Self Introduction: Sarah, Agriscience Teacher - Nonnewaug High School

Hi Everyone, I'm Sarah.  I am in my 6th year teaching agricultural education in Connecticut, and have taught a variety of courses ranging from introductory freshmen classes, to upper level Ag Business and Animal Science classes.  Currently I am teaching a new curriculum for a class I created called "Local Food Production" and I am very excited about it!  We have a hydroponic greenhouse at school and a Food For All Garden which we use in conjunction with class.  I love coaching Parliamentary Procedure, and generally getting kids super excited about the FFA!  I had the fortunate opportunity to serve as a chapter FFA officer and State FFA Officer for Connecticut, and thus my passion for agricultural education was solidified.  In addition to all the cool things I get to do at school, I really like drawing, painting, needle felting, gardening, making maple syrup, learning new things, and traveling! I grew up as a Navy Brat, so the opportunity to see new places is always exciting to me.  I have had a great year traveling across the United States for various Ag Ed conferences, workshops, and conventions, so it has sort of been a banner year for me in terms of travel and learning.  I was really stunned at the opportunity to go to Korea and study agricultural education, something I never even thought possible!

I am really looking forward to learning what ag teachers in Korea do to promote student success.  I am also extremely curious to see how FFK functions and how they get their students motivated to be involved with their student leadership.  While at National FFA Convention in Kentucky this past fall, my Parli Pro team got to meet members of the Future Farmers of Japan while we were waiting to compete.  I was so excited and so were my students, we didn't even care what the outcome of our competition was!  The kids had a great time interacting with the FFJ members, and we got tons of pictures.  Seeing their enthusiasm for meeting kids with similar interests from around the world helped to reinvigorate my passion for ag ed.  Sometimes it is easy to get bogged down in the day to day activities of education, particularly when we have been slammed with about 5 different new initiatives in one year, but it is always refreshing to be reminded of why we love what we do.  I am looking forward to the experience of learning alongside other ag teachers, and preservice teachers and sharing in the collective excitement...it seems to be contagious!