Thomas Gabel: At the Intersection of Ag and Education

Name: Thomas Gabel

Preferred Pronouns: He/His

Hometown & Current Town: Newport, PA/State College, PA

Graduation Year: BS 2022

Major: BS Agricultural and Extension Education

Current Professional Title: GTAN Program Manager

Name of Employer: Global Teach Ag Network (GTAN) at Penn State

Brief Description of Your Role/Profession: The Global Teach Ag Network focuses on educator professional development, starting with Pennsylvania educators, and continuing out to other U.S. educators and educators around the globe. We do that in a variety of different ways and my role is to make sure all those different programs are running smoothly. We have our digital community of educators, which includes about 1,700 educators from 61 different countries. I make sure that it's up to date, answer questions, and provide ways for educators to connect. My responsibilities also include our in-person and hybrid programs. One example is our Teach Ag Uganda experience in July, as I help with logistics of that trip. I also work with our partner communication efforts and supervise our internship program.

Why did you choose Penn State?

Penn State seemed like the only option. My parents went to Penn State and my older sister went to Penn State. I had other family members who attended. It didn't really dawn on me that there were other options until they started emailing me. As I explored online, Penn State still made the most sense. When I was a FFA member in high school, I met faculty in the program I ended up pursuing. This was one of the top programs in the nation for this degree. This felt like a place I could call home, and it felt like a family.

What inspired you to pursue your degree?

My family inspired me. They wanted me to go to college. The question then became what would be my degree of study. What sparked my passion for agricultural education was different teachers investing in me. One of them was my middle school science teacher, Mr. McConnell. I lacked confidence up to that point. He taught using a lot of inquiry and projects that challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone. He made comments at the parent/teacher conferences that he saw leadership skills in me and that I'd really stepped up in the classroom. My parents were surprised to hear that at that time. That was a big turning point for me. I always enjoyed learning but realized I enjoyed coming alongside other people in that too.

When I got to high school, I was taking agriculture classes and had grown up on a farm and decided to merge the two. I had this ag background and a passion for teaching. This was reinforced through my year as a Pennsylvania FFA State Officer. Then meeting the faculty here solidified my desire to pursue agricultural education and invest in students and teachers.

What clubs were you involved in or leadership roles did you have?

The main club that I was involved in as a student has gone through some name changes, but it was LEAD Society at the time. LEAD standing for Literacy, Education, and Agricultural Development. I was an officer in that organization for three years, including two as President. That was fun because it was a mixture of students in the agricultural and extension education major and other students in the college with a passion for investing in and educating others.

I was an intern with the Global Teach Ag Network all four years of my undergrad. That led me, after graduating, to come back first part-time, then as their first full-time staff hire. It's a fun role to be in. In my internship, I got to start some programs that are still active today. One of those was the GTANjr program. We created online digital modules for teachers to use with their students. An example of that is, "What is Food Security?" We developed the content, made a digital notebook, and a badge for students to get and then teachers could use it for their students. I was one of the interns who started that and now I'm overseeing the intern program and they're updating my work and developing new modules.

Additionally, I served as a Teach Ag Avenger, a podcast host for the TeachAgTalks podcast focused on agricultural education and was a member of Coaly Society and Gamma Sigma Delta.

Outside of the college, I was also a student leader with Cedar Heights Church and their student organization. In my spare time – I worked and volunteered as a facilitator for both the National FFA Organization and Pennsylvania FFA Association.

What is a favorite Penn State memory?

Within my major, the last semester is student teaching. I was placed at Elizabethtown Area High School and got to teach there for 15 weeks. The last day of student teaching was a really bittersweet day. Students in my equine science class surprised me with a card and cupcakes. The greenhouse management course also had a celebration for me. It was a sweet culmination of a bunch of different experiences that helped make me a better teacher. It was cool to celebrate 15 weeks teaching in a classroom and see the impact I had in what’s actually a short period of time. It gave me greater appreciation for the teachers doing that every day all year.

