Guest Post: "But Why? A Future Ag Educator Goes to Costa Rica"

But why.....

This is a Cajuela...used to collect coffee beans.  It is
one of the most difficult words I have learned.
I repeated is about 28 times to learn it. 

If you have been following my personal blog or our Spanish for Ag blog, you have realized I don’t always write about the experience I have had touring a Costa Rican farm or the new word I learned.  These things are interesting, but they are not me- they are not what I am really learning.  So why, why would a small town Wisconsin girl studying agriculture education, one of the teaching professions desperately in need of teachers spend time in Costa Rica.  I mean I could take summer classes to speed up my education or work full time, or over time to keep paying my student loans…. there are a lot of options…but why learn a foreign language in a foreign country?  Because it’s worth it.  It is worth it because growth is worth it, my future students are worth it, my future job is worth it, and even my future family is worth it.

Agricultural Education is a profession dedicated to preparing students for future careers and a lifetime of informed choices for a global agriculture industry and world.  Agricultural education has been changing, and in my opinion will continue to and needs to.  Diversity is a topic talked about in most education classes, we’ve all been there, you know when everyone seems to be walking on egg shells.  The list of the differences and unique quirks, qualities and needs my students will have academically, emotionally, physically, spiritually  and mentally could go on for pages, so I will only focus on two.  Language and Culture.  According to the United States 2011 Census 20.8% of the population five and over speak a language other than English at home, 61% of which reported to speaking English “very well”.  From 1980 to 2010, this is over a 150% increase, and this was five years ago. So now what?

Easy answer: Just. Learn. English.  Or just sit in an English speaking class and you will be fine. I beg to differ.  For the past month I have taken Spanish classes four days a week and attended 13 tours all in Spanish, and it is exhausting, but again it is worth it.  Through this process I have realized a few things:

Class may be difficult, but at least I can hear all the birds
through the open classroom set up while drinking Costa Rican coffee!

1.  Feelings Matter. The feeling of failure, confusion and disappointment is common and frustrating, but yet I don’t want to ask for help.  Feeling alone in my need for assistance is a terrible feeling.  The thing is, my classmates are in the same boat, we are all learning Spanish as a second language and about agricultural practices we don’t know in English, let alone in Spanish.  In my future classroom it will not be the whole class that feels like this, more like 1-5 students that feel alone, frustrated and confused…I hope I don’t forget what this feels like.  

2. Be a Guide. I have come to a hypothesis that the tour guides that have learned a language other than there native language seemed to speak a little slower, clearer and ask for clarification.  I hope to be that tour guide for my students. 

3. More than Words. Learning a language is not simply learning words, and traveling is not about seeing new places.  It is about learning about a culture, yourself and our world.  Our agriculture industry is global- shouldn’t our students and teachers be too? 

4. Grow Baby Grow. Experiences where growth happens are the best experiences. These are the ones that change us, the ones that make us better- I want to provide these experiences and reflect on them with my students.

Why go?  Why take on the feelings of failure, smell like deet bug spray, mix up words like soap and soup and get stuck in my own thoughts? Because it’s worth it, because my future students are worth it, because the future of agriculture education is worth it. 

Written by Guest Blogger:
Ms. Kayla Hack, 
@hackkayla
2017 Student Teacher Candidate

EARTH to ALLI. Alli to EARTH.

So what did I do this summer? Well there were many small things involved, but the big picture event was a semester of study abroad at EARTH University in Costa Rica. I just got home on Saturday from 4 months of being out of the country and am still processing all of the outstanding opportunities I was blessed with!



EARTH's cultural diversity was one of my favorite things.
This is from the Multicultural Fair that was held at the beginning of the summer... dances from all over, and amazing food!

The first time to ever use a machete... to cut down a whole plot of plantain plants!

EARTH University is an international private agricultural university, whereas the acronym EARTH stands for (translated from Spanish): agricultural education in the region of the humid tropics. This beautiful university, located on the Atlantic side of Costa Rica, is home to 400 students (over 4 years) who come from over 30 countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.  I was studying alongside students for one of their three trimesters and just got a snapshot of what it was like to be a student at this incredible institution. Students take every kind of agriculture class imaginable and also must complete a full-year business project, semester-long international internship, and graduation research project (similar to a thesis). They also have 2 days of work experience each week, in addition to their 4 days of classes with lab and field experience. It is definitely a “learning by doing” institution!!

Not a common PSU sight - sheep grazing on the lawn by the soccer field! 

So what did I do there? Well, firstly, I took the following courses to be used for PSU credit: tropical animal production, food security and world economy, community development work experience, mechanical skills (aka shop class), ecological basis for natural resource management, and an oral communication class. Within the first week of class, we were each assigned to maintain a 36 square meter plot of forages in my animal production class, got started on a semester-long project for my natural resources class, and were doing community diagnostics to prepare for working with rural, low income farmers (in my work experience).



Me and my 36 m2 forage plot for an animal production class!



Talking with our agricultural family after lunch one day in the community!

While I was able to gain a lot of new practical experiences (i.e. using a machete for the first time), I would say that the most beneficial component of my international experience was definitely the PEOPLE! God was faithful in providing a beautiful community for me at EARTH and I now have friends from all over the world – from Nigeria to Costa Rica, Mexico to Brazil, and several countries in between. I personally love cultural diversity, so I would often get excited when I realized that a group of X number of friends hanging out would represent X number of countries. Realizing the language diversity of EARTH is also so interesting to me! But let’s not forget to mention that my Spanish speaking skills greatly improved (even causing slight English speaking deterioration at times), as all of my classes were in Spanish!

