciences Advocate, a National Collegiate Agriculture Ambassador, and has worked with national FFA corporate sponsors to aid in recruiting agriculture educators. WOW! Just reading all of those accomplishments you know that Janae cares about the agriculture industry and making her mark in the college!

Janae states, “I count myself incredibly blessed to work underneath such a phenomenal instructional team; individuals who stretch and challenge me and my peers to be the best professional and future educators we can become. I am thankful instructors who are incredibly passionate about the future of school-based agriculture education and the production of similarly passionate individuals who will choose a career in that field after graduation. I would like to give a huge thank you to each of them, Dr. Foster, Dr. Ewing and Dr. Rice for the nomination for this prestigious award and for investing continually into me as a professional and an individual.”

Congratulations again for the award Janae! It is well deserved!

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.

Olivia Murphy-Sweet
Student Blogger
Teach Ag! Avenger
Twitter Handle @OSweetMurph  

2016 Agricultural Education Student Teacher