Penn State -- The MOST Students Receiving Scholarships from NAAE in the Nation

Fifteen students from across the United Stated have been selected for the Upper Division Agricultural Education Scholarship through the National Association by Agricultural Educators (NAAE) due to their academic performance, leadership and service activities. The Pennsylvania State University is home to THREE of those individuals. Congratulations to Caleb Wright, Emily Urban and Mindy Stoops! Each of them will be receiving $750 to help offset the expenses that they will face during their student teaching experience this coming spring.

L-R Caleb Wright, Mindy Stoops, and Emily Urban

Caleb Wright plans on using the money for living expenses, as he needs to focus all his time on student teaching rather than trying to work a second job. Emily wants to use her scholarship money to help with tuition during the spring semester.  Mindy would like to use her amount for living expenses and transportation. All three of them understand the importance of belonging to a professional organization in their field and are excited to be members of NAAE and also PAAE (Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators). They know that the professional organizations will help them to continue growing as a teacher professional after their college career. 

As stated in the NAAE News Release:

The funding for the Upper Division Scholarship comes from Gothic Arch Greenhouses, Delmar Cengage Learning, and donations by NAAE members. Gothic Arch Greenhouses specializes in greenhouses and supplies for a variety of uses including agricultural education programs. Delmar Cengage Learning delivers highly customized agricultural education learning solutions for all levels of educational institutions.

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 though visionary leadership, advocacy and service.” They are headquartered 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!

Jeanne Case

Student Blogger

2014 Dover HS Student Teacher

Twitter: JRose_Case

First Days of School!!!

On the first day of school people, whether they admit it or not, always feel some sort of emotion towards it. Whether it is the excitement of the adventure of starting another year or dreading that alarm clock blaring that they know will come. I felt excited and anxious as it is my last first day of school as a student in the foreseeable future. How do I define myself after this year, since I have been a student for the majority of my life?

But I also saw the flip side as my teacher friends, new and seasoned, post facebook statuses about how excited they are for the first day of school and how ready they are to teach agriculture. Nicole Weaver from Twin Valley High School posted a status about starting her 10^th year of teaching and expressed her excitement for the new school year but also thinking about her previous students that she has had and all the different stages of life they are in. Tons of previous students posted on it thanking her for being their Ag teacher and saying what they were doing that day. Some are starting grad school, some are going into teaching careers themselves and asking for advice. It is great to see how one person can affect so many people, and that it stays with them many years down the road.

Mike Woods at Cumberland Valley High School stated that he was excited about his new teaching partner, Darla Romberger who recently graduated from Penn State in Ag Ed. He also said that he is ready to keep helping their program grow and expand and continue to change lives through agricultural education.

Other teacher status yesterday on my newsfeed came from Kristy Brubaker who just graduated from Penn State this spring. She said that today was the best day of school that she has ever had, and is excited about the classroom and the students.

None of these teachers had anything negative to say and are excited about ‘creating positive agents of change’ which is a phrase commonly used in the Penn State Ag Ed Program. Seeing these other teachers' successes, makes me more excited about when my role will be reversed, and I will be standing in front of the classroom rather than behind the desk as a student.  I know that myself and the rest of the 2014 student teachers are up for the challenge that follows that first day of school and are ready to be Penn State Ag Ed ROCK STARS!

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

EARTH to ALLI. Alli to EARTH.

So what did I do this summer? Well there were many small things involved, but the big picture event was a semester of study abroad at EARTH University in Costa Rica. I just got home on Saturday from 4 months of being out of the country and am still processing all of the outstanding opportunities I was blessed with!



EARTH's cultural diversity was one of my favorite things.
This is from the Multicultural Fair that was held at the beginning of the summer... dances from all over, and amazing food!

The first time to ever use a machete... to cut down a whole plot of plantain plants!

EARTH University is an international private agricultural university, whereas the acronym EARTH stands for (translated from Spanish): agricultural education in the region of the humid tropics. This beautiful university, located on the Atlantic side of Costa Rica, is home to 400 students (over 4 years) who come from over 30 countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.  I was studying alongside students for one of their three trimesters and just got a snapshot of what it was like to be a student at this incredible institution. Students take every kind of agriculture class imaginable and also must complete a full-year business project, semester-long international internship, and graduation research project (similar to a thesis). They also have 2 days of work experience each week, in addition to their 4 days of classes with lab and field experience. It is definitely a “learning by doing” institution!!

Not a common PSU sight - sheep grazing on the lawn by the soccer field! 

So what did I do there? Well, firstly, I took the following courses to be used for PSU credit: tropical animal production, food security and world economy, community development work experience, mechanical skills (aka shop class), ecological basis for natural resource management, and an oral communication class. Within the first week of class, we were each assigned to maintain a 36 square meter plot of forages in my animal production class, got started on a semester-long project for my natural resources class, and were doing community diagnostics to prepare for working with rural, low income farmers (in my work experience).



