September 2021 Agricultural & Extension Education Student of the Month- Jenna Kibbe!

The Center for Professional Personnel Development is excited to recognize Jenna Kibbe, a senior studying Agricultural and Extension Education as the 2021 September Student of the Month! Jenna is from Findley Lake, New York and a graduate of Clymer Central School. During her senior year of high school, she was elected to serve as the New York FFA State Treasurer in 2017-2018. She attended Penn State Behrend for her first year of undergraduate studies. Jenna is a senior preparing to embark on her student teaching experience this spring where she will be teaching at Gettysburg Area High School under Ms. Jenna Timmons and Mrs. Laura Kennedy. Additionally, Jenna is pursuing two minors along with her degree in both Spanish and International Agriculture. 

While attending Penn State, Jenna has been involved in a variety of student organizations including LEAD Society, Spanish Immersion Club, and SALT. She has taken advantage of student employment opportunities including supervising concessions at Beaver Stadium, welcoming the newest Penn State students as a New Student Orientation Leader in 2020, and serving as an Agriculture Education Avenger over the past few years.

Jenna's passion for agriculture was sparked from her family, where agriculture is a deep tradition. She shares that "My grandfather and dad were both active members of FFA and were involved in showing livestock and competing at all levels in the state. Although I have never shown an animal a day in my life, I grew up with the love of gardening and wildlife management. From helping my dad with his food plots to selling my vegetables at the end of my driveway in the summer, I always enjoyed being outside and enjoying God’s beauty through my involvement in the agriculture industry. My passion only grew as I got older, so I challenged myself by working on a horse farm starting at the bottom by cleaning stalls to eventually being a trail guide."

In her free time, Jenna enjoys playing basketball, hiking, reading books and watching movies! You can find Jenna on campus at her favorite spots which are the Creamery and Arboretum. Her favorite places to eat in State College are Plaza and Rey Azteca, which she said are some of the best comfort foods! 

As Jenna spends the fall semester preparing for her student teaching experience, she is hoping to make a lasting impact on students and the program at Gettysburg Area High School. She states "I am looking forward to teaching classes in Animal Science, Horticulture, Landscape Design and Introduction to Agriculture. One of my main goals for student teaching is to make impactful connections with my students. I hope inspire my students to become lifelong learners and advocates for the agriculture industry. I also hope to help guide them out of their comfort zone to develop leadership skills to become better leaders in the future. Another one of my goals is to be a positive and active member of the community by making a meaningful difference. Whether it’s through service learning, donations or community service projects, I hope to strengthen the relations between community members and my students to make a positive impact. My final goal is to better my skills as a teacher and leader. I want to be proactive in learning from my cooperating teachers, administration and students." Jenna has been a great example of a what being a good leader is like to her colleagues and friends. We know she will accomplish great things throughout her student teaching experience. 

Jenna wanted to share a piece of advice for underclassmen. "For any underclassmen reading this, I would recommend that you spend your time in college exploring different passions and take advantage of every opportunity that you can! It is great to find passions that bring you joy and comfort you when you are stressed in college. It is easy to be overwhelmed and overwork yourself like I did. However, when I felt like my stress levels were getting high, I always had my few passions/hobbies that helped me refresh and enjoy my time here at Penn State!" We are proud to see how Jenna has grown over the past few years at Penn State and excited to see where her Ag Ed journey continues to take her. Keep up with Jenna by following her on Instagram or Twitter @JennaKibbe. 

Morgan Bear

CPPD Student Worker

Agricultural & Extension Education

Class of 2023

Penn State Ag Alumni Society Internship Award's Benefit Penn State Agricultural Education Students

The Center for Professional Personnel Development would like to recognize students in the Agricultural and Extension Education major that were awarded Penn State Agricultural Alumni Society Internship Awards. These students have all completed internships related to agriculture which helped them to gain different experiences across the field. The students who received this award were Mary Wurzbach of the 2020 cohort, Justin Kurtz, Nathan Moyer, and Jenna Kibbe of the 2022 cohort.

The Ag Alumni Society at Penn State has many benefits for undergraduate students. "The Internship award, established in 1986, is a competitive awards program designed to encourage undergraduate students to participate in internships. The Society recognizes the importance of planned on-the-job learning experience to adequately prepare students for today's competitive job market. The Ag Alumni Society has distributed over $201,000 in internship awards benefiting 300 students." This past fall, we were grateful to have had four Agricultural and Extension Education students receive these awards to help pay off their college tuition costs and more.

Mary Wurzbach completed her internship at Oley Valley High School in Oley, Pennsylvania where she student taught under Mr. Jeremy Deysher and Mrs. Kacey Rice at their formal agricultural education program. Mary shared "The internship award seemed like the perfect way to share my experiences from student teaching to Penn State College of Agriculture alumni." While at Oley Valley Mary taught students in grades 8-12 in a variety of agricultural related topics while interacting with over 150 students over 15 weeks. While student teaching during a global pandemic, the philosophy Mary created kept her motivated during a difficult time. "After my student teaching experience, my philosophy of teaching has expanded to include a work-life balance and being sure to use different resources." After wrapping up her student teaching experience, Mary decided to work at Kreider Farms as an Assistant Processing Manager at their Middletown egg facility. 

