Meagan Slates Receives National Award

Congratulations Meagan Slates! A Penn State Agriculture and Extension Education alum (#psuaged14) has received an Outstanding Early Career Educator Award from the National Association of Agriculture Educators (NAAE). She will be recognized at the NAAE Convention in San Antonio, TX in November.

Ms. Meagan Slates is currently teaching at Penn Manor High School in Millersville, PA. Meagan had completed her student teaching internship at West Perry High School with Ayla Miller #psuaged10 and John Hines #psuaged04. She attended Fort Cherry H.S. with Ms. Jodie Hoover #psuaged95 as her Agriscience Teacher.

Meagan is encouraging her to continue to be the best educator she can be for her students. She is always looking for new ways to advance her curriculum, getting students involved, and help them better themselves to be productive and successful members of society. "The best part about being selected for this award is the opportunity to attend NAAE conference network with other agriculture educators from across the US and attend workshops from both NAAE and ACTE where I can continue to grow and learn." Meagan enjoys watching her students find their passions, develop their stories, and achieve their goals. She teaches mostly freshman so she is just now seeing her first group of freshman graduate, and enter the workforce or go into a post secondary education. "Some students have come back to tell me about their experiences or have shared them with me on my professional social media platforms so it’s amazing to see where they are and what they are doing."

Her experiences as a teacher have provided her opportunities to grow and learn. She is thankful for the community of teachers she is friends with that she can collaborate and brainstorm with. Meagan's advice is, "New teachers should stretch themselves to try new things but don’t give up if it doesn’t go as planned, readjust and try again tomorrow or next time. It DOES get easier!"

Congratulations Meagan on your accomplishments and your award! We are proud of the positive impact you have made so far, and we are excited to see the impact you make throughout the rest of your career!

Luke Kerstetter

Communications Team Member

Twitter Handle: @Luke_Kerstetter

2020 Agriculture Education Student Teacher