Me and my 36 m2 forage plot for an animal production class!



Talking with our agricultural family after lunch one day in the community!

While I was able to gain a lot of new practical experiences (i.e. using a machete for the first time), I would say that the most beneficial component of my international experience was definitely the PEOPLE! God was faithful in providing a beautiful community for me at EARTH and I now have friends from all over the world – from Nigeria to Costa Rica, Mexico to Brazil, and several countries in between. I personally love cultural diversity, so I would often get excited when I realized that a group of X number of friends hanging out would represent X number of countries. Realizing the language diversity of EARTH is also so interesting to me! But let’s not forget to mention that my Spanish speaking skills greatly improved (even causing slight English speaking deterioration at times), as all of my classes were in Spanish!

My EARTH family - friends representing 8 different countries!!

So academic, cultural, and language development were up there on the beneficial experience list. But let’s not forget the travel opportunities! I had a few free weekends to travel around the gorgeous country of Costa Rica during my study abroad, only after a full week of vacations along the pacific coast with my parents (before the semester started). Traveling in Costa Rica included: carpooling, buses, taxis, rental cars, and walking... walking only because it was the means of crossing the Panama border when I needed to renew my passport visa! I was able to see gorgeous beaches in Guanacaste, go white water rafting with my natural resources class (best field trip ever), and spend a few weekends with my Turrialba families (from an immersion experience in Costa Rica last summer).

Favorite travel pic - gorgeous sunset in the Pacific

Thiago (Brazil) and Timothy (Nigeria) took me to some cool national parks!

While this experience was probably the best of my life, I won’t deny there weren’t some struggles. About half way through the summer, I was getting a bit homesick, but I think that was mainly exacerbated by the plethora of tropical bugs (like cockroaches in my dorm room – not a fan), humidity (some mold on my clothes) and class work stress. Spanish speaking language barriers were not too big of a problem for me, thanks to the previous Spanish speaking experience I had when living in Costa Rica last summer (and many years of high school Spanish). But in the end, the benefits and blessings of my time there were what will always remain – and without struggles, how will we grow?

So how can I conclude this incredible, life-changing experience? Well I don’t think I can ever conclude the friendships made, but I will leave you with some interesting numbers to ponder:

• 17 weeks away from home
• 29 hours a week of classes and work experience
• 36 square meters of forages to plant and maintain
• 14 cockroaches killed in my dorm room
• 10 hand blisters
• 1 parrot bite, 1 unknown rash, 1 bamboo splinter rash, 1 case of cold/bronchitis
• 3 weekend trips to my Turrialba home
• 2 weekend trips to the other side of the country (Guanacaste)
• 1 semi-complicated trip to the Panama border
• 2 overnight camping trips
• Over 900 photos on my phone
• Over 3,700 photos on my camera...
• 10 visits to our rural agricultural community (El Triunfo)
• Countless mosquito bites
• Numerous unforgettable friendships
• A lifetime of memories

If you want to learn more about my incredible experience and maybe see a bit more of EARTH university and its people, check out my blog from the summer!

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!

Allison Hoover

Guest Student Blogger

2014 Wellsboro HS Student Teacher

Twitter: @allihoov

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

Getting my intern on with Pennsylvania Farm Bureau!!

In front of the White House in DC

Hello everyone, I am Jeanne Case, 2014 student teacher and the 2013 Student Teach Ag! Blogger. This summer in addition to blogging and taking a summer English class, I was an intern at the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau for the Friends of Agriculture Foundation. I worked with the non-profit educational part of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and had lots of projects such as developing the take home activity for Ag Progress Days and the game that the kids played on-site. I also helped out with the FACE youth conference which I posted a blog about earlier in the summer; Greg Peterson was the keynote speaker and talked about advocating for agriculture.

Agriculture in the Classroom was the other major conference that I helped run this summer at Penn State.  In addition to the projects with the Foundation I also got experience in the Member Relations Division. Attending the membership kick-off conference, working membership in my County and traveling around Adams County with a Regional Organization Director (ROD), kept me busy.  I was able to travel to Washington, D.C. and Harrisburg to see what our lobbyists do, as well as attend the Policy Development Kickoff meeting and the Commodity meetings with the third division, Government Relations.

A student at FACE conference
 giving a thumbs up

The FACE (Fueling Agriculture and Cultivating Excellence) conference was easily my favorite week at Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, even while working 27 hours of over-time! It was great to watch the students come in shy on Monday, then not want to leave all the friends they had made  when it was time for them to depart on Friday.  I was in charge of the Swine Commodity group with Brittany Courson, the Regional Organization Director. Our group was responsible for making a video and Facebook page to advocate for the swine industry. The students gained a new perspective; they do not typically need to explain the importance of their industry. The students also had to write bills to send in to the FACE version of the House of Representatives where they were discussed.

