Plant Yourself in Ag Day 2025

Held in conjunction with National Teach Ag Day, this program also serves as a capstone experience for Agricultural and Extension Education (AEE) undergraduate students who gain firsthand experience in planning and delivering ag education programming.

This all-day event showcases Penn State's cutting-edge agricultural research and provides School-Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) students and their teachers with opportunities to explore career across agricultural sciences, technology, and environmental stewardship.

2025 Goals and Expansion

Following the strong success of our 2024 pilot, we worked to scale our impact in 2025:

• Target 200+ SBAE high school students (up from 100 in 2024)
  We reached 175 youth and their teachers and chaperones from 12 regional school
• Include 13 AEE pre-service teachers (up from 6)
• Recruit 10+ Penn State research-based teams presenting (up from 3)
  Our call for participation identified faculty PIs from University Park and Biglerville representing domains across the College of Agricultural Sciences. Additionally one workshop was led by graduate students, and another by Farm Managers.
• More interactive stations, farm tours, science demonstrations, and bigger career and college expo
  The Career Expo included RAC presenters, many who brought student representatives, as well as Penn State Libraries and the Friends of Farm Show Foundation

Value for Stakeholders

This initiative meets the shared priorities of Penn State, agricultural industry stakeholders, sponsors, and secondary educators by:

• Supporting teacher training and workforce development
• Creating direct connections between students and industry professionals
• Fostering excitement for agriculture as a modern, STEM-rich career field
• Providing a learning laboratory for preservice teachers in the undergraduate AEE program
• Mentoring graduate students as they translate their science for diverse audiences, fostering the development of the impact identity of research scientists
• Creating program infrastructure for researchers to include in their research impact portfolio

Event Coordination

• 11 PIs and 29 graduate students partnered with 13 AEE seniors to create and deliver programmatic content
• 28 undergraduate AEE students provided programmatic support and logistics
• 175 students from 12 regional high schools attended
• 9 academic departments from College of Agricultural Sciences participated in the Expo

Sponsors

The program is made possible by the generous time, in-kind gifts and financial support from the following:

• Research labs from across the College of Agricultural Sciences
• College of Agricultural Sciences Office of Undergraduate Education
• Recruiting and Advising Committee (RAC) of the College of Agricultural Sciences
• Office of the Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences
• Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center
• Center for Professional Personnel Development
• Pasto Agricultural Museum
• John Deere LandPro
• Friends of Farm Show Foundation
• Pennsylvania FFA Alumni and Supporters
• Penn State University Libraries

Preparations

Work begins months in advance, recruiting presenters and building capacity. We held online training for research scientists, completed coursework for undergraduate AEE pre-service teachers, brought presenter teams together in August, and held online training for undergraduate volunteers in early September. 

Research Translation Workshop for PIs and graduate students 08/05/2025 online; speakers included Gretta Tritch Roman, Daniel Foster, Kathy Hill, Kevin Curry, Beth Mathie

AEE Bootcamp 08/22/2025: PIs, graduate students and AEE undergrad pre-service educators refined lesson plans and activities

Presenters at Plant Yourself in Ag Day 2025

View a listing of presenters and presentations.

Photos from Plant Yourself in Ag Day 2025

View a gallery of photos from Plant Yourself in Ag Day 2025.