March 2017 Program of the Month: Manheim Central (@ManheimFFA)

All across the great state of Pennsylvania there are 145 school districts that have Agriculture Education courses and the FFA program. Each month we like to highlight a chapter that has stood out from the rest of the chapters. March's program of the month goes to Manheim Central High School, also know as the Manheim FFA Chapter.

Background History
Maneiem Central has had an agriculture program since 1938; specializing in agriculture science, agriculture mechanics, and environmental science. The past agriculture educators at Manheim Central  have been Chip Axe, Cecil Lohr, Bart Gill, and Kim Darr. Manheim is a three teacher department with Mrs. Deb Seibert with 31 years of teaching, Mrs. Heather Anderson with 23 years of teaching, and Mr. Jonathan Werning with 8 years of teaching.

The Agriculture Program
Manheim Central specializes in three areas to meet the needs of students in this area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. To also aid in helping the students grow Mrs. Seibert, Mrs. Anderson, and Mr. Werning encourage them to begin or explore more in depth Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs). The students often have Entrepreneurship SAEs that focus on livestock projects. Placement projects often deal with a job the student holds, and exploratory projects are for students who aren't sure where their interests in agriculture lie. Manheim FFA is known to participate in CDE's but students excel in Agriculture Sales, Farm Business Management, Horse Judging, Agriculture Mechanics, and Small Gas Engines. Each team representing Manheim FFA at the 2016 State FFA Convention placed in the top five for their respective CDE's. The educators plan to innovate by always being open minded to new ideas, as well as reviewing their program of activities to help find out what is working, what needs improved, and what new things can we do.

Recent Accomplishments
Over the course of this year Manheim has had accomplishments with both SAE's and FFA. Their SAE accomplishments include two Keystone Degree recipients and five Red Rose Degree recipients.  The Red Rose Degree is a county degree. Also this past year at State Activities Week, Manheim had the state winning CDE teams for Agriculture Sales and Farm Business Management, second place team in Horse Evaluation, and Ms. Sarah Gonzalez was elected to serve as the 2016-2017 State FFA Secretary.

This agriculture program and FFA chapter certainly are doing great things, and accomplishing at high levels. We are proud have such strong agriculture education programs in Pennsylvania!
To find out more about Manheim Central's agriculture program visit their web pages: http://manheimag.org/, http://manheimffa.theaet.com or follow them on twitter @ManheimFFA

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.

 Luke Kerstetter

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @lmkerstetter96

2020 Agriculture Education Student Teacher