Some of the female employees at the FACE conference

The students in my group kept asking me where I was going to be student teaching and looked sad when I said Dover High School; none of them go there. I asked them for tips on how to be a good student teacher and they said to not make my students feel dumb. The students said it’s not good for the student teacher to talk over their heads and then get frustrated when the students don’t understand the lesson because the student teacher isn't explaining it well. I am also supposed to be strict…but not too strict, and BE EXCITING! If I don’t move around the classroom and instead just stay in one spot and am really boring the students won’t pay attention and will fall asleep. It was really great to hear that from a student’s perspective as I will try my best to not be boring in the classroom!

Attendees and volunteers at AITC

AITC, Agriculture in the Classroom is a conference for teachers to attend to get graduate program and/or ACT 48 credits. It is a whole week focused on different aspects of agriculture ranging from mushrooms, to livestock, to trees, gardens and bio-energy, to name a few. Teachers from across the state attend, teaching a variety of subjects and ages. This was a super great experience, to be able to meet such as diversity of teachers. A math teacher told me to incorporate music into my classroom, for instance to not call on someone until a song or music clip is done so the students will have more opportunity to think and form an answer. Or to have a sound clip on almost every slide to act as an attention grabber and make the students pay closer attention to what is on a screen. Music can also be used as a reward if the students are working well on something – and it can be taken away as a punishment.

When I traveled around with Owen Weikert, the Region 3 Regional Organization Director, all day in Adams County, I saw a lot of aspects of agriculture that I was not previously knowledgeable about. I was able to tour an apple orchard.  This orchard provides most of the apple tree starts on the east coast, stretching even to Michigan. I had no clue that you could not plant apple seeds and that you had to graft the variety you wanted on root stock. My student teaching school students have an apple judging day;  it is good that I will at least have a little background knowledge! I also got to tour a dairy farm and see their milking parlor, as well as look at Mason Dixon Dairy. During the meeting in the evening I got to meet a lot of farmers in the area and even met a woman who writes about agriculture for different publications; I am sure she will be a very good contact in the future.

Interns with a PSU Alumni

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau also treated their interns very well. One benefit was to spend a night in Washington, DC. While we were there we met with all of our congressmen as well as a senior policy person in the senate, (who is a Penn State Ag Sciences Alumna). Going to all the meetings we walked  or rode trains in tunnels underneath the buildings, even to the capital, making it very hard to keep my bearings. I know that I would not have ever been able to experience anything like this if it wasn't for PFB. To wrap up the trip we went to the American Farm Bureau office and got a tour of their facilities and met a lot of important people. Unfortunately their internships are not paid, but even so, that still may be a great experience/opportunity for next summer!

Interns on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg

Harrisburg was great to see, as so many of the governmental  issues that directly affect our farmers begin there. We got to meet another Penn State College of Ag Science alumni who helps to make sure the voting members know about agriculture. We talked about her position and the different issues she deals with on a daily basis. It was also great to just tour the capitol since I had not been there since 4^th grade and it truly is a beautiful building, something that Pennsylvania should definitely be proud of. 

All in all this was a great internship experience. I went into it thinking that I knew what to expect as I have known multiple people who had gone through the program before, but it really reached above and beyond those expectations. The experience I got, and the connections I made are truly irreplaceable. Everyone that I worked with was really helpful and wanted to watch us interns succeed in our lives. I know that they are sad to see us leave, but also happy that there are three women that are just starting to enter the workforce with a strong passion for agriculture.

Interns in front of the building. Thank you PFB!

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

Gaining Global Competency and Applied Research Skills: Bryanna Kenno's European Adventure

Study abroad group in the English Gardens in Munich, Germany

Bryanna Kenno, a junior at Penn State, was chosen to help Laura Rice (@laurasankeyrice) this summer with her Ph.D dissertation work in Sweden. She was recommended for the position by Dr. Foster, her adviser. Bryanna was eligible for the position because she is majoring in Agricultural Extension and Education with a minor in International Agriculture, as well her good grades and involvement in extracurricular activities. Bryanna fit the bill perfectly and was ready to travel to Europe.

To get to Europe, Bryanna traveled with a group of eight students and two adults from Penn State Altoona as they made their way to Germany for a short term study abroad experience. Bryanna arrived in Germany in early May to complete the short course study abroad, and then left the group to travel to Sweden by herself. Bryanna stayed in Sweden for about three weeks and said that that travel experience was definitely different, as she had to deal with delay or gate changes which can be scary in a foreign airport alone.

