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| Teach Ag! Society and ATA recruitment board |
Teach Ag! Society was formed as a branch of the Alpha Tau
Alpha, an honorary professional agricultural fraternity. In order to be a
member of Alpha Tau Alpha, a student must be in their junior year and have a
GPA above a 3.0. This greatly limited the number of students that could be involved
in the club. Since students could only be full members for two semesters, Teach
Ag! Society was born to solve the problem of the rapid turnover rate.
Teach Ag! Society is open to all majors and focuses on
students interested in promoting and teaching agriculture. They participate in
the Alpha Tau Alpha Conclave at National FFA Convention where students get to
show off their knowledge in Quiz Bowl, Parliamentary Procedure, essay writing
and debate about agricultural education topics. They also try to enhance what
their members are learning in class during club time by discussing current
topics in agricultural education.
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| Students at National Teach Ag Day brunch |
The club started the semester with many goals to work
towards throughout the year. So far,
members have helped out at CDE Day, hosted by CFFA, by running workshops for parliamentary
procedure and prepared public speaking CDEs. The club recently celebrated the
first ever PSU National Teach Ag Day, and are currently working on having
students participate in the ATA conclave during National Convention in late October.
To celebrate National Teach Ag Day the club hosted a brunch
in the ASI building. About fifteen
teachers from across the college came together to enjoy food and company and
receive recognition for teaching the wonderful subject of agriculture. Meagan
Slates, president of Teach Ag Society, was happy with the first year’s turnout,
but hopes more professors will come out to celebrate with the club next fall.
Another event hosted by the club on Teach Ag Day was a National Association of
Agricultural Educators live webcast party.
During this event, the students indulged in lunch and snacks while
following the live twitter feed of the #taglive13 while watching the panel on
TV. Students enjoyed connecting with agricultural enthusiasts across the nation
through the live feed. It was especially fun when Penn State was recognized
nationally for some of their efforts through shout outs from the panel. Lastly,
the club sent resources for Teach Ag Day to 160 agricultural programs in Pennsylvania,
which included: a lesson plan for Teach Ag Day, a letter thanking the teacher, an
invitation to National FFA Convention, a PSU Teach Ag Day poster, a social media
postcard, and a link to the YouTube promotional video that a member of Teach
Ag! Society created.
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| Students at the live Teach Ag webcast Party |
The club is continuing to grow and provide their students
with resources and fun activities. Upcoming events include Bonfire/social event on November 7th and NATIONAL CONVENTION during the week of October 30th
where they HOPE TO BRING HOME SOME TROPHIES!
Teach Ag! Society’s mission is to promote the high standards
and ideals of agricultural and extension education, to promote a bond between
individuals in and those that have an interest in the world of agricultural
extension education, to aid in the development of leadership, citizenship, and
scholarship, and to cooperate in promoting the interest of the national
organizations of Alpha Tau Alpha and Teach Ag!
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!
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Jeanne Case
Student Blogger
2014 Dover HS Student Teacher
Twitter: JRose_Case
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