The 89th Pennsylvania FFA State Convention

FFA members work on assembling an arrangement during the Floriculture CDE.

The 89th Pennsylvania FFA State Convention and Activities Week was held at Penn State University from June 11th through the 14th. Throughout the week, Pennsylvania FFA members attended the convention to compete in various Career Development Events and Leadership Development Events (CDE's and LDE's), discuss delegate issues, and interview and select the new 2018 - 2019 Pennsylvania FFA Officer Team.

Penn State Teach Ag was well-represented as the Teach Ag! Avengers ran two different workshops for FFA members during the week, a new addition to the programming at State Convention. These workshops were titled, "Exploring Careers in Agriculture" and "Promoting Your Chapter Through Digital Storytelling; with each workshop respectively aimed at allowing students to explore their own career path and utilizing digital media to help build the stories of their own FFA chapters. Many of our upcoming student teachers took this opportunity to spend the week with their soon-to-be cooperating programs as well.

Trey Elizondo with the Nittany Lion Shrine.

We had the honor of having a past National Officer as a guest and keynote speaker during State Convention, Mr. Trey Elizondo. Last year he served as the National Western Region Vice President. He spent the week with PA FFA members, visited CDE's, took a tour of campus, and spent some time with Penn State AEE students. His keynote address inspired FFA members to let the fear in their lives take the back seat in order for them achieve their goals and have the unique experiences afforded to them.

Student success is always an incredible thing to see, and this year was no exception. Awards were given for CDE's and LDE's, special recognition and thanks given to those who make the Pennsylvania FFA and State Convention possible, and students at Penn State were able to recognize those who took the steps to fill the shoes of their own agricultural teachers for a day with the Teach Ag! Essay Contest ran by LEAD Society at Penn State.

Samuel Loy (Right), and his brother Andy Loy (Left).

We are very proud to announce that one of our own members of Penn State Teach Ag, Samuel Loy, was selected to serve as the 2018 - 2019 State Reporter. Under his new duty he will be representing and serving almost 13,000 FFA members across the Commonwealth.

Sam comes from the Greenwood FFA Chapter in Millerstown, Pennsylvania, where has was a high school FFA member and eventual president of the Greenwood chapter in the 2016 - 2017 year. He started at Penn State this past year, majoring in Agricultural and Extension Education, also serving as a member of the Teach Ag! Avengers and a brother of Alpha Zeta. He said what he is most excited for is to, "get the opportunity to impact students the same way state officers have impacted me". He's looking forward to all the new people he'll be able to meet, and he's already excited to be at the ACES conference in the spring. We are all beyond proud of him as he begins his journey as a state officer and dedicates himself to a year of service to Pennsylvania FFA members.

The new 2018 -2019 State Officer team is as follows (From L to R):

Treasurer: Abigail Yoder from Central Columbia

Chaplain: Millena Bashore from Northern Lebanon

Reporter: Samuel Loy from Greenwood

Vice President: Jacob Kinzer from East Juniata

Sentinal: Roarke Miller from Little Dutchmen

President: Jenna Harnish from Athens

Secretary: Morgan Bear from Big Spring

We wish them all luck as they dedicate the next year of their lives to the service of FFA members across the Commonwealth!

Hunter Kauffman

Team Leader, @TeachAgPSU Communications

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

College of Agricultural Sciences

Victoria Herr (@Victoria_Herr) is Living to Serve as National #TeachAg Ambassador!

Victoria Herr, National Teach
Ag Ambassador

A @TeachAGPSU star  has been chosen from nationwide pool of student applicants to serve as a National Teach Ag Ambassador! Our very own Victoria Herr (Victoria_Herr) will be spending the next year as a member of the team of 12 National Teach Ag Ambassadors.

Victoria Herr is a junior at Penn state majoring in Agriculture Education and member of the 2019 Ag Ed cohort (#psuaged19). She served as the 2014-2015 Pennsylvania State FFA (@PA_FFA) Secretary and is very dedicated student who is involved with the Teach Ag! Society, Alpha Tau Alpha and numerous other clubs on campus that are motivated to teach others about the agriculture industry. When asked what drew her to apply to become a Teach Ag Ambassador, Victoria said “One of the main reasons I was drawn to apply is because I love to talk about and advocate for agriculture education. I’m a very talkative and passionate person so when I get to talk about something I love, I always enjoy it! I knew that serving as a National Teach Ag Ambassador would give me lots of opportunities to meet prospective Ag teachers and encourage them on their journeys! I also think it’s always really important to give back; I have always had mentors in Ag Ed and I wanted to do the same for other students!”

