#psuaged17 member Miranda Kane (@mir_kane) hard at work in Mineral, VA

Ms. Miranda  Kane, #psuaged17 member and new teacher
at Louisa County High School in Mineral, Virginia.

2017 Penn State graduate and #psuaged17 member Miranda Kane (@mir_kane) is already putting her teaching skills to work after being hired by Louisa County High School in Mineral, Virginia.
During Ms. Kane's time at Penn State, she was involved all over the University, in The Blue and White Society, Chamber Choir, Christian Student Fellowship, Teach Ag Society, and Collegiate FFA. During her senior year her student teaching took place at Greenwood High School in Millerstown, PA with Mr. Michael Clark and Ms. Krista Pontius (@Krista_Pontius). During her time at Greenwood, she taught a wide range of subjects, including Plant Science, Small Gas Engines, Agriscience, Welding, Animal Bioscience, Food Science, and Leadership.

Ms. Kane and several of her Greenwood students.

One of the most interesting things she got to take part in at Greenwood was teaching a hydroponics unit to her plant science students, "which was a really neat experience because I had never done it before and got to learn about it alongside my students." Her students constructed miniature hydroponics systems, where they were able to test them under different fertilization methods and talk about quality and management of each. She said she also really enjoyed teaching her Leadership and Parliamentary Procedure classes, and was surprised to see how much her students were enthralled by parli pro.

The Ag program at Louisa County was started in 1948, after a merger of several schools in the area. In her new position, Ms. Kane gets the opportunity to teach Horticultural Sciences and Introduction to Animal Systems, with Greenhouse Plant Production Management added on in the spring. She has a helping hand as she teaches, being one of three agriculture teachers, joining the team of Ms. Machenah Simmons, a current N.C. State grad student, and Mr. Logan Horne, who is experienced in landscaping.

Miranda has a fairly unique opportunity at Louisa County; "Both of my teaching partners are new to teaching, and we all have such different experiences with FFA and agriculture, so we are all learning together! We are excited to grow the agricultural program and give a new name to FFA and Ag Ed here at Louisa County High School." She's especially excited to see how her students are able to utilize the greenhouse and the gardens around the school in her horticulture class.

Speaking of her new job and the journey ahead, she pointed out that she's located in a very small town, quite a bit away from home. She told us that she moved to Mineral without knowing anyone from the area, and anywhere else would have seemed to be a better choice, but, "Something felt right about where my journey has taken me and I wanted to grab it while it was there. I have been given all of the tools to be successful from my past experiences, and now I get to apply them." She continues, explaining that jumping into the unknown can be challenging and overwhelming, but also prove to be very rewarding.

We asked if Ms. Kane has any advice for those thinking about majoring in Agriculture and Extension Education, and she says, , "...if you have a passion for educating students, love working with agriculture, and want to make an impact in the lives of young minds, Agricultural Education is the career for you." To her, teaching her students doesn't feel like work at all. She encourages anyone interested in agricultural education to gibe it a try and see where they can go with it. "Agricultural Education truly is a rewarding profession and a wonderful way to make a huge impact in the lives of many."

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.

Hunter Kauffman, Student Blogger

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

The Pennsylvania State University

Email: hlk5120@psu.edu

Instagram: kauffman_hunter

Three Students Recieve NAAE Upper Division Scholarship

Students studying Agricultural and Extension Education at the Pennsylvania State University were selected as recipients for the Upper Division Agricultural Education Scholarship from the National Association of Agricultural Educators.

The Upper Division Agricultural Education scholarship is awarded to upper level agricultural education majors to help offset expenses during their student teaching experience. Twenty-five students from across the United States were selected based on their academic performance as well as on leadership and service activities. Penn State is proud to call three recipients our own!  Penn State students chosen were Kayla Hack, Miranda Kane, and Matthew Snyder -- 2017 Penn State Student Teacher Candidates.

