We offer educational activities to help inform our own members, grade school students, prospective students, and other students on our campus. These opportunities give us the chance to take leadership roles as well as to learn and expand our horizons.
Little International
2017- The 100th Little I has come to a close with lots of success for all members involved. Members had a great few weeks of working with their beef heifers, sheep, pigs, and horses with all their hardwork culminating in a fantastic show on April 8th. Shelby Dean was our overall champion showman with Chad Hamilton as our overall reserve champion showman. Congrats to all the members who participated and thank you to all the alumni who came to support our club!
Philadelphia Zoo Trip
Each year a number of members travel to the Philadelphia Zoo. A program within the club, Blood for Bats, is the main stimulus for the zoo trip. Blood for Bats provides bovine blood from the Penn State Meats Laboratory to the zoo's vampire bat collection. Upon this year's arrival at the zoo, members made their way to the Small Mammal House where they watched keepers feed the vampire bats in small pans. The keeper explained that the high quality of blood provided by our club keeps food intake and health at an optimum for the bat colony. On the trip, members could also experience a behind the scenes look at other exhibits in the zoo. The trip is always a great time for the members who attend!
Ag Day 2017
Ag Day strives to teach others both in the college and community about agriculture and all of the options in the College of Ag. This year Block and Bridle hosted their own stand about what beef cows are fed, and also helped Collegiate Cattlewomen supervise the sheep and pig exhibit.
Mare/Foal Groomings
During several sessions, students go out to the Penn State Horse Barns and help to groom all of the horses before winter sets in. This is an impossible task for the workers of the barns, because with daily chores attentive grooming is impossible. This year in four nights Block and Bridle groomed all of Penn State's brood mares, yearlings, and two-year olds.
Spring Judging Contest
The Spring Judging Contest is held at the Snider Ag Arena at Penn State. This opportunity allows youth to engage in an educational experience by evaluating various species of livestock including cattle, swine, and sheep. The contest allows 4-H and FFA youth to expand their knowledge, sharpen their skills on making a quick and definite decision and then having the opportunity or chance to explain and defend the decision they make. The competitors within the contest include Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Collegiate. The youth have a wide variety of livestock classes to evaluate. Many Block and Bridle members were of assistance with helping hands in order to make the contest run smoothly and ensure that each of our contestants had a positive experience throughout the contest.
Meet a Farm Animal Day
Elementary school students from around the State College area came and visited us at the Snider Ag Arena to learn more about farm animals. They got to learn about sheep, cows, and horses, and got to also meet with Penn State's Dairy Princess. Members worked each station and directly interacted with students to teach them all about farm animals.
Parents Weekend
Members manned a booth during the college of agricultural sciences annual parents weekend in the fall. Here they answered questions and promoted the club to visiting parents.
Prospective Student Open House
Every fall the Department of Dairy and Animal Sciences hosts a Prospective Student Open House in which high school students from across the state come to Penn State University. They spend a night with a current student in order to see what college life is like. After they are dropped off at the Ag Arena on a Wednesday night, college students from different clubs greet them, play games, and enjoy some pizza. The college students take their student back to their dorm where the high school students spend the night in a possible future housing situation for their college career. In the morning, the high school students attend classes and receive tours of Penn State. This is an important recruiting event for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Block and Bridle club members help to organize the event and find hosts for all of the prospective students. This is a great way to meet new people and is important for the future membership of the club.
College Club Fair
Every year the College of Agricultural Sciences holds a Club Fair on the lawn between the Creamery and the ASI building on campus. Several members from Block and Bridle represent the club and attend to the display. They field questions and comments from freshmen and transfer students about joining the club.
Keystone International Livestock Exposition (KILE)
The Keystone International Livestock Exposition Intercollegiate and Junior Livestock Judging Contest is held each year in the fall at the Harrisburg Farm Show Complex. Whether club members are running cards, scoring, or helping round up the animals for the classes, it is always the effort of the club members that makes everything run so smoothly.
AgLive Tailgate
Block and Bridle participated in the College of Agriculture Science’s Alumni Tailgate this year by having members staff our display and share with alumni the current happenings of the club. The club’s most recent scrapbook and yearbook were made available for alumni to view. Members who participated enjoyed socializing with alumni and enjoyed a tasty meal!
Meat-In Day
The 11th annual Meat-In Day was held in front of the Palmer Art's Museum and Findlay Dining Commons in East Halls, two areas of diverse and large crowds at Penn State. It all came together for another successful day of promoting animal agriculture. On March 22nd, about 175 students from the College of Agriculture Sciences donned their "WTF: Where's the Food Without the Farmer?" 2017 Meat In Day T-shirts to show their support around the campus. Members of four major college student organizations came to help with the event that established as a proactive response to the Great American Meat-out Day. This year’s festivities were entrusted to the capable hands of Jordan Sommer and Sam Gollmer, members of Collegiate Cattlewomen and Block and Bridle. Students passed out 1,000 cheese sticks, 1,500 packs of Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna, 1,200 pork sticks and 200 pieces of beef jerky at the Palmer Art Museum in the afternoon as well as in the dining commons in the evening. Students passed out 3,000 educational flyers with each product stating the benefits of eating a few of the different animal commodities we consume on a daily basis as well. The infamous Patty Melt was there for promotions as well. This event has received much national recognition for the event, having articles featured in readings such as Lancaster Farming and Farmer's Friend.
