The 89th Pennsylvania FFA State Convention

FFA members work on assembling an arrangement during the Floriculture CDE.

The 89th Pennsylvania FFA State Convention and Activities Week was held at Penn State University from June 11th through the 14th. Throughout the week, Pennsylvania FFA members attended the convention to compete in various Career Development Events and Leadership Development Events (CDE's and LDE's), discuss delegate issues, and interview and select the new 2018 - 2019 Pennsylvania FFA Officer Team.

Penn State Teach Ag was well-represented as the Teach Ag! Avengers ran two different workshops for FFA members during the week, a new addition to the programming at State Convention. These workshops were titled, "Exploring Careers in Agriculture" and "Promoting Your Chapter Through Digital Storytelling; with each workshop respectively aimed at allowing students to explore their own career path and utilizing digital media to help build the stories of their own FFA chapters. Many of our upcoming student teachers took this opportunity to spend the week with their soon-to-be cooperating programs as well.

Trey Elizondo with the Nittany Lion Shrine.

We had the honor of having a past National Officer as a guest and keynote speaker during State Convention, Mr. Trey Elizondo. Last year he served as the National Western Region Vice President. He spent the week with PA FFA members, visited CDE's, took a tour of campus, and spent some time with Penn State AEE students. His keynote address inspired FFA members to let the fear in their lives take the back seat in order for them achieve their goals and have the unique experiences afforded to them.

Student success is always an incredible thing to see, and this year was no exception. Awards were given for CDE's and LDE's, special recognition and thanks given to those who make the Pennsylvania FFA and State Convention possible, and students at Penn State were able to recognize those who took the steps to fill the shoes of their own agricultural teachers for a day with the Teach Ag! Essay Contest ran by LEAD Society at Penn State.

Samuel Loy (Right), and his brother Andy Loy (Left).

We are very proud to announce that one of our own members of Penn State Teach Ag, Samuel Loy, was selected to serve as the 2018 - 2019 State Reporter. Under his new duty he will be representing and serving almost 13,000 FFA members across the Commonwealth.

Sam comes from the Greenwood FFA Chapter in Millerstown, Pennsylvania, where has was a high school FFA member and eventual president of the Greenwood chapter in the 2016 - 2017 year. He started at Penn State this past year, majoring in Agricultural and Extension Education, also serving as a member of the Teach Ag! Avengers and a brother of Alpha Zeta. He said what he is most excited for is to, "get the opportunity to impact students the same way state officers have impacted me". He's looking forward to all the new people he'll be able to meet, and he's already excited to be at the ACES conference in the spring. We are all beyond proud of him as he begins his journey as a state officer and dedicates himself to a year of service to Pennsylvania FFA members.

The new 2018 -2019 State Officer team is as follows (From L to R):

Treasurer: Abigail Yoder from Central Columbia

Chaplain: Millena Bashore from Northern Lebanon

Reporter: Samuel Loy from Greenwood

Vice President: Jacob Kinzer from East Juniata

Sentinal: Roarke Miller from Little Dutchmen

President: Jenna Harnish from Athens

Secretary: Morgan Bear from Big Spring

We wish them all luck as they dedicate the next year of their lives to the service of FFA members across the Commonwealth!

Hunter Kauffman

Team Leader, @TeachAgPSU Communications

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

College of Agricultural Sciences

2016 Impact FFA CASE Institute Scholarship Recipient: Katie Andrews!

Katie is a 2016 student teacher.

As pre-service teachers there are many ways future agriscience teachers can develop themselves professionally to set them apart in the field. For one of our Teach Ag! Stars, this has been a goal since day 1.  "Pursuing a degree in Agriculture Education was my goal since day 1 of freshmen year. Preparing agriculturally aware and competent students with 21st skills to be successful in anything they decide to do is my passion. Penn State has provided me with endless opportunities to maximize my skills and knowledge and I am excited to provide the same opportunities for students.”  A senior in agricultural education and  minors in International Agriculture and Agriculture Business Management, her next accomplishment comes as no surprise!  Congratulations to 2016 Impact FFA CASE Institute Scholarship Recipient Ms. Katie Andrews! 

