Ag Ed Society closes out a banner semester

by Annette Jenkins, posted Nov. 24, 2009

Ag Ed Society is seeing changes from last year, including an increase in members and participation. A prime example of this is that the Agricultural Education Society (AES) won first place in the CAFNR Week organization competition.

Like many other clubs, AES offers a place for freshmen to feel included and involved.

Ally Bettels, an agricultural education freshman, said AES helped him feel at home on the MU campus.

“It has been a great experience as a freshman,” Bettels said. “They are very welcoming and also provide you with a mentor that you can to go to about anything and everything.”

AES is also enjoyed by others who have been around a little longer.

Kelin Kruse, an agricultural education senior has been in the club for two years now.

“We have a wide variety of activities,” Kruse said. “We have both professional and social meetings. Professional meetings include guest speakers from both the agriculture classroom and the agriculture industry.  Social meetings have included barbecues, wiffle ball, guitar hero, and pumpkin carving contests. We also work to educate others about agriculture by having ‘ag in the classroom’ in elementary classrooms. Other community events include adopting a family at Christmas.”

Katie King, Ag Ed Society president, was excited about the club winning CAFNR Week.

“I think after we won mud volleyball and the road rally, it really hit us that we could win CAFNR Week,” King said.

The Ag Ed Society is usually a smaller club, but with member involvement up this year, winning seemed possible.

“We worked hard to do our best and make sure everyone had fun,” King said. “It is nice to know that smaller groups can still win and succeed in CAFNR Week. Sometimes when you are a smaller organization it is discouraging, but we hope we proved to every small club that we CAN do it!”

Rob Terry, AES adviser and ag education professor, was proud of the club.

“Most importantly, I know they had a great time participating in the events.  Winning the points competition is just icing on the cake,” Terry said.

Terry has been adviser for AES for five years, and loves being part of this club.

“We’re all former high school agriculture teachers and we enjoy working with our students,” Terry said. “AES is another opportunity for us to interact, teach and help provide professional development to them. Besides, they’re a terrific group of young people, and we find their activities to be fun.”

Ashli Weinrich, an agricultural education senior, describes how AES is different from other clubs on campus.

“Ag Ed Society is different from other clubs because it is solely focused on ag ed majors, which gives us a unique bond with each other,” Weinrich said. “We host professional events that can focus on the things that will affect us in the future, like having an Ag Ed major that is now a high school ag teacher, and an ag ed major that went into an industry job come in and talked to us about how things are going, and how they decided to accept their current positions.”

AES takes part in many community service projects and activities, such as agricultural literacy educational programs, the annual CAFNR Boy Scout Merit Badge Center, the Invitational FFA Leadership Career Development Event Practice Contest helping FFA members prepare for district and state events, and other service activities for the State FFA Association along with local FFA chapters.

Bettels, Kruse, and Weinrich all believe that AES is something everyone should get involved in.

“I would encourage every ag ed major to join, because it is a great place to interact with your peers that have the same interest and career goals as you do, as well as getting to know the faculty and staff that you work with on a daily basis,” Weinrich said. “I have gained some amazing friendships that will last a lifetime.”

AES meets in Gentry Hall at 6 p.m. every other Thursday, the club is not exclusive to agricultural education majors.

“Typically you are an Ag Ed major but it’s open to those who may be looking for a major or needing something different,” King said.

To get more information on the Ag Ed Society, contact Katie King at lkktf3@mail.missouri.edu or Professor Terry at robterry@missouri.edu

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