Alittle something about me!

Welcome!

Welcome to my crazy beautiful life! My name is Michaela Gerhart and I’m excited to start my journey of becoming an agricultural educator and share my experiences on this blog. Currently, I am a junior at Penn State studying Agricultural and Extension Education with a minor in Horticulture. While at Penn State I am involved in Delta Theta Sigma fraternity and currently serve as the sister president. As I embark on my journey of preparing to student teach in spring 2022, I’ll be sharing all of my experiences with you! But first, let me introduce myself.

 

My family 

 

I grew up in a small town in Chester County PA called Honey Brook. I’ve lived in the same house my whole entire life.  It sits at the top of a mountain located directly above the tricounty line of Berks, Chester, and Lancaster County. My parents are Kim and Mike; both my parents are business owners. My mom owns her own accounting and tax business, and my dad owns a Matco Tools franchise. I also have two older brothers Kyle and Evan. Kyle is a sound engineer that tours with bands and Evan is in business with my dad. I also own a corgi named Isa and yes, she is my dog. I got her when I was a senior in high school and she got to come to high school with me every day. I also have a supportive boyfriend named Matt that is in the ROTC program - he will be graduating from Penn State this May to start his journey of being an Army officer. 

 

Why Ag Edu?

 

My agricultural journey started when I was a freshman in high school enrolled in my school’s introduction to agriculture class. I have always known about our school’s Ag program because my older brothers were both involved in the FFA, but it was finally my time to experience it. 

 

I remember the first week of class walking up to my Ag teacher and telling him that I was going to join the FFA and one day I would be president. During my time in high school, I fell in love with the Ag program and FFA, and I took every class that I could.  Most of my school days were spent in the Ag wing. Even though I loved Ag, I still thought that I wanted to major in Marine Biology - I couldn’t have been more wrong. My ag teacher kept telling me that I myself would be a great ag teacher and that I should look into it. Of course, as a high schooler, I hated the idea because I never wanted to teach kids that were like my classmates.

 I eventually gave in and decided that teaching was something I could be good at and that I actually loved teaching and helping others. As my parents would say, “Mr. Dietrich groomed you to be an ag teacher without you even knowing it.” As I look back my parents couldn’t be more correct... Mr. Dietrich often pushed me to do activities and tasks that I didn’t want to do but I was good at. Eventually, he took me as his student intern and allowed me to teach his class and get a taste of what being a teacher meant. 

 

Overall, I am extremely grateful for the opportunities that I had in high school and also for my Ag teacher that made me realize the potential that I had. So why did I choose Ag Education? I chose it because I want to give students the same opportunities that I was given and help students find their passion in life - hopefully, one that includes agriculture!