Eastern Regional PAAE Meeting

I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Eastern Region PAAE (Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators) meeting. Mr. Haussener was kind enough to drive me down so we weren't wasting gas.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I got there. I knew I would know some of the teachers but I was still nervous. Dr. Ewing was there as well and he did give a blurb on us student teachers. It was nice that teachers knew who I was at that point. Generally, they know everybody. It's kind of a big community but really it's a small world. A couple teachers approached me and asked me how student teaching was going. I really appreciated the fact that they cared.

It was a lot of talk on things that I didn't fully understand. It wasn't something that I see everyday so I was a little lost at times. A big talking point was the budget and finances. Now that kind of makes sense to me! This all applies to my life/career even if it doesn't seem like it does at the moment.

State Activities week was also discussed. They talked about where exactly on campus it was going to be held as well as some finances involved with that too. A few teachers talked on CDEs that they are in charge of and encouraged the other teachers to get their students involved in the "lesser known" CDEs.

Overall, this was a beneficial night in that I was able to see the professional networking side of teaching. It was nice to see region wide teachers all in one place. It wasn't just business talk all night. Of course, there were times for eating and talking about things other than teaching!