@TeachAgPSU Family Helping College of Agricultural Sciences be Inclusive

Dr. MeeCee Baker,
Versant Strategies

A newly started club at Penn State University, Students for Cultivating Change, received a gracious gift last week from an alumna member. MeeCee Baker graduated from Penn State in 1982 (#psuaged82) with a bachelor’s in Agriculture and Extension Education and later earned her doctorate in Agriculture Education also from Penn State. Baker has served as the first woman president of the National Association of Agriculture Educators (www.naae.org), was a faculty member at Penn State and North Carolina State, and worked at Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. She is now the owner of Versant Strategies (versantstrategies.net) which is a firm that works with agriculture, environmental and rural issues where Caleb Wright  (@TheWrightCaleb; #psuaged14) serves as chief operating officer.



Caleb Wright, COO
Versant Strategies

Wright is also Penn State graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and Extension Education in 2014. This gift to the college is a tribute to Caleb. In Baker’s words ‘I wanted to honor him, and since he's an active participant in the national Cultivating Change organization, I thought the support of Penn State's affiliated club would be appreciated."

Baker’s gift consists of a $20,000 endowment for students who are enrolled in the College of Agricultural Sciences and demonstrate advocacy for the LGBTQA community by being an active member of the Students for Cultivating Change club. She also is pledging $1,000 a year for the next five years to support the award, Baker Students for Cultivating Change Award.

Members of Penn State Student's Cultivating Change Club

In her words "It's especially important to me to support students and education, and I encourage others to do the same, no matter what amount.” She is a true advocate for student success as she stated, "I hope this gift lifts up Students for Cultivating Change and lets them know there are alumni and others who recognize they are a vital part of the agricultural industry and revel in their successes." The college is honored and thankful of Dr. Baker’s gift and admires her for advocacy of student inclusion, respect and acceptance in agriculture!

To read more about Baker, Wright and the gift to the college, read the article at the following link http://news.psu.edu/story/468932/2017/05/19/administration/baker-gift-support-college-agricultural-sciences-lgbtqa

Thank you MeeCee and Caleb for investing in the future of Penn State's Cultivating Change student organization! Alumni like you are what make our University so great!


Macy Fisher, Student Blogger
Twitter Handle: @macy_fisher
#psuaged18 Cohort Member

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