Doug Masser (@MasserD), #psuaged12: New Agriscience Teacher at Pequea Valley!

Doug Masser, new teacher at Pequea Valley!  

Doug Masser (@MasserD), a 2012 Penn State honors graduate, has been busy since leaving Penn State! He will complete his Master of Science in Agriculture Education at the University of Idaho in the summer 0f 2014 with research focusing on describing agriculture program supporters and their roles in agriculture education programs, effective teaching strategies and coaching behaviors of CDE coaches. His activity caught the eye of Pequea Valley High School and their current senior agriscence teacher, Mr. Clair Witwer enough to hire Doug to be a part of their agriscience team for the next school year!

Doug has always been interested in agriculture. Growing up in Pitman, PA (located in Schuylkill County), he helped a lot on his family’s fruit and vegetable farm. Whether he was on the farm or out in the woods exploring the ponds, trees, and streams near his house, it made him develop a sincere passion for agriculture. He attended Tri-Valley Jr/Sr. High School where he met one of his mentors, Gretchen Dingman, a Penn Sate AEE Alum, who was his agriculture teacher for 5 years. After completing high school, he knew that he wanted to go to school for Agriculture Extension and Education. “ I believe that agricultural education provides the best model for teaching students and from my experiences, nothing is more rewarding than watching your students grow professionally, as leaders, and personally and lead successful lives. It is because of the great students I will get to work with that makes me excited to teach ag!” 

Doug at a teacher conference with
other great PA Teachers!

Clair Witwer (the current teacher at Pequea Valley) is excited on adding on a second teacher to their Ag Science and Technology Department. Mr. Witwer stated, "I am very excited to have someone of Doug's caliber coming to Pequea Valley. I have been a single teacher department for most of my career and I am looking forward to having someone to help. As we entered into the interviews, we were looking for someone who shared the philosophy of the department and the district. As we went through that process, it became very obvious that Doug was the fit we were looking for." 

Pequea Valley currently has 135 students studying agriscience, but the addition of the new teacher, plus new courses that they will be able to provide, will increase their numbers to 300 students! Pequea Valley also has been awarded as Distinguished School from Apple. 

Doug is excited to have a school that focuses on Agriscience and Agricultural Mechanics. Since they are both different topics, they can bring in a variety of students to be a part of their program. Doug states, “He has done a tremendous job building the program there, and together we both can continue growing the program and including new classes. I am excited to work with Clair on expanding the Agriscience Fair participation of our students and to infuse my strengths in plant science and leadership into the program.”

As far as their facilities go, they have a 24X40 greenhouse, two agriscience classrooms equipped with the hoods, water, gas, etc., to conduct hands on labs in many classes, they have a huge agricultural mechanics laboratory, and an area for aquaculture! Doug has endless possibilities that he can take advantage of because of what the school has to offer!


Doug at the University of Idaho!

Through everything , Doug remembers Penn State as his beginning point in his educational career. "Penn State provided me with the opportunities to become an effective teacher. Whether it was formal classes, workshops, or Ag Teacher conferences, the teacher educators at Penn State (Dr. Foster, Dr. Ewing, and Laura Sankey Rice) modeled what it means to be a great teacher. They also inspired me to work hard to make a difference in the lives of students. I know that the skills and experiences I gained at Penn State prepared me to be a successful agriculture teacher."

Doug’s Penn State and University of Idaho family wish him well as he starts another milestone in his life! In the future we hope to check back in with him and see how much he has progressed at Pequea Valley High School. Congratulations Doug Masser!

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 

2012 Follow Up: Doug Masser, a year later = Vandal Pride

Doug in front of the University of Idaho sign,
but still representing the Nittany Lions.

Doug Masser, a 2012 Penn State AEE gradaute, is working on his Masters of Science degree in Agricultural Education at the University of Idaho. Because Doug was certified to teach high school agriculture with his undergraduate degree from Penn State, he is now focused more on research classes and classes that will help him out as a future agricultural teacher. The research he conducts focuses on community support for agricultural education and looks at ways to make community partnership stronger in ways that will improve agricultural education programs. To go along with his assistantship duties Doug also helps to advise the University of Idaho CFFA where he helps with coordinating chapter events, local CDE's and coordinating the National FFA Convention trip. 

Doug and the Idaho's CFFA members
 at National FFA Convention

After Doug graduated from Penn State he did not plan on going to grad school, he thought he was going to teach agriculture in a high school in Pennsylvania. Since he was in Schreyers Honors College at Penn State he had to complete an undergraduate research thesis – he enjoyed the research but he was not thinking about getting his masters until later on in his career. After graduation he went to Korea with other agricultural education majors at Penn State,  he also attended two research conferences to present some of his undergraduate research work. While at the conference, he met a man by the name of Dr. Jeremy Falk (http://www.uidaho.edu/cals/ae4hyd/faculty/jfalk), an assistant professor at the University of Idaho. Dr. Falk encouraged Doug to visit the campus and think about a masters in Ag Ed. When Doug went to visit the campus, he was very wary about moving across the country and leaving Pennsylvania, but he loved his visit and even signed an apartment and his assistantship contract the second day there. Doug said “I am a firm believer that every experience someone has shapes who they are later in life. That’s why when this opportunity fell into my lap; I knew it was too good to pass up.”

Doug helping to run a Parliamentary Procedure workshop.

In regards to living in Idaho, Pennsylvania native said that everyone is really friendly and that the lifestyle is more laid back. Doug thought that he lived in a rural part of Pennsylvania, but living in Idaho there is a lot more land and a lot less people. The agriculture in the state is different than that in Pennsylvania such as in Southern Idaho there are a lot of potatoes, onions and other crops that are grown in irrigated valleys and in Northern Idaho, where Doug is located, there is dry land and wheat farming in the rolling hills. Since the agriculture is different in Idaho from Pennsylvania, the agricultural education is different too. He said that agricultural mechanics is a large aspect with approximately 60% of the agricultural education classes being taught are agricultural mechanics. The other classes include animal, plant, food, and environmental sciences as examples.  However, similar to Pennsylvania, all the teachers are dedicated to their student’s success. Doug has been in grad school for a year and has met many of Idaho’s 120 agricultural teachers and feels that they are a tight knit family that supports each other and are dedicated to the future of agricultural education.

After Doug finishes his masters degree he wishes to return back to Pennsylvania and find a job teaching high school agriculture. He missed the being in the classroom and teaching. However, now that he has moved across the country for his masters degree he is more open to moving and teaching anywhere across the nation. Doug would like to “encourage everyone to stretch themselves to do something different and leave their comfort zone. New situations bring with (them) new challenges that help us all grow as individuals and professionals.”

A piece of University of Idaho's campus.

 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