Visiting Another Cooperating Center

One of the more fascinating aspects of student teaching is getting to hear about the perspectives of the other student teachers in my cohort at Penn State. Our group of eight pre-service teachers spent two whole semesters together taking classes in preparation for student teaching. Starting in January, we split up across Pennsylvania to head to our cooperating centers. It's a challenging thing in many ways to  be so far away from the group of people you prepared alongside for this experience, but it is a special thing to have the chance to learn from my peers and their unique experiences alongside my learning here at Athens.

One fun assignment given to us during our student teaching semester is to take a day to visit one other student teacher at their cooperating center. For my visit, I chose to visit Celia Graef at Derry Area High School in Westmoreland County. Derry Area High School is about an hour east of Pittsburgh, and it was about a four hour drive down from Athens. I got to drive almost clear across PA for the visit!

I had heard incredible things about the agricultural education program - and especially the facilities - at Derry, but I was grateful for the chance to see it for myself. Derry is home to the largest school greenhouse in the state, and it is truly jaw-dropping to see. It was so cool to see the greenhouse full of flowers, herbs, hanging baskets, and more in preparation for the springtime. The Derry FFA Chapter even operates their own floral business - the Trojan Florist - selling floral arrangements, corsages/boutonnieres, and more to customers in the local community.


 In addition to their horticultural/floral facilities, the school also has a section of woods on the property that allows them to engage in some incredible environmental and natural resources lessons.

It was also neat to be able to observe another student teacher in action. Ms. Graef did a phenomenal job teaching her students in engaging lessons and activities. I watched as an Animal Science course did a lab on dry matter of feedstuffs, observed a Floral classes learning about the significance of flower species, and saw a Environmental and Natural Resources course working to present on tree species they had researched. Students spoke with pride about their skills in arranging flowers, tapping trees and making maple syrup, and more. Celia is a remarkable teacher who will do tremendous things for her future students. I also got to observe the chapter preparing for their upcoming FFA Auction the next day. There was no shortage of activity and involvement in the Derry FFA chapter, and it was clear both Celia and her cooperating teacher Ms. Carly Rippole advise a powerhouse of a program.

Having the chance to see another cooperating center only gave me more cool ideas to take back to my own work at Athens. I'm continually reminded of the many high quality agricultural education programs across our state, and feel grateful to be part of an agricultural education family that works hard to make a positive difference in the lives of students. We need it now more than ever before!



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