Katie has been student teaching at Big Spring High School.  At Big Spring she has been able to teach the CASE Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources curriculum and has found many crossovers with science and math principles.  Katie says " Case does an excellent job of integrating STEM into the curriculum and it's adaptable."  To further develop herself professionally, and add another tool to her tool box as a teacher, she looked for opportunities to be certified to teach with CASE curriculum.   For the FFA Impact scholarship, she was one of four students to receive this honor.  Katie said "this scholarship will assist me with supporting my curriculum development as a new teacher."

CASE or Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education, provides materials, and education materials to students and teachers to "enhance the rigor and relevance of agriculture, food, and natural resources subject matter. CASE uses inquiry and problem, project and activity based lessons.  Each CASE lesson is aligned with math and science standards.  In order for a teacher to utilize CASE curriculum, it is necessary that they attend a CASE institute offered every summer.  

Sherisa Nailor, Katie Andrews & Sarabeth Fulton

As student teaching is nearing an end Katie reflected on the experience she has had at Big Spring.   She told us that her mentors and her students are her biggest supporters.  Katie said "the people you surround yourself with in life will gauge your happiness and who you are."  Her two mentors have provided her support, encouragement and professional growth.  Katie's cooperating teachers, Ms. Sherisa Nailor and Ms. Sarabeth Fulton are "excelling in their profession and care endlessly for students."  And Katie can't say thank you enough!  

If you would like to read more about Katie and her preparation for student teaching, check out her bog at: http://kickinwithkatie.blogspot.com/ or connect with her on twitter @klandrews_24.  

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.

Kayla Hack

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @hackkayla

2017 Agriculture Education Student Teacher

Happy National FFA Week from Penn State Teach Ag!

Holidays: they are what we look forward to for days, they help us get through the longest days of the year.  Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, Valentines Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day... we all know the big national or religious holidays, but what about those everyday ones?  This week for instance has various holidays, Tennis Day, National Tortilla Chip Day, Love Your Pet day, Be Humble Day, International World Thinking Day and even Tell a Fairy Tale Day. Sure they are random, but they give us a good laugh and maybe even a reason to celebrate.  The biggest celebration this week in our opinion is even better, February 20-27th marks National FFA Week.  National FFA Week is a time to celebrate past and present accomplishments of agricultural education students, teachers and supporters across the US, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, to advocate for agriculture and to say "thank you".  It is a week where many former members are brought back to their "glory days," the days they wore that coveted blue corduroy jacket.  We reminisce and celebrate the success of the largest school based, student run organization in the country.  

The FFA mission statement says "FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students, by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education."  So what did FFA teach you? How did it make that positive difference?  Hear from our students, faculty and staff below, and share your comments!  We want to hear how FFA has influenced you!  

Dr. Laura Rice, Instructor, Agriculture Education Program

Matt Snyder, Agricultural & Extension Education,
Class of 2017

Matt Wagner, Agricultural & Extension Education,
Class of 2019

Victoria Herr, Agricultural & Extension Education,
Class of 2019

Dr. John Ewing, Assoicate Professor Agricultural &
Extension Education

Ms. Melissa Sankey, Programs Manager 

Kayla Hack, Agricultural & Extension Education, 
Class of 2017

Miranda Kane, Agricultural & Extension Education,
Class of 2017

There you have it!  This is how FFA has made a positive difference for us.  What is cool is that we get to help make that positive difference through FFA in our students lives someday! It has taught us about ourselves, our industry and our communities. FFA will continue to teach us, as we learn to teach our students!  Happy FFA Week from a few of us at Penn State Teach Ag!  Share your stories in the comments! 

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.

