Agricultural Education Seminar with Monument Valley FFA

"You may get 3 million no's, but it only takes one yes!"- Clyde McBride. 

On Monday, Penn State Teach Ag welcomed the Monument Valley FFA from the Navajo Reservation in Kayenta, Arizona joined their agricultural educators Clyde and Elissa McBride for a seminar on Career and Technical Education through Agricultural Education. 

This event was inspiring for all who had the opportunity to attend either in person or via our social media live feed. The wise words of Clyde McBride showed his passion to educate the next generation of lives in this world. Mr. McBride's students talked about their experiences through the agriculture program at Monument Valley High School. They expressed just how much Mr. and Mrs. McBride do for them not only in the classroom but outside as well. Overall this seminar provided inspiration for current and future agricultural educators to do all that they can to assist the students in learning responsibility, communication skills, and life lessons.

My take from this seminar was learning that agricultural education can happen anywhere, and that it should be taught in more schools. Listening to the students talk about their experiences from the program all I could think about is the difference agricultural education could make if over half of the high schools in the United States had this program. The rewards of this program are seeing students gain knowledge, grow in values, find out who they are and what they want to do in the future. The wisdom shared by Mr. and Mrs. McBride for future agricultural educators ignited even more passion for agricultural education.  Their way of empowering each student gives me hope that agricultural education will always benefit the student. If you didn't get to attend this seminar check out the video feed that is on our Facebook page Teach Ag! at Penn State.


Additionally, here is the recorded video from our YouTube Channel:

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.

Luke Kerstetter

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @lmkerstetter96

2020 Agricultural Education Student Teacher

 

@TeachAgPSU Welcomes the Curry Family!

Penn State Teach Ag is excited to welcome Dr. Kevin Curry (@kevinwcurry), and his wife Melissa (@Melissa_Curry4) to the Penn State Agricultural Education family.  Dr, Curry has been hired to serve as an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Education!

Dr. Curry received his first introduction to agriculture in ninth grade in an Agriscience course.  he credits his amazing agriculture teacher for sparking his interest in agriculture.  Asked to be a part of the livestock judging team, and show club lambs, Dr. Curry quickly fell in love with agriculture.  A knack for competition led him to devote time and energy to livestock and poultry judging, skillathon, and meats judging.  All while showing club lambs and steers.  It comes as no surprise that he met his wife Melissa while showing lambs in high school.

Kevin and Melissa are both proud alumni of North Carolina State University.  Melissa has taught middle school language arts/social studies for nine years.  The Curry's are avid hikers and enjoy being outdoors.  Penn State and State College will definitely satisfy their love for hiking and the outdoors!

To learn more about Kevin and his road to Penn State, take a look at his Curriculum Vitae:

Welcome to Penn State Kevin and Melissa!  We are excited to have you join our team!

Career and Technical Education through Agricultural Education Seminar

March 2017 Program of the Month: Manheim Central (@ManheimFFA)

All across the great state of Pennsylvania there are 145 school districts that have Agriculture Education courses and the FFA program. Each month we like to highlight a chapter that has stood out from the rest of the chapters. March's program of the month goes to Manheim Central High School, also know as the Manheim FFA Chapter.

Background History
Maneiem Central has had an agriculture program since 1938; specializing in agriculture science, agriculture mechanics, and environmental science. The past agriculture educators at Manheim Central  have been Chip Axe, Cecil Lohr, Bart Gill, and Kim Darr. Manheim is a three teacher department with Mrs. Deb Seibert with 31 years of teaching, Mrs. Heather Anderson with 23 years of teaching, and Mr. Jonathan Werning with 8 years of teaching.

The Agriculture Program
Manheim Central specializes in three areas to meet the needs of students in this area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. To also aid in helping the students grow Mrs. Seibert, Mrs. Anderson, and Mr. Werning encourage them to begin or explore more in depth Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs). The students often have Entrepreneurship SAEs that focus on livestock projects. Placement projects often deal with a job the student holds, and exploratory projects are for students who aren't sure where their interests in agriculture lie. Manheim FFA is known to participate in CDE's but students excel in Agriculture Sales, Farm Business Management, Horse Judging, Agriculture Mechanics, and Small Gas Engines. Each team representing Manheim FFA at the 2016 State FFA Convention placed in the top five for their respective CDE's. The educators plan to innovate by always being open minded to new ideas, as well as reviewing their program of activities to help find out what is working, what needs improved, and what new things can we do.

Recent Accomplishments
Over the course of this year Manheim has had accomplishments with both SAE's and FFA. Their SAE accomplishments include two Keystone Degree recipients and five Red Rose Degree recipients.  The Red Rose Degree is a county degree. Also this past year at State Activities Week, Manheim had the state winning CDE teams for Agriculture Sales and Farm Business Management, second place team in Horse Evaluation, and Ms. Sarah Gonzalez was elected to serve as the 2016-2017 State FFA Secretary.

This agriculture program and FFA chapter certainly are doing great things, and accomplishing at high levels. We are proud have such strong agriculture education programs in Pennsylvania!
To find out more about Manheim Central's agriculture program visit their web pages: http://manheimag.org/, http://manheimffa.theaet.com or follow them on twitter @ManheimFFA

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.

 Luke Kerstetter

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @lmkerstetter96

2020 Agriculture Education Student Teacher

March 2017 Student of the Month: George Dietrich (@TheGeorge4H)

Every month, we like to highlight students that have gone above and beyond in the Agriculture Education department! We are excited to announce that George Dietrich was selected as the March Student of the Month! Lets learn about his story and accomplishments so far.

George is currently a junior dual majoring in Agricultural and Extension Education and Food Science. He plans to graduate in the spring of 2018. Geroge is very passionate about his two majors for interesting reasons. His passion for food science came from his love for food and exploring how it is made. He also enjoys the aspects of making food safe, wholesome, and affordable for consumers. He had noted, "When I learned that I could have a major focused on food, as well as eat and make it I was convinced of the major." His passion for agricultural education is not any less important than his passion for food science. When  George participated in Shaver's Creek Outdoor School, and held an internship with Cooperative Extension he developed a passion for working with students. "I realized that I wanted to teach students agriculture in a high school setting after I had a couple of experiences teaching with older peers," he acknowledged. His main goal after college is to go out and teach in a high school to empower students and show them opportunities for future careers in the agriculture industry. To keep himself motivated towards this goal he is talking with teachers and other people that are in the education system about what they love about their job. He also is getting opportunities to do micro lessons with students, and each of these experiences help remind him why he loves his major.

George is also busy outside of the classroom being involved in clubs and organizations as well. He is a member of Delta Theta Sigma Fraternity, Dairy Science Club, Teach Ag Society, Coaly Society, and Alpha Tau Alpha.

Interesting fun facts about George:
Hometown: Sinking Spring, PA
Favorite PSU Class: FDSC 201, AEE 349
Birthday: September 12th 
Favorite Place to Eat at PSU: The Creamery. One word Milkshakes. #MilkshakeDiet

To learn more about George Dietrich follow him on twitter @TheGeorge4H 

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.

Luke Kerstetter

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @lmkerstetter96

2020 Agricultural Education Student Teacher