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

Emily Schulz Dances from Florida to Pennsylvania for Agricultural Education

Originally from Florida, Ms. Emily Schulz is no stranger to weathering a storm. So when life handed this senior in Agricultural and Extension Education at Penn State challenges, she danced around them to pursue her passion for the industry. 

Emily was raised in the Indian Rocks Beach Area of Pinellas County, Florida. Growing up, the Schulz family had limited knowledge about the agricultural industry. "The area I am from is what I like to call agriculturally deprived... very few people are involved in production agriculture or have knowledge of agricultural practices". So when Emily attended the Career Academies of Seminole Veterinary Assisting program and was opened up to the beautiful world of agricultural education, it is no surprise that she wanted to tell everyone she knew about what she was learning. Emily says, "Throughout high school, I was constantly sharing the information I learned in ag class with my friends and teachers. It really became my mission to educate the people in my community about agriculture and where their food comes from". While at the Career Academies of Seminole, Emily became a Certified Veterinary Assistant and became involved in their FFA chapter. In this program Emily earned her Greenhand, Chapter, and State Degrees, served as the Reporter for her chapter, and showed pigs. Her agricultural educator, Mr. Shrum, inspired Emily and helped her to eventually decide that she wanted to pursue a career as an ag teacher in the future. 

When Emily was unable to attend the University of Florida, the school of her dreams, to pursue her degree, she was understandably discouraged. She knew that community college was not for her, so she decided to pursue a better fit for her future and was recruited by The Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University, and Purdue University. "As soon as I told my ag teacher about being recruited by Penn State he told me I needed to seriously consider attending the school because they have one of the best agricultural education programs. I eventually decided to take the leap of faith and sign with Penn State because I could earn a Dance degree and Agricultural and Extension Education degree all at one time, something that I could not have done at the University of Florida". 

Pursuing a double major in Dance and Agricultural and Extension Education is a challenge in and of itself, but Emily has made the most of her time in college by pursing opportunities that have greatly benefitted her. "I could probably write multiple paragraphs about my experiences at Penn State because I had so many great ones. One of my favorite experiences was attending the National FFA Convention. Some highlights include helping Dr. Foster with the Parliamentary Procedure LDE, exploring the expo hall, attending a general session, and my all time favorite experience was competing in the Alpha Tau Alpha conclave Parliamentary Procedure competition. The whole experience of attending National FFA Convention is definitely one of my favorites".

Emily is currently completing her Student Teaching Internship at Durant High School in Plant City, Florida with Mr. Thomas Sturgis. While she picked this Cooperating Center for many reasons, the main reason was how different this program is from the program she attended in high school. "I came from a small chapter mainly focused on Veterinary Science and only involved in one CDE. Durant has a large FFA chapter, is very involved in the community, competes in at least 10 CDEs, and has been extremely successful at the state and national level for CDEs. I have always been very curious in what drives this success". Looking to the future, Emily is hoping to learn as much as possible from her Student Teaching Internship. After graduation however, her plans are up in the air because of the pandemic. Emily explains, "My original plans after graduation were to dance professionally for a few years and then #TeachAg!. Obviously the entertainment industry is still shut down because of COVID, so I hope to one day dance professionally but my immediate plans after graduation is to just get a job".

The pandemic has not only presented Emily with challenges for her time after college, but has presented her with many obstacles to navigate during her senior year. With severe asthma and a parent who is immunocompromised, Emily has to be extremely vigilant about following COVID-19 protocols. "This has been very hard as Florida classrooms don’t allow for proper social distancing. Due to this, I get tested for COVID every week and I am extremely diligent about disinfecting. Overall, COVID has just caused more stress and anxiety in my life". On the other hand, Emily finds that the pandemic has better prepared her to be flexible and adapt to sudden changes quickly as well as increased her love of snacking on celery and carrots with peanut butter. She states that being more relaxed in uncertain situations has greatly improved her ability "to just roll with the punches". 

A performer at heart, Emily is most looking forward to being able to dance without a mask on and in front of a live audience once we are able to "return to normal". Excited to see her grow and succeed, her peers and educators at Penn State are excited to see her shine in the classroom. Emily, your family in Agricultural and Extension Education at Penn State is proud of the hard work and perseverance you have shown in the midst of the challenges COVID-19 has presented you with. WE ARE some of your biggest fans! To watch Emily take the stage of agricultural education, be sure to stay up to date with her blog "Dancing Ag Teacher" at dancingagteacher.blogspot.com.

Taylor Halbleib

CPPD Student Worker

Agricultural and Extension Education

Class of 2022