Dr. Foster, an Assistant Professor in Agricultural and Extension Education and Student Teacher Coordinator, believes that these three students are well deserving of the scholarship.  “As a teacher educator, I believe our goal is to cultivate the dispositions in our candidates of: empathy, hunger for continued learning/critical analysis and service. I believe our three students’ actions have truly evidenced all three of these.” The combination of the described dispositions has allowed these students to become better prepared for their next journey as student teachers.

Kayla Hack will be a student teacher at Pequea Valley High School this Spring. During her student teaching experience she will continue to cultivate hunger for continued learning/critical analysis in the classroom. Kayla believes that, “The future of our country and world depends on agriculture, and will be at the front lines of the global issues that my students and I will face. As an agricultural educator I have the unique ability to ask questions that intersect with global problems and other academic subjects. These questions can lead my students and I to discover how we will face the problems of today and the ones of tomorrow." 

Miranda Kane will be a student teacher at Greenwood High School this Spring.  During her student teaching experience she will continue to cultivate empathy in the classroom. “I envision myself working with students of all walks of life, sharing knowledge, and witnessing them grow in their experiences. I enjoy advocating for something that is so essential to humanity, as agriculture. I also love the idea of working with students who can go out and continue sharing about agriculture.”

Matthew Snyder will be a student teacher at Mifflinburg High School this Spring. During his student teaching experience he will continue to cultivate service. Matthew has seen how his service as a future educator is, “Providing opportunities for the youth to expand their knowledge and experiences in agriculture. This can be achieved through hands-on learning with SAE projects and community development opportunities.”

Kayla Hack, Miranda Kane, and Matthew Snyder are truly deserving of the Upper Division Agricultural Education Scholarship. The scholarship will prove useful as they journey through their student teaching experience!

The funding for the NAAE Upper Division Scholarship program comes from National Geographic Learning | Cengage Learning and donations by NAAE members. NAAE is the professional organization in the United States for agricultural educators. It provides its nearly 8,000 members with professional networking and development opportunities, professional liability coverage, and extensive awards and recognition programs. The mission of NAAE is “professionals providing agricultural education for the global community through visionary leadership, advocacy and service”.  The NAAE headquarters are in Lexington, KY.

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.

Halee Wasson

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @wasson_halee

2018 Agriculture Education Student Teacher

Miranda Kane: Alumni Scholarship Award #studentsucess #psuaged17

The opportunities and scholarships are endless for deserving students in the College of Agriculture at Penn State. One of those deserving students, Miranda Kane, is a junior this year majoring in Agricultural Extension and Education and minoring in Spanish. She applied for the College of Agriculture Alumni scholarship and was one of 48 applicants to receive the award!

The College of Agriculture Alumni Internship Award was created in 1986 to reward students who participated in an educational internship program during the school year or summers. Since its beginning, the Ag Alumni Society has distributed $160,750 in internship awards benefiting 268 students in the college. To apply for this award you would have to create a report about the goals for the internship and an evaluation of how you viewed the internship went. Your employer also had to complete an evaluation form of how you did as well! Miranda went the extra mile and made sure that she had all of this completed to be considered for this award!

Now what exactly did Miranda do you may ask? She completed an internship as the 2015 Summer Assistant for the Chester County 4-H Program. She worked with youth all across Chester County, PA, and educated the students about the environment and their role in it. Her coworkers and her traveled to various under served communities and led a range of activities to get the members educated, active, and motivated to learn. They also encouraged members to submit crafts for the Chester County 4-H fair and directed tours for the members who joined them at the Chester County fair. Overall Miranda states that she had an amazing and educational summer working for the 4-H extension office but she couldn’t have done it without the help of people that worked in the office with her. Tracy Murdaugh who was the Programs Assistant during the summer and her supervisor Toni Stuetz both provided her with an “inside scoop” on how 4-H programming is run and the skills and techniques necessary for working with the youth. The experience motivated her only positively to becoming a great Agriculture Educator one day.

We know that Miranda is going to do amazing things in and out of the industry and we hope that she pursues furthering her education more and more as time goes on!

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.

Olivia Murphy-Sweet
Student Blogger
Teach Ag! Avenger
Twitter Handle @OSweetMurph  

2016 Agricultural Education Student Teacher