"Oh the Places You'll Go!" Celebrating a Year of Accomplishments #studentsucess

"Oh The Places You'll Go, Today is your day. You're Off to great places your off and away..."  These famous Dr. Seuss lines are perfect for both endings and new beginnings.  It is that time of year, where classes are coming to an end and graduation is right around the corner, a time to celebrate and reflect.  This week  Teach Ag! Society, Collegiate FFA, and the Center for Professional Personnel Development all came together to recognize club accomplishments and say good-bye to graduating members at the 80th Annual Banquet.  Not only was it a time to remember the year's accomplishments and say good-bye to our 2016 student teachers and a new beginning as the 2017 student teachers rise to become seniors. 

Mr. Cliff Day receiving an award and recognition at the banquet!

The guests in attendance from Pennsylvania FFA and the Agriculture community at Penn State made the banquet a success. The Center of Professional Personnel Development recognized Mr. Cliff Day for over 40 years of service to Pennsylvania Agricultural Education, in his role at the FFA Facilitator and as an Agriculture Teacher!  We wish him well in his retirement and a sincere congratulations in all his accomplishments and years of service!

 We had the opportunity from hearing from a leader in agriculture, our keynote speaker Mr. Scott Sheely.   Mr. Sheely is the Special Assistant for Workforce Development at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and resides in Lancaster County.  He challenged us as agricultural educators that are the next generation of agriculturalist and those that will prepare the next generation of agriculturalists.    He concluded by encouraging us to take advantage of opportunities and the turns that they make take in agriculture and beyond. 

Following the keynote, there were awards that were presented to special people nominated by Teach Ag! Society and Collegiate FFA for having accomplishments in the agriculture education career, in the agriculture industry, and being an outstanding member in Teach Ag! Society and Collegiate FFA. Those people that were selected for at award are outlined below!

Diane Glock-Cornman

Educator of the Year Award

Teacher at Penn Manor High School

 Matthew Snyder

Outstanding Teach Ag! Member of the Year Award

2017 Student Teacher

CHS Inc.

Teach Ag! Valued Partner of the Year

Collegiate FFA Senior Award

Katie Andrews
2016 Student Teacher 

Collegiate FFA Outstanding Freshman

Hunter Kauffman

Collegiate FFA Outstanding Junior AwardMikaela Hermstedt

Alpha Tau Alpha Honorary Agricultural Education Fraternity Initiates

We finished the night by celebrating our graduating seniors, the 2016 teacher candidates!  Best of luck to all of you, congratulations on completing your student teaching experience and enjoy graduation!  "Your mountain is students are waiting, so get on your way." 

Congratulations Seniors!  

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!

Kayla Hack 

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @hackkayla

2017 Agriculture Education Student Teacher