Welcome to my first blog post, thanks for dropping by! I'll start this journey by giving you a little bit of a background on me and how I got here.
I grew up in the heart of Juniata County, not too far from my current home here in Happy Valley. I'm from a super small-town, the kind with one red-light and you'd miss it if you blink. My rural community is where I first started to develop a love for agriculture. My dad was a construction worker and my mom was a nurse, so I didn't have the opportunity to grow up directly involved in the ag industry, but I had lots of friends that grew up on farms and the community as a whole was definitely agrarian-centered.
When I got to seventh grade, my mom moved us about 45 minutes away, to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. At the time, all that I wanted was to move back home and for everything to go back to how is was before, but it turns out that the move was one of the best things that could have happened for me.
Selinsgrove is still considered rural, but it felt like the big city to me. I had over 240 kid's in my class, where I only had about 60 before, and the town even had its own Walmart and shopping mall. I made a few friends, but I mainly kept to myself, which turned me into a super shy introvert.
Once I started high school, I decided to take Agricultural Foundations and join my school's FFA chapter. I started out slow by going to events here and there, like meetings and Greenhand Day. Eventually, we had to do the creed and present a short speech that we had prepared to the class, which is where things began to change. My ag teacher saw something in me that I didn't see in myself, and encouraged me to refine my speech that I had written for her class and compete at the local level in the Junior Prepared LDE. I've always been a people-pleaser, so I agreed. The day of the event I mustered as much courage as I could find and delivered my speech to three judges. I thought that I had completely bombed my speech and was dreading getting the results, but I ended up with a blue ribbon and a spot at regionals.
It seems so small and unimportant now, but that single experience changed the course of my life. I became extremely active in my FFA chapter and began taking every possible opportunity that I could. I served as an officer for my chapter and my area, participated in countless CDEs and LDEs, and went to any conference or convention that my ag teachers would take me to. I gained confidence in myself and my abilities, and found a group of friends that have supported me through all of my ups and downs.
As I approached the end of high school I began to panic. I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I had a variety of interests, but nothing jumped out. I looked at forensic science, elementary education and even becoming a veterinary technician. One day, my ag teacher suggested looking into ag ed. Me? An ag teacher? There was no way I could do that. Sure, I'd learned lots about ag over the past four years, but not enough to teach it myself. I had put my ag teachers up on a pedestal and convinced myself that there was no possible way I could ever compare. Eventually I came around and applied at a few schools that offered possible majors.
My Penn State journey started at Mont Alto. I fell in love with the campus when I toured it and knew that I wanted to do the 2+2 program, which really turned into 1 1/2+ 2 1/12. I've spent the last two semesters at University Park, and I miss Mont Alto, but I have gotten so many opportunities since transferring to UP. I've taken courses on topics that I never knew I'd love, joined interesting clubs, and got to travel to Montana through the DSA program with LEAD Society.
I don't know what my future holds, but I'm excited to be pursuing my passion and to have you along for the journey!
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| "McAlisterville, Pennsylvania" by Dougtone is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 |
When I got to seventh grade, my mom moved us about 45 minutes away, to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. At the time, all that I wanted was to move back home and for everything to go back to how is was before, but it turns out that the move was one of the best things that could have happened for me.
Selinsgrove is still considered rural, but it felt like the big city to me. I had over 240 kid's in my class, where I only had about 60 before, and the town even had its own Walmart and shopping mall. I made a few friends, but I mainly kept to myself, which turned me into a super shy introvert.
Once I started high school, I decided to take Agricultural Foundations and join my school's FFA chapter. I started out slow by going to events here and there, like meetings and Greenhand Day. Eventually, we had to do the creed and present a short speech that we had prepared to the class, which is where things began to change. My ag teacher saw something in me that I didn't see in myself, and encouraged me to refine my speech that I had written for her class and compete at the local level in the Junior Prepared LDE. I've always been a people-pleaser, so I agreed. The day of the event I mustered as much courage as I could find and delivered my speech to three judges. I thought that I had completely bombed my speech and was dreading getting the results, but I ended up with a blue ribbon and a spot at regionals.
It seems so small and unimportant now, but that single experience changed the course of my life. I became extremely active in my FFA chapter and began taking every possible opportunity that I could. I served as an officer for my chapter and my area, participated in countless CDEs and LDEs, and went to any conference or convention that my ag teachers would take me to. I gained confidence in myself and my abilities, and found a group of friends that have supported me through all of my ups and downs.
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| Selinsgrove FFA Banquet 2017 |
As I approached the end of high school I began to panic. I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I had a variety of interests, but nothing jumped out. I looked at forensic science, elementary education and even becoming a veterinary technician. One day, my ag teacher suggested looking into ag ed. Me? An ag teacher? There was no way I could do that. Sure, I'd learned lots about ag over the past four years, but not enough to teach it myself. I had put my ag teachers up on a pedestal and convinced myself that there was no possible way I could ever compare. Eventually I came around and applied at a few schools that offered possible majors.
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| First day at Mont Alto |
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| DSA to Montana 2019 |
I don't know what my future holds, but I'm excited to be pursuing my passion and to have you along for the journey!
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