My EARTH family - friends representing 8 different countries!!

So academic, cultural, and language development were up there on the beneficial experience list. But let’s not forget the travel opportunities! I had a few free weekends to travel around the gorgeous country of Costa Rica during my study abroad, only after a full week of vacations along the pacific coast with my parents (before the semester started). Traveling in Costa Rica included: carpooling, buses, taxis, rental cars, and walking... walking only because it was the means of crossing the Panama border when I needed to renew my passport visa! I was able to see gorgeous beaches in Guanacaste, go white water rafting with my natural resources class (best field trip ever), and spend a few weekends with my Turrialba families (from an immersion experience in Costa Rica last summer).

Favorite travel pic - gorgeous sunset in the Pacific

Thiago (Brazil) and Timothy (Nigeria) took me to some cool national parks!

While this experience was probably the best of my life, I won’t deny there weren’t some struggles. About half way through the summer, I was getting a bit homesick, but I think that was mainly exacerbated by the plethora of tropical bugs (like cockroaches in my dorm room – not a fan), humidity (some mold on my clothes) and class work stress. Spanish speaking language barriers were not too big of a problem for me, thanks to the previous Spanish speaking experience I had when living in Costa Rica last summer (and many years of high school Spanish). But in the end, the benefits and blessings of my time there were what will always remain – and without struggles, how will we grow?

So how can I conclude this incredible, life-changing experience? Well I don’t think I can ever conclude the friendships made, but I will leave you with some interesting numbers to ponder:

• 17 weeks away from home
• 29 hours a week of classes and work experience
• 36 square meters of forages to plant and maintain
• 14 cockroaches killed in my dorm room
• 10 hand blisters
• 1 parrot bite, 1 unknown rash, 1 bamboo splinter rash, 1 case of cold/bronchitis
• 3 weekend trips to my Turrialba home
• 2 weekend trips to the other side of the country (Guanacaste)
• 1 semi-complicated trip to the Panama border
• 2 overnight camping trips
• Over 900 photos on my phone
• Over 3,700 photos on my camera...
• 10 visits to our rural agricultural community (El Triunfo)
• Countless mosquito bites
• Numerous unforgettable friendships
• A lifetime of memories

If you want to learn more about my incredible experience and maybe see a bit more of EARTH university and its people, check out my blog from the summer!

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!

Allison Hoover

Guest Student Blogger

2014 Wellsboro HS Student Teacher

Twitter: @allihoov

International Interest Leads to Great Experiences for Agricultural Education Student!

Allison and a toucan at
an aviary/gardens park

Allison Hoover spent her last day in Costa Rica butchering chickens.

After spending six weeks in the Spanish-speaking country, Allison was ready to return home and speak English. However, she had one last experience waiting for her: processing chickens with a group of seventh graders and seniors at a technical high school with its own farm facilities. The school’s chickens were raised, butchered, processed, and eventually sold to the school cafeteria.

“It was exciting to see their energy for being engaged,” Allison said about watching the students participate and eventually helping them in their endeavors.

The agricultural and Extension education junior was acknowledged recently with the W. LaMarr Kopp International Achievement Award, which recognizes Penn State students, faculty, and staff who exhibit outstanding leadership in international education, service, and research.  

Allison soon before beheading a chicken,
with the 7th graders who helped with the
process as part of their introductory animal
production course in the background.

Allison is interested in many different cultures and serving internationally. During the summer of 2012, she traveled to Costa Rica for six weeks. For the first four weeks, she was involved in the Spanish for the Agricultural Sciences Immersion Experience, which gave several Penn State students the chance to work with high school agriculture programs and learn about Costa Rica’s agriculture industry. Allison stayed an additional two weeks with an International Agriculture Summer Research grant to conduct research for her undergraduate thesis.

Allison noted that agriculture has lent to a growth in the Costa Rican economy. The growth is translated into the high school curriculum.

 “Agriculture is emphasized in Costa Rican programs,” she said. “A lot of students are going back to their family farms in the region we were in, known as the Central Valley. There are many coffee and sugar cane farms there, as well as dairies.

“It was encouraging to hear Costa Ricans recognize and be proud of the fact that Costa Rica is a very agriculturally-oriented country. This is reflected in the basic agriculture courses that all students had to take at the schools I visited.”

A banana train, the method of transporting banana
bunches from the plantation site to the processing
site at EARTH University. The school's focus is
sustainable tropical agriculture.

Her awareness of the importance of international agriculture grew through her attendance at the World Food Prize and Borlaug Dialogue in the fall of 2011. Because of her interest in global competency, she received an award from the National FFA Organization to travel to Iowa for the event, which centered on investing in youth to alleviate global hunger. This focus helped Allison realize the need for agricultural education and motivated her to continue pursuing her interest of understanding cultures and agriculture around the world.

“I strongly believe in the concept of global competency,” Allison said. “We should all be interested in being part of a global population. There are so many cultures, languages, and systems, and we should have a genuine interest in them.

“Diversifying our world view can’t truly be done without traveling. To understand who you are, travel.”

Allison is enrolled in the production option of Agricultural and Extension Education and is minoring in International Agriculture, Spanish, and Sustainability Leadership. She plans to pursue a career that allows her to serve others through education, have a family and a small farm, and travel often. 

By: Elise Brown, 

Student Blogger