Justin Kurtz was another recipient of the Ag Alumni Award as he completed his internship with Shaver's Creek Environmental Center. During his internship he worked with the guidance from Mr. Brian Sedgewick and Mr. Chris Diehl on the grounds and facilities team. Justin shared a few details about his experience. "My duties included tasks such as cleaning restrooms, landscaping, and trail maintenance. There was never a day where I went home regretting my decision to partake in the experience." Learning is a common part of any internship, and Justin highlighted that his internship taught him that professional relationships matter in making connections for future endeavors. Being a well-rounded educator is something Justin is working on building throughout his time at Penn State and Shaver's Creek has taught him this through what he highlighted as "our best learning happens in our natural environment which I strive to create for students, the same way the Environmental Center has done for me."

Nathan Moyer our third recipient, spent time interning at Ashburn's Animals, a non-profit animal rescue located in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.  Ashburn's is home to more than 100 animals, including horses, sheep, snakes, birds, and much more. Due to Covid-19 Nathan's experiences looked different at his internship as he shares, "Normally, I would have been lesson-planning and facilitating a week-long farm camp experience opened for youth aged 6-12. Instead, most of my summer was spent re-designing the website, managing the website, engaging online audiences through social media, creating digital and graphic content to highlight the animals at the rescue, and promoting the rescue through guided tours of the facilities." Nathan made the most of his time spent at Ashburn's Animals and learned a few things along the way including developing his skills in graphic design and photography including programs like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, Spark, and Illustrator, as well as the Facebook, Instagram, and Wix website builder. Nathan stated "With technology continuing to change, it's important that educators adapt to those changes to engage with their students (no matter how old they may be) on a relatable level."

Although the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted many plans, one thing still remained; nearly 15,000 new Penn State students from across the globe still had to be welcomed into the family. Jenna Kibbe, who received the award completed an internship this summer which allowed her to serve as a New Student Orientation Leader for Penn State’s Student Orientation and Transition Programs. Over the course of the spring and summer, she transformed the orientation program to be completely virtual while still allowing new Penn State students to build connections and prepare for their journey ahead. Jenna shares, "I was able to fine tune many of my communication and leadership skills by facilitating workshops about academics, Penn State resources, and ways to make the most out of their college careers. From learning about how to be more inclusive to everyone, to effectively communicating a message and being able to be flexible in any situation, it is safe to say that many of these skills will be very beneficial in my future."  As Jenna pursues a career as an Agriculture Educator, she will surely take all of the lessons learned from this summer experience and apply them in her future classroom.

 

These students have went above and beyond in not only completing an internship experience, but maximizing the potential learning opportunities from them. We are proud to have them earn these awards sponsored by the Penn State Agricultural Alumni Society. Many Agricultural and Extension Education students have gained valuable skills from taking on an internship experience and we encourage other students to apply in the future! To apply for the Ag Alumni Society Internship Award in the future, check out the following link. https://agsci.psu.edu/alumni/awards/student/internship-award for more information.

Morgan Bear

CPPD Student Worker

Agricultural and Extension Education

Class of 2023

Jenna Kibbe is Selected as the Agricultural & Extension Education September's Student of the Month

 Although a little late, WE ARE proud to recognize the Agricultural and Extension Education Student of the Month for September. This month's recipient is Jenna Kibbe of Findley Lake, New York. Jenna spent time serving the New York FFA Association as the 2017-2018 New York FFA State Treasurer. Jenna attended Penn State Behrend in Erie for a year and enjoyed her time there before coming to University Park as a sophomore. Currently, Jenna is a junior majoring in Agricultural and Extension Education with minors in Spanish and International Agriculture.

So far, Jenna's favorite classes at Penn State have been Horticulture 150N, Plant 220, and Ballroom Dancing! Her involvement with clubs includes LEAD Society where she serves on the officer team, and she is also involved in the Spanish Emersion Club and Salt Company. She loves to represent Penn State and has the Minnesota Vikings as one of her favorite sports team. You can find Jenna hanging out on campus at the Arboretum, Millennium Science Complex or at Old Main. Some of her favorite places to eat in State College are Sower Harvest Café and Big Bowl Noodle House.

If you know Jenna, you know her love for her dog, Ruger a German Shepard. Speaking of cool facts about Jenna, she has also gone hunting in 3 states and deep sea fished in the Atlantic Ocean. Her favorite quote is "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7. Jenna has greatly impressed us with her efforts both inside and outside the classroom to create more opportunities for students in the Agricultural and Extension Education major.

A program that Jenna has been working to organize alongside Nicole Guise through the Teach Ag Avengers at Penn State, is the Penn State Owl Pal Program. The goals of this program are to:

1. To connect AEE Commonwealth Campus students to AEE University Park students, faculty, and staff
2. To decrease the stresses associated with transitioning campuses
1. To provide a unique student perspective of the AEE major

The purpose of the Owl Pal Program is to help the transition from a branch campus of Penn State to University Park less difficult for students. As Jenna was in these student's places she shares "Being a transfer student who found the adjustment difficult,  there was simple knowledge about State College that I wish I would have known, so Nicole and I worked together this summer to develop the list of topics that we felt would help students not only adjust to college and academics, but also life in State College." If you or someone you know is a AEE major at Penn State or planning to become one you can reach out to Jenna Kibbe at jok5448@psu.edu. so that she can add your name to the list! This program starts the first year you arrive at any Penn State campus and will last through when you come to University Park to help get students adjusted to campus life.

We believe this program will serve students well as it provides more connections for students directly to the major through helping them find personal connections and lasting relationships as they go throughout their Penn State journey's. We appreciate all of the work Jenna has put into organizing this program and we can't wait to see the positive outcomes! Be sure to keep up with Jenna by following her on Instagram @jennakibbe and on Twitter @JennaKibbe

 

Morgan Bear

CPPD Student Worker

Agricultural & Extension Education

Class of 2023