Victoria at the Alpha Tau Alpha
inductee ceremony.

A Teach Ag Ambassador, Victoria’s main goal will to be to encourage others to consider a career as an Agriculture Educator. She will do this by sharing her passion and enthusiasm about the industry and profession with others through emails, social media, presentations and other outlets that include the campaign at the National FFA (@NationalFFA) Convention. She will also work with local and state leaders in agriculture education to inspire youth to pursue a major and career in agriculture education. Victoria is most excited about “…the National FFA Convention because I will get to spend the week with the rest of the other National Teach Ag Ambassadors and we will get a lot of time with FFA members! National Convention is always a special time and I’m excited to be spending this upcoming convention in a different role. I have spent several years at National Convention myself as a member and can now spend the week serving the FFA members!”

There is an ongoing shortage of agriculture teachers across the country. There are numerous retirements, new programs opening, current programs expanding and teachers going on to pursue other opportunities every year which lead to this shortage. This is why it is so important for the Teach Ag Ambassadors to promote and help students find their passion to teach! National Teach Ag Campaign Project Director, Ellen Thompson expresses why the ambassadors are imperative to the growth of the profession when she stated,“As the number of agricultural education programs continues to grow, we need more quality and diverse agriculture teachers to fill the roles. The ambassador program gives us an opportunity to deliver the Teach Ag message to a bigger audience, while investing in the next generation of agriculture teachers.”

Ellen Thompson (@ellencthompson),
National Teach Ag Campaign Project Director

As mentioned earlier, Victoria will be spending her year of service with eleven other college students hailing from various institutes across the nations ranging from Oregon State University all the way to Florida A&M University. Each of these new Ambassadors are just as passionate about the Agriculture Industry and Agriculture Education as Victoria is. When asked why it is important to serve as an Ambassador, Victoria said:

“I think it is important for students in our major to consider serving in a position such as National Teach Ag Ambassador because it allows them to gain a lot of experience as well as give back. Opportunities like this give student lots of public speaking experience, facilitating and planning experience, and allows them to make lots of connections. And as I mentioned before, I think it’s really important to give back. When we think about it, most of us have been influenced by past teachers and students, so now it’s our turn to do that. I hope that through my role as an Ambassador, I am able to encourage my peers to take on similar positions!”

Victoria (#psuaged19) along with George Dietrich (@TheGeorge4H), left (#psuaged18),
represented @TeachAgPSU in the 2017 Penn State Homecoming Parade!

Macy Fisher, Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @macy_fisher

#psuaged18 member

2018 Selinsgrove Student Teacher

Calling all Penn State Teach Ag! Avengers! #PSUavengers

In a world full of vacant agriculture education classrooms, a team was assembled to represent one of the hardest working careers and majors known to mankind to spread the awareness of this problem. This unique team had to be diverse, knowledgeable, and willing to go to great lengths to communicate with the citizens of America how much agriculture education superheroes were needed. 

Their mission you may wonder? Over a span of one year, they will each complete 6 events either teaching or facilitating the Penn State Ag Ed Message to try and convince some of the best students in Pennsylvania to join the Agriculture Education team. Look out for this fantastic 5 when they come to your town!

Introducing the 2015 Penn State Teach Ag! Avengers

Janae Herr, kjh5370@psu.edu

Student Teacher Cohort: 

2016 Student Teacher

Minors:
Agribusiness Management & 

International Agriculture

Favorite Junk Food:
Salt & Vinegar Chips

Favorite Place in the entire world:
My Farm

Fun Fact: 

I’m addicted to Pinterest

Olivia Murphy-Sweet
ocm5019@psu.edu

Student Teacher Cohort:
2016 Student Teacher

Minor: 
International Agriculture
Favorite Junk Food: 
Smart Food Popcorn
Favorite Place in the entire world: 
Rooftop in the village of Hinche, Haiti
Fun Fact: 
I used to live in Italy.

