The Korea Room - Studying Abroad at Governor's School

This year during the Pennsylvania Governor's School, hosted at Penn State University, we had the opportunity do offer a week-long course on Global Agriculture.  The week focused on sharing opportunities in Agriculture across the globe with 27 stellar high school students.  Throughout the week students learned a traditional Malaysian agricultural dance, experienced Indian cuisine, and learned about just how far their food travels from field to place.

Students experiencing traditional Korean Hanbok

In addition to these activities, the Governor's School students had the chance to engage in their first study abroad! With their own Governor's School passports in hand, our students traveled to the Korea House to learn  about six different aspects of Korean culture, all of which we experienced first-hand while on our #AgEd2Korea adventure just a few weeks ago.

It was incredible to see our students so involved in each different station; some students were really competitive at the "Chopstick Challenge" and others were so focused on decoding our Hangul message.  Though some of our students had been to other parts of the world, for many this was their introduction to cultures other than our own.

I believe we provided a positive and memorable first experience in International Agriculture, not only with the Korea House, but with each lesson over the course of the entire week.  Each of our students had a taste of what it was like to study abroad and I am confident that they will each enter the global age of agriculture hungry for knowledge of other cultures and prepared to be those positive agents of change.

However, the students weren't the only ones who benefited from this lesson.  For the six 2015 student teachers that contributed to the lesson, this was great practice for sharing our experiences in our future classroom.  All of the brainpower and hard work that went into creating the Korea Room really challenged us to develop a way of sharing the importance of our journey that impacted each student and allowed them to take part in the experience as well.  Though they may not remember just how kimchi is fermented or how to write their name in Hangul, they will always recall that one time when those crazy Penn State people got all pumped about agriculture in other countries.  And maybe, just maybe, our enthusiasm and our stories will inspire those students to take their own global journey.

Want to check out the Korea House? Click on the video below to get a glimpse of our study abroad!