Kayla Hack

Student Blogger

Twitter Handle: @hackkayla

2017 Agriculture Education Student Teacher

2015 Student Teachers and Ag. Ed. Majors Travel the Nation Inspiring Student Success

FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. Jillian Gordon and Matthew Reutlinger, 2015 PSU Student Teachers (#psuaged15) were chosen to visit many states and facilitate conferences for hundreds of youth throughout the year. The 212 Conference, which Jillian and Matt are a part of, is one of the seven conferences put on by National FFA.

Matthew Reutlinger and Jillian Gordon have been travelling to many states
facilitating conferences for the National FFA program.

The conference is called 212 because that is the temperature at which water boils. This conference focuses on taking students to the boiling point of leadership. It also focuses on student development and challenges students to push the limits. This year's conferences have been utilizing the Growth curriculum. This curriculum is designed to engage students through sessions about their personal growth. Students tackle questions, share success stories, and ultimately identify a mentor to help them with continued growth.

Matthew Reutlinger, 2015 Student Teacher

Matt and Jill typically facilitate to a group of about 180-200 high school students. Most of the conferences last two days and they highlight personal, mental, emotional, physical, social and lifelong growth. Matt (@mreutlinger) stated “We try to make each session as high energy as we can because students and sponsors have given a lot to make these conferences happen. It is Jillian and my responsibility to make sure they get the most for it.”

Jillian Gordon, 2015 Student Teacher

Matt and Jill have been facilitating many workshops, events and conferences for about 3 years. With the 212 program they have traveled to Wisconsin, New Jersey, Ohio and Illinois and have upcoming trips to North Dakota and North Carolina. Jillian (@jillianpsu) said “My favorite part about the 212 conference is getting to know how students learn and engage different every place we go. There really is a difference in personalities and it’s fun to figure out how we need to modify our curriculum or teaching style for those students."

For more information on the FFA 212 conference and other opportunities through the National FFA program visit www.ffa.org/events.

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!



Laura Metrick, Student Blogger
2015 Student Teacher
@Its_LauraBeth

Janae Herr as a National Collegiate Ag Ambassador

Janae Herr, a sophomore at Penn State, heard a lot about the National FFA Collegiate Agriculture Ambassador Program from Jill Gordon (2015 Student Teacher; @jillianpsu) and Dr. Foster (@FosterDanielD) as they flew to Arizona at the beginning of the summer for the domestic study tour of Agricultural Education programs in other states (Written about here: http://teachagpsu.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-domestic-study-abroad-teach-ag.html).

Group picture outside of the Syngenta Crop Lab

After what seemed like the blink of an eye, Dr. Foster made plans for her to present to class of secondary Navajo students in Arizona and had her fill out the application for the Collegiate Ag Ambassador position on his iPad while they were on the trip. The application consisted of her resume, five short essay questions and a five minute YouTube video of her presenting to an audience, which she did at the Monument Valley High School where she gave the 10^th grade Vet. Science class a lesson on why they should teach agriculture. After hearing back from National FFA, Janae was booking plane tickets and heading down to Greensboro, North Carolina!

Syngenta's new Greenhouse/ Crop Lab
they toured

In North Carolina, Janae was joined by 19 other Ag Ambassadors from across the nation. The National FFA Collegiate Agricultural Ambassador team has three corporate sponsors – Syngenta, BASF, and CSX. Syngenta’s headquarters are in Greensboro, NC which is where their training was held during the week.  The Ag Ambassadors four days of training included a lot of logistical discussions, greetings, presentations and networking from and with Syngenta staff. The ambassadors also had tours of Syngenta facilities, team-building activities and rigorous facilitation training from the National FFA staff. Despite all the hard work the Ambassadors had to put in, they still took a little downtime to watch the hometown Greensboro Grasshoppers play baseball.

As an Ambassador, Janae has to complete 30 hours of presentation time. The presentations can involve any part of the agricultural industry and to audiences of any demographic. During the training, the ambassadors were given some lesson plans to use in the presentation. The lesson plans had topics ranging from Food Safety to Advocating for Agriculture or Dairy to GMO’s as starters but they were also asked to design some of their own lessons to share with their teammates at the winter training in Jacksonville, FL with CSX. Janae is excited about getting started because she wants to positively reflect “an industry that has a very important story to tell.”