Group representing Penn State at the Ritter Sport factory in Waldenbuch, Germany

When she was in Germany with the Altoona group, the study abroad class focused on agricultural production systems. The class got to tour three dairy farms, the Ritter-Sport chocolate factory, a brewery, a winery and vineyard, a German McDonald’s, and the Viktualien Market in Munich. Sweden didn't have as many sightseeing opportunities but Bryanna spent a few days exploring the city of Uppsala then joined Laura to tour the Viking Burial Grounds. She and Laura also went to the coast of the Baltic Sea with a couple that Laura had met at the University.

Besides traveling across Europe, Bryanna also did some work while she was there. Bryanna helped Laura research effective instruction in post-secondary agriculture courses, specifically working to develop operational definitions of teaching practices of award winning agricultural educators at Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (http://www.slu.se/en/) She accompanied Laura to interviews with faculty, entered data into spreadsheets and completed a review of literature. Bryanna was able to work with faculty members and students of the college.

Viking Burial Grounds in Gamla Uppsala, Sweden. Grounds date back to the 1500's and Vikings were usually cremated and buried in a tomb underneath the mounds. 

With a more globalized view on agriculture, Bryanna said that the traveling she did and her research experience has impacted her as a future educator in numerous ways. She had the opportunity to experience agricultural systems in Germany and interact and discuss agriculture with students her age from both countries --- students from Hohenheim University in Germany and students from SLU in Sweden. When she got home she felt a sense of reassurance and knew that entering the field of agricultural education was the right decision. In both Germany and Sweden their secondary schools don’t have agricultural education classes and the students that Bryanna met were amazed that so many American high schools offer agricultural programs. This made her appreciate agricultural programs and FFA in a whole new way. “I also knew that I made a great decision by conducting undergraduate research involving agricultural education because the field means so much to me. I want to leave a lasting impact on my future students and all of my experiences in Europe will allow me to do this.”

Bryanna starts undergraduate research in the fall that will partially stem off of Laura’s work from this summer. She will be researching how student’s evaluations of classes in the College of Agricultural Sciences affect the way professors teach the classes in the future.

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

Meet NAAE Intern (and new PSU M.S. Student) Amanda Forstater!

Amanda Forstater a new grad student at PSU

Amanda Forstar, an avid horse lover and NAAE (National Association of Agricultural Educators) intern, enjoyed her time interning in Kentucky this summer. She found the internship on the NAAE website and applied in December 2012. Her application included a letter of interest, resume, three letters of reference and a portfolio of writing examples to show her skills and experience in communications.  Amanda was a Student Assistant for the New York Ag in the Classroom last year and used articles that she had written for that position. After submitting her application, she had to wait for NAAE to pick applicants for phone interviews in February/March. A few weeks later Amanda was informed that she was chosen to be one of the two Communications interns.

Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville
that the interns visited on a weekend trip

Throughout her internship, Amanda was responsible for reading the agricultural teacher award applications and writing the press releases for the state and regional award winners. She gained experience using PowerPoint and Prezi as she made scripts and presentations for the National NAAE Convention, created the National Teach Ag Campaign invitations for the National Teach Ag Day event and edited the NAAE website as well as other projects. She shared the responsibility with the other intern in regards to updating NAAE’s social media updates on Twitter and Facebook. The two interns may also have the chance to help out at the Teachers’ World during the National FFA convention and they are helping out at the National NAAE Convention in December, which Amanda is excited about as she will be able to meet the teachers she wrote about all summer.

Amanda learned a lot during her internship, from gaining experience in Photoshop, editing websites and learning about new social media outlets -- she had never used Twitter before this internship. Amanda believes the greatest thing she gained from her internship was all the networking opportunities. NAAE is located at the University of Kentucky and she was able to talk to all the professors on a daily basis and hear about their experiences from different outlets in the agricultural education realm.  CASE teachers were around to share their experiences as college students and teachers which gave Amanda a motivating and realistic point of view.

Churchill Downs racetrack that the interns visited a couple of times. 

Through reading all of the award applications Amanda learned a lot about programs all over the country in both rural and urban areas, which lead to brainstorming sessions for her and the other intern.  The interns talked about ideas and different things they could do in their future programs. They were able to find ideas for their future programs everywhere – driving past a tobacco field, visiting a brewery, seeing a horse farm, and visiting the Louisville slugger factory. Amanda really enjoyed being surrounded by people who were directly involved with agriculture! She said “I learned so much from everyone I met and I think it was those personal contacts I’ve forged that will continue to impact me the most.”

Amanda is very happy and satisfied with her internship experience and thinks that it was a great transition for her as she finishes her time at Cornell as an undergraduate and transitions to Penn State as a graduate student this fall.  She is excited to be part of the 2015 Student Teaching Cohort at Penn State!

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