How has your Penn State education influenced your career so far?

I had a friend in a different field ask me when the last time was I used something from my undergrad in my work. The answer is daily. While I'm not in the classroom right now, I'm working on professional development for teachers doing that work every single day. They're my stakeholder group. I have to understand how they’re teaching because if we develop a resource that’s not aligned to how they're going to teach, it’s not helpful.

We're in a time where there’s a nationwide teacher shortage overall including agricultural education. Looking at my Penn State education, I couldn't imagine stepping into a classroom without having that coursework and dedicated time with professors, including one-on-one coaching through lesson plans to make sure I understood essential elements of instructional design.

What are one or two of your proudest accomplishments in which your Penn State education played a role?

One of those is the Global Teach Ag Network intern program. I got to be an intern myself, but when I came back after graduation to join the GTAN team, I said I wanted to take the internship program to the next level. It's been reformatted where each intern gets to pick their own project they get to focus 30 percent of their time on, with the rest focused on overarching GTAN projects. It's been so cool to see the success of some of our past and current interns. It means a lot to see that.

The other piece that blows my mind sometimes is the rooms I get to be in and the conversations I get to be a part of this early in my career. I work with Dr. Foster and Dr. Miller-Foster, and they are so well established in their fields. Working alongside them, for example, I'm in Zoom meetings with representatives from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where we're talking about how GTAN's work intersects with the FAO's work, specifically the World Food Forum.

I look back at my high school self and I wonder if I ever thought I'd be in this role having these conversations. I never would've thought this was where I'd be. I'm doing meaningful work and I'm getting to be part of these connections and conversations that are leading toward positive programs for teachers.

What do you hope to accomplish as you move forward in your career?

I hope to be somewhere where I can continue to invest in people in relation to agriculture in some way. I love teaching. I think agriculture is one of the most important intersections for that. Where's our food production coming from? What does the utilization of our energy and natural resources look like?

When I talk about it with Dr. Foster, we talk about whether that may mean going into the classroom? Or does it mean doing work similar to a different hat that I wear currently as the Executive Secretary for the Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators and working on the programmatic and professional development side for Pennsylvania teachers? Or does it look like pursuing a graduate program to lean more into global agriculture?

I don't know yet. I love what I’m doing right now, but I'm exploring what I can do in the future too. I want to be set up so that there's an avenue to continue to invest in others.  

What was the best advice you've ever received?

To be present. This is one that came from a mentor. I always like to look at the next thing to do, which helps me in my work because it keeps me going and going. But when I do that, I sometimes miss the people sitting around me or getting to celebrate the accomplishments we have. That's also helped me in my personal life too. It helps to slow down, take a breather, reflect on what happened, and then go onto the next thing.

What collegiate advice or professional development tip would you give to a current student?

The piece of advice I'd give to a current student would be to not assume "no" on someone else's behalf. What I mean by that is sometimes you dream about an experience or internship you'd love to have but you don't see a path forward. It can be hard to reach out to a faculty or staff member to ask a question about what you want to do.

I had an undergrad in our program who had not spent a lot out time outside of Pennsylvania. They knew of someone who went to Wyoming to work on a dude ranch for the summer and expressed an interest in doing that before going on to teach. I told her I had connections and asked if I should reach out to them, and she agreed. A few weeks later she had an interview to go out there to work at a ranch. Reflecting on it after she got the offer, she said that she was kind of joking when she mentioned it to me because she thought it wouldn't be possible. But I tried to impress upon her that you don't know the answer until you ask. Don't assume the answer is no.

Why are you proud to be a Penn State Ag Sciences alum?

I'm proud to be an Ag Science alumnus because even in my current role, I see the interconnectedness of the college. I've been able to visit other universities and see how they operate, and they do a phenomenal job. However, there's something different about the Penn State College of Ag Sciences. People care deeply, invest in one another and celebrate each other. That's the biggest pride point. Whether it's current students or alumni, people want to support one another. I've certainly felt that as an undergrad and still do as a staff member now.