Penn State goes to New Orleans!

On the way to NOLA!

This past week, myself and 14 other wonderful people had the great opportunity to go to New Orleans for the National Association of Agricultural Educators Convention (NAAE}.  We attended workshops and seminars and also got to attend the Association of Career and Technological Education Conference (ACTE}.  There we listened to one of the best speeches I have ever heard in my entire life about what it looks like to be a hero and attend the expo hall where I was able to get and learn about tons of teaching inspiration, technology, and tools.

ACTE Main Session #1!

During these two conventions I was able to widen my network of fellow agriculture educators and associated persons.  I was able to to talk a bit with Darla Romberger, an ag teacher in Pennsylvania, over lunch one day about student teaching and the school district which I will be student teaching in because she attended grade school there.  I was able to make some really helpful connections about the community and ag program at Tri Valley in preparation for the spring.

In a funny series of events, I was also able to talk to an administrator and ag teacher from a high school in Wisconsin on the flight to Chicago on our way back to State College.  The school had one ag teacher, one ag and science teacher, and two tech ed teachers who had traveled to New Orleans for the ACTE convention.  They came specifically for the expo to get ideas and knowledge of new resources and technologies that could be used in their program.

The Penn State Ag Ed cohort at NAAE!

Between both of the educators and administrators I met, the best takeaway for them seemed to be the resources from the workshops and the advice and ideas from other teachers and administrators. 

 All of the FAST Symposium participants for future ag teachers and student teachers!