Katie Andrews
kla5199@psu.edu

Student Teacher Cohort: 

2016 Student Teacher

Minors: 

Agribusiness Management, 

International Agriculture, 

Environmental Inquiry

Favorite Junk Food: 

Take Five Candy Bar

Favorite place in the entire world: 

Cabin in the woods

Fun Fact: 

I have never broken a bone

Danielle Johnson
dlj5183@psu.edu

Student Teacher Cohort: 
2017 Student Teacher
Minor: 
Horticulture
Favorite Junk Food: 
Fast Break Candy Bar
Favorite place in the entire world: 
The Mountains
Fun Fact: 
I have never been outside of the US, and have not travelled anywhere other than up and down the East Coast.

Nate Repetz
njr5203@psu.edu

Student Teacher Cohort:

2017 Student Teacher

Minors: 

Animal Science and 

International Agriculture

Favorite Junk Food: 

Ice Cream

Favorite place in the entire world: 

Any dirt track on a Saturday night

Fun Fact: 

I enjoy working for the Pennsylvania Farm Show

Come see the Avengers at the 2015 ACES Conference in Harrisburg, PA!

Olivia Murphy-Sweet

@OSweetMurph

Blog Editor

2016 Student Teacher Candidate



National Teach Ag Day! #teachag #taglive14

Did you know that September 25^th is National Teach Ag Day?! Teachers and students alike will be celebrating school based agricultural education and to help spread awareness about what great opportunities and careers are involved in agriculture! 

Penn State is putting our own spin on this day! The Teach Ag! Society officers and the Teach Ag! Avengers have worked hard to make sure that we spread awareness and of course make it fun for Penn State students and the Penn State professors in the agriculture college.

 Some activities that you will see on September 25th are below! 

A faculty breakfast will be served in 214 Ferguson Building from 8AM to 11AM. 

 We have entered into the Teach Ag Day Collegiate Picture Contest with this picture:

We will be participating in the Live Webcast from 1-3 PM making our presence known through our social media! If you would like to join, please meet us in Ferguson Building Room 213 and don't forget to bring a form of technology so you can join in the conversation! If you cannot make these times don't worry! If you click on this link, you can tweet to jump in by using the hashtag 'taglive14' and direct it towards @Teach_Ag !

The Teach Ag! Avengers will also be serving popcorn promoting this day on the Creamery lawn starting at 11 AM! 

Let’s all come together as Nittany Lions, and celebrate this day together! Just think, without our agriculture teachers, Penn State would not be formally known as the Farmers High School!

We hope to see you there! 

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!

 Olivia Murphy-Sweet

Student Blogger

Teach Ag! Avenger

Twitter Handle- @OSweetMurph

 2016 Agricultural Education Student Teacher

PSU Teach Ag! Avenger Spotlight: Laura Metrick, #psuaged15

Laura Metrick!

Shining a spotlight on the next Teach Ag Avenger, Laura Metrick (@Its_LauraBeth) you will notice how much she has done for Penn State in her short time since she has transferred to University Park. You might even recognize her as the author for some posts on this blog! Laura did not grow up with the typical FFA background but that is what has made her story so amazing!

Laura has always know that she wanted to base her life around agriculture. Born and raised from a family farm in Butler County, it was easy for her to incorporate agriculture into her life. She grew up showing animals for 4-H, putting countless hours into her families produce farm, and even advocating in her school how important agriculture is. Even though her high school didn't have an FFA program, Laura jumped right into facilitating workshops for FFA when she became an Avenger!

Laura, a 2015 student teacher (#psuaged15), gave this quote, “Being an avenger is such an awesome experience! I love interacting with the public and teaching them about Penn State and the Ag Ed Major!” 

Laura's Family

Since being an Avenger she has facilitated a weekend of ACES workshops in Harrisburg, PA, facilitated an FFA knowledge event in Penn’s Valley High School, and has even judged a Parliamentary Procedures Competition in Line Mountain! She has definitely jumped into agriculture in so many different ways and her passion shines through on every task she completes!

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

Olivia Murphy-Sweet
Student Blogger
Teach Ag! Avenger
Twitter Handle @OSweetMurph
2016 Agricultural Education Student Teacher