Syngenta employee round table discussion
about all things agriculture

Looking forward, Janae is excited for not only the professional development and networking opportunities that the team provides but also how this experience will make her a better advocate for the agricultural industry. She is thankful for all the resources that she has been given, which will help her out as she continues to peruse a career in Agricultural Education. Janae said that “that week in Greensboro was a fantastic and refreshing reminder to never stop desiring to learn new things”. She was also very happy to have walked away from the experience with 19 new friends and a lot more information about the agricultural industry!

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!

Jeanne Case

Student Blogger

2014 Dover HS Student Teacher

Twitter: JRose_Case

The Road Ahead: What It Means to Be A NOC by guest blogger Matthew Dodson

The FFA jacket that Matt will
wear during his candidacy

[Editor's Note: We are proud to have the 2013 Pennsylvania FFA National Officer Candidate, Matt Dodson, share about his opportunity to run for National FFA Office]

At the end of June the Pennsylvania FFA Association held their 84^th State Convention on the campus of Penn State University.  It was there that I received the honor of representing Pennsylvania FFA as the 2013 National Officer Candidate.  What exactly is a National Officer Candidate?  Every state has the opportunity to send one person each year to the National FFA Convention to run for a position on the National FFA Officer team.  Each candidate must go through an intense interview process which includes personal interviews, writing exercises, stand and deliver speeches, among other tasks.  At the end of the interview process, SIX candidates are chosen to represent the National FFA Organization for the next year.

[To Learn more about the National FFA Officer Selection Process, visit: https://www.ffa.org/FFAResources/NOSelection/Pages/default.aspx ]
 

Until October, I will be spending plenty of time preparing for the process.  I will be going through practice interviews, meeting with business and industry leaders, and learning as much FFA knowledge as I possibly can.  In fact, from July 17th to the 21st I traveled to Green Bay, Wisconsin to attend the FFA Alumni Development Conference getting to know some awesome FFA Alumni members and gaining skills to better advocate for the FFA Organization.  

So the big question is WHY do I want to become a National Officer…this is a question that a person should ask themselves when making any decision or pursuing any dream they may have.  To me being a National FFA Officer is an opportunity to serve.  This is something that is at the center of my passions and life principles.  Let me paint a picture of what this looks like and why it is so important.  One weekend I helped to chaperone our youth group's trip to Baltimore, Maryland to attend a Christian conference.  After attending one of the evening sessions, a youth whose name is Cesar had with him some leftovers from his meal that night.  While we were walking, he noticed that there was a homeless man sitting along the sidewalk not too far ahead.  Realizing that the man needed those leftovers more than he did, Cesar went up to the man and offered him the food.  Immediately the man rejected his offer.  Disappointed Cesar walked away wondering why the man had not accepted the gift.  This young man had what I call a heart of service; meaning that when he sees someone in need he does what he can to help out in a loving way.  It did not matter that his act of service was rejected; the important thing is that it was offered.  Too often, we forget what service means. 

In the FFA Organization, our motto states in the last line, "Living to Serve".  My heart of service is in representing FFA members and doing my best to provide them with quality opportunities to improve their lives and their future.  As we look to the future we face many challenges.  These young people need as much encouragement, support and mentorship as we can realistically provide them.  I strongly believe that each one of us has the opportunity and ability to make a difference.  Our heart of service determines where we make that difference.  So why do I desire to serve as a National FFA Officer?  My heart of service goes out to helping these young people strive to be the best they can be.  I believe in mentoring and supporting the future leaders of tomorrow...FFA members!

Alumni Development Conference-
Matt travels to various events as a NOC

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! 

Matthew Dodson 

Guest Blogger

2013 Pennsylvania National

 Officer Candidate