During the past week, #psuaged23 traveled to Las Vegas for the 75th annual NAAE Convention. This was such an impactful experience, and I am very excited to unpack the trip with you.
On Monday, the group met at the State College airport, where we all greeted each other after spending Thanksgiving break apart. It was so great getting back together! We flew to Philly and then to Las Vegas and had quite the adventure getting groceries for the week.
On Tuesday, the convention began! The cohort attended FAST, the Future Agriscience Teacher Symposium. During this session, we learned about how to have meaningful conversations, how to incorporate inquiry in the classroom, and about how important IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and access) is in our future agriscience classrooms. At the end of the day, we got to eat at Flaming Fajitas and Reflect about the characteristics an effective educator and how our perspective has changed throughout the semester. On Wednesday, we attended the first NAAE general session, where we were introduced to the board, special guests, and NAAE's delegate process. The main event of the general session was watching people from all over the country receive awards for Outstanding Teacher, Outstanding Early Career Teacher, Outstanding Middle/Secondary Ag Program, and Outstanding Postsecondary Ag Program. It was an honor to be recognized as a preservice member of the association, and to receive a standing ovation from the crowd. Also on Wednesday, we attended our regional meeting, where we were introduced to so many Ag teachers from the 15 states in our region. Specifically, I enjoyed networking with Maryland's AEE Coordinator and talking about their Master's Program. Finally, we finished our day with two professional development sessions of our choosing. I chose the Crossbred Cow Lab and No Regrets: How to Balance Your Professional and Personal Life. These sessions were so great, I learned some cool games to play with students about how crossbreeding will effect cow's offspring and about how planning is key to a happy and successful life. Getting to hear about how planning was so key in everyone's life really made me smile, and clutch my planner a little closer.
On Thursday, we started with the ACTE General Session, where we heard from a variety of ACTE staff and learned more about the ins and outs of their organization. Afterward, we explored the Expo and Cowboy Christmas, both that were so vast and so much to take in. I was blessed with some great teaching resources, and got catalogs for some amazing animal science models, like the Calf Simulator and and the Bovine Breeder AI Simulator. Next, we attended the NAAE awards luncheon where I was able to sit and talk with Chris Davis, who serves the Pennsylvania Department of Education as a Specialized CTE Advisor. It was so great hearing about his college career, and thinking of the all the places that Penn State Ag Ed can take us. We continued our day with another three professional development sessions. I chose to attend a session on Nearpods, which I know my Cooperating Center uses regularly, a session on Small Gas Engines, where we discussed how air flow affects fuel systems, and a session on creative foldables to have students make in the classroom. Finally, to end the night, we attended the National Finals Rodeo! It was an amazing experience seeing some really talented athletes do what they do best!
On Friday, our last full day in Vegas, we began with the Region Six meeting. Dr. Robin McLean announced Mr. Aaron Geiman as the new NAAE Region Six Vice President, and the group discussed when and how to host this year's regional meeting. It was fun to watch both Dr. Foster and my cohort members interjecting about the Parliamentary Procedures of the meeting. Next, we attended our final portion of our FAST programing where we learned some excellent interview and first job tips as future Agricultural Educators. One of my favorite portions of the FAST programing was when they invited in a panel of five Ag Teachers with a variety of experience levels to speak with us and answer our questions. Each of these teachers had great wisdom to share with us about everything from making friends with other faculty in your building to the kind of relationship you should have with you co-teachers. To finish the day we attended the NAAE closing General Session. It was great to see NAAE give awards to spouses for their support in their significant others' time in the organization. This truly showed how much of a family this profession really is. Afterward, we traveled to try Korean BBQ for the first time!
In conclusion, this trip was so great with so many networking opportunities, as well as so many new experiences. It was a great way to start the conclusion of the Fall of my Senior year, with so much new insight and additions to my "why", learning from some of the best Agricultural Educators in the country!
Here's to Part of the Whole Tree,
Ms. Holtry
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