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Brandon Bixler – Agriculture Education Internship

My name is Brandon Bixler, and I am a student intern at Pequea Valley High School in Kinzers, PA. I intern in the agriculture education department at the high school, where I work with both agricultural education facilitators and FFA advisors at Pequea Valley.  Mr. Masser and Mrs. VanSant have both graduated from Penn State University’s agriculture and extension education program and have both taught at Pequea Valley for several years. My internship takes place during the fourth block at Garden Spot High School, which allows me to be at Pequea Valley for sixth and seventh periods. During the sixth period, Mr. Masser teaches a Power Technology (Power Tech) course that focuses on small gas engines, and Mrs. VanSant teaches Biological Studies in Agriculture Science (Ag Bio). During the seventh period, Mr. Masser co-teaches an Advanced Research course with a biology teacher at the high school, and Mrs. VanSant has a free period. Often, I will stay for a short time after the school day ends to complete certain tasks or talk with the teachers. This type of internship is brand new to Pequea Valley, and the teachers and I are very excited at the new opportunities this type of partnership can foster.

During my internship, I perform many different duties and have established daily routines, but no day is ever the same when you are an ag teacher! Once checked-in through the main office, I typically travel to either the agriculture department or the upstairs Ag Bio room to observe a sixth-period class. I pick which course to attend each day based on course content for the day and try to split my time evenly between both courses. Mr. Masser teaches Power Tech in the agriculture department, which utilizes both the classroom and attached mechanics shop. During Power Tech, I typically observe Mr. Masser teaching in the classroom and then go out of the shop when the students do when they work on engines. I do not have my own engine to work on, but I am able to observe the students working on their engines and watch how Mr. Masser conducts the course with the shop component. On the other days, I observe Mrs. VanSant teach Ag Bio, which has two class sections that alternate with the sophomore PE course. The class is made of all tenth graders, and they learn lessons in science that have a basic agricultural focus. I will often help to hand out papers or answer any questions I can from the students. After observing either course, I go to the ag department and have time to work on assignments for my internship, as Mrs. VanSant has a preparation period and Mr. Masser has one student in his Advanced Research course. I often will casually observe the research course and talk to the teachers and student, which has helped me gain a helpful perspective. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the high school has a special schedule in which school finishes early, and then there is time for clubs and classroom remediation. On these days, I observe the seventh period and then help at the Pequea Valley FFA chapter meeting, middle school ag club, or work independently depending on what is going on during the different schedule. After the school day at Pequea Valley is over, I will often wrap up any of the day’s assignments and finish any necessary planning with the teachers. In addition to my duties at Pequea Valley, I also teach Middle School Ag Club every Wednesday at Garden Spot High School. I am tasked with planning and teaching the lessons alongside Alex O’Neill, who has a similar internship to mine.

Beyond the daily routines, there are several larger projects and goals I am working at through my internship. Firstly, I am tasked with developing a practice plan for a Career Development Event (CDE) through FFA. FFA is an organization that extends classroom learning by preparing students for personal growth, premier leadership, and career success through agricultural education. I will be preparing materials to coach a Horse Judging team at Pequea Valley and help to prepare the students for the PA Eastern Fall Regional contests in mid-November. In addition, I will be doing an AgriScience Fair research project that will allow me to practice doing research and explore an agricultural topic I have interest in to compete in the State AgriScience Fair. I am currently researching possible topics to determine what I will be researching for my overall project. Also, both Grassland FFA at Garden Spot High School and Pequea Valley FFA need new bylaws, which help guide the organizations. I will be tasked with writing bylaws for both chapters during my internship. I will also need to attend FFA events outside of class time and a visit to a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project, a component of FFA. Currently, I am working at developing lesson plans to teach a mini-lesson on dissecting owl pellets to middle schoolers at Pequea Valley and starting to decide what I will teach my full lesson on in Mrs. VanSant’s Ag Bio course. At the end of my internship, I will be applying for the PA FFA State Proficiency in Agriculture Education, which is an award to showcase an outstanding project. I feel my project will allow me to be competitive when applying for this award, and I look forward to the responsibilities and opportunities my internship gives me.

Overall, my internship up to this point has been a tremendous experience. I have enjoyed the work I have done with both Mr. Masser and Mrs. VanSant and have learned a lot about what it feels like to be “across the desk”. I have learned a lot through my times of observation and have really enjoyed seeing another agriculture education program first-hand. It has been very eye-opening to see the shop class in Power Tech because Garden Spot’s ag program does not have a mechanics component. The only challenges I have faced during this process have been connecting with the students and feel comfortable interacting with them. It makes for an interesting dynamic when I am the same age as they are but am still supposed to be an authoritative figure, but I am hoping that throughout the rest of the internship this gap becomes easier to bridge. By doing this internship, I have been able to further solidify my career goals as I hope to become a high school ag teacher and obtain a degree in Agriculture and Extension Education from Penn State University. I have also been able to think of areas to expand this career beyond the classroom and combine it with my passion for helping others. Someday, I hope to have the opportunity to possibly use my skills to teach people in a third-world country agricultural knowledge that can help them become self-sustainable, and I would love to have short-term missions work be a part of my future using this knowledge. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this internship experience and look forward to accomplishing the rest of my goals and responsibilities.