Evelyn Zaleski (@CuteEvyAnn) HIRED!! #psuaged17 member hired at Davey Tree (@DaveyTree) in Virginia!

Evelyn Zaleski #psuaged17

Zaleski in the McGuffey greenhouse.

2017 Penn State Graduate, Evelyn Zaleski (@CuteEvyAnn) is quickly putting her Agriculture and Extension Education degree to work as she was recently hired at the Davey Tree Expert Company (@DaveyTree) in Gainesville, Virginia. Her official job title is the Mid-Atlantic Recruiting Coordinator where she will get to travel throughout her region consisting of Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia preforming her duties. Some of her duties require her to create and teach lesson plans at schools as part of her recruiting tactics; this is where her degree and classroom experience come in perfect!

Evelyn teaching Ag students.

As mentioned, Evelyn is a 2017 graduate of Penn State where she was an active member of the Teach Ag! Society, Collegiate FFA and Students for Cultivating Change. She also served as the President of the Penn State Grange. She completed her student teaching experience in Washington County, Pennsylvania at McGuffey High School under the guidance of her cooperating teachers Renee Cambruzzi (@cambruzzir) and John Leasure. While teaching an array of classes ranging from Greenhouse Management, Floral and Landscape Design, both Introduction and Advanced Mechanics, and several others she has gained unique experiences and made lasting memories. Some of the interesting things she was able to do during her experience was harvest honey from the bee hives the FFA cares for, host a Career Development Event, and attended a local 4-H meeting to interact with the community. 

When asked what her favorite memory of student teaching was, Evelyn said “I don’t have one specific favorite memory, but I definitely loved having my students dissect plants to learn the parts of a flower because they were so interested and excited to learn. I also was amazed when the students had a benefit dinner for another Ag teacher who was really sick. The kids and community came together to put on such a great event and were able to raise over $13,000.00 in just 6 hours! I also had such fun with my students, especially when they decided to try and do the mannequin challenge!” 

McGuffey student working on a
floriculture project.

Evelyn is originally from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania so her new job will definitely take her from her hometown but she is excited to see new places and meet new people. While working at Davey Tree Expert Company, she will be meeting with managers from all over her region and getting to know the members of each crew. She will also be responsible for finding candidates for jobs and be in charge of their hiring process. While recruiting people to work for Davey, she will be traveling to career fairs, schools, and meeting people in the forestry industry to teach them of Davey Tree Experts and the career possibilities available. Evelyn has already been working for three weeks and says “I really enjoy meeting all these new and interesting people, the employees who are climbing trees are my favorite though.” This is probably because while attending Penn State, she was able to take a class on tree climbing and she ended up loving every day of that class. She also was drawn to this job because it is such a unique position where she is able to interact with all different types of people and it is an employee owned company which means she can use part of her salary to purchase stock and own part of the company; this is a great opportunity for a young college graduate! Davey Tree Expert is also very environmentally conscious. They have flooring that is made of all recycled materials, use natural lighting in the building, and all the water is filtered and recycled. 

Zaleski & Cambruzzi teaching a
 flower arranging class.

“My job is really cool! We are allowed to bring our dogs to work which makes for a great work atmosphere. We also have a green roof where we can eat lunch and we have walking trails behind the building that we are encouraged to use when we need a break from daily tasks! Between traveling to different crews and the other aspects of my job, I have only had to work in my office two times so far of my three weeks here!”

As Evelyn goes forth from Penn State, she would like to leave this advice for students looking to pursue a degree in Agriculture Education, “First of all dive in! Close your eyes and immerse yourself into whatever you are doing. And once you have worked hard and reached the finish line, take a moment to realize what an accomplishment you have made! This is a major where you never stop improving and learning, ever after you graduate! I may not currently be an agriculture teacher but I am still part of the PSU Ag Ed family and that is something that you can easily an honor that you carry with you for the rest of your life!”

Macy Fisher, Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @macy_fisher

#psuaged18 member

2018 Selinsgrove Student Teacher