Hired! Teacher Candidate Mason Tate hired at Athens Middle School #psuaged16

Originally from the small town of Athens, Pennsylvania, Mr. Mason Tate, 2016 Agricultural & Extension Education graduate will be returning to his home town to teach middle school science at Athens.  Congratulations! Mason looks forward teaching middle school students.  “I will be instructing 6th and 7th graders.  I find this age group fascinating, and they have an enormous amount of energy. Just like me!” 

Mason competing with Teach Ag! Society at
National Convention

Before landing his job at Athens, Mason student taught in Lancaster County at Lampeter Strasburg High School with Holy Oberholtzer. Mason was involved in the Agronomy Club, Teach Ag! Society and was a brother of the Delta Theta Sigma fraternity during his time at Penn State.   He hopes to take his agronomy club experiences to assist with the Athens FFA agronomy team, and coach them to go to Nationals within the next 5 years!

Mason will be teaching 5 sections of life sciences as one of 4 science teachers at the middle school.  His agricultural background and knowledge will bring science concepts to life for his students.  His curriculum will include the classification of living organisms from the most basic forms of life all the way to mammals. Additional content includes plants, trees, and forms of reproduction.  And of course, like any good science classroom Mr. Tate’s class will have dissections.  Worms, crayfish, and frogs are on the list for this year.  

Mr. Tate taught agricultural mechanics at
 Lampeter Strasburg 

Building relationships and being approachable are some of the most important things to Mason as he thinks about the students he will be working with.  As he teaches science at Athens, we know he will show students the many connections between science and agriculture daily and continue to offer his students an endless array of opportunities and skills in and outside of the classroom.  “If I could leave only one thing with my students it would be this... Mr. Tate was a man who was always approachable.  He made connections to real life principles whenever possible.  And he went the extra mile to see the success of everyone of his students.”  Mr. Tate we wish you all the best, and endless amounts of energy as you step into the classroom at Athens Middle School.

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