All Eyes on LEAD Society: Ag Day 2019!

If State College, Pa all of a sudden has a spike in potato plants it was definitely because of LEAD Society at Penn State planting potatoes with students at Ag Day 2019. 

Ag Day is a day to get students from other colleges to check out what we do in the college of agriculture. Clubs and organizations set up booths with interactive activities to help advocate for agriculture. The well know ones are free ice cream from the College of Agriculture, free plants in a cup from the Horticulture Club and the baby farm animals sponsored by several clubs. 

This year I was able to play a role by helping with the LEAD (Literacy, education and Agriculture Development) Society at their booth. Throughout the whole day I got to interact with a bunch of students with a wide range of knowledge of agriculture. Our booth was known as the potato booth! We helped 183 students plant potatoes using the eyes of the potatoes. 

Many students did not know what the eyes of the potatoes were never mind how to grow them. I explained to them what the eyes were and that potatoes were root vegetables meaning they grew very deep underground. Students found it very interesting that a potato farmer had to dig to find their harvest. 

This day was key to helping me grow as an educator. I had to make connections to these students who knew nothing about potatoes besides they are good with sour cream and bacon on them in order to teach them about the process of growing this crop. Many students were deeply interested in their potato plant. I even had a student ask if he can take his plant on a plane back home! 

This experienced showed me that people generally care about agriculture but, do not always take the time to learn about it or know where to go to learn about it. My goal as an educator is to have my students help others in the community learn about agriculture. It is better to learn from peer to peer than me preaching about it. Ag Day is unique in that aspect of it is students teaching students so the non agriculture students are more willing to come and see what we are all about! 

Connecting the dots: The difference between Connecticut and Pennsylvania Agricultural Education!

It is 386 miles from where my house in Bristol, CT to State College,Pa. Although it is only two states over the agriculture industries are very different. These two states don't only vary in the agricultural industry but, in Career and Technical Education (CTE) as well! 

The small state on Connecticut has 19 current agricultural high school programs and one currently being built. These schools take applications from designated towns to help fill their program. Students from the town the agricultural program is still needs to apply and has the potential to not be accepted. Once the student applies, interviews at the school and gets accepted they will then be apart of that new towns district. 

The student then takes agriscience classes as well as their general education classes for all four years at that new school. Some schools have tracks for students to follow and some allow students to pick their own tracks and mix and match their classes. Connecticut ,unlike Pennsylvania, is not an affiliated state with the FFA so, membership is dependent on the chapter and student. Currently there are about 3,200 FFA members which means we have more students in agricultural education that that since the state isn't affiliated.

What I find to be very unique in Connecticut is the number of agriculture teachers in Connecticut. Connecticut has 144 teachers (including 18 supporting staff ie. Secretaries and para educators) working at 20 schools. Each school has about 4-5 teachers minimum. This allows teachers to teach specific fields such as veterinary science, plant science, aquaculture and so much more. Each teacher in Connecticut will be hired( most of the time) to teach within an area of agriculture instead of general agriculture.This allows for huge diversity in agricultural programs in Connecticut. 

Connecticut has some unique features to their agricultural education system that makes the small state be able to offer a wide range of opportunities in agriculture to their students. The differences between the state vary in the structure of their programs and amount of teachers per program. 

What are some unique traits of your states agriculture industry and agricultural education system?