Hello, everyone! My name is Emily Jay and I grew up in Perry County, Pennsylvania. From an early age, I was surrounded by amazing, supportive family: my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and eventually my younger sister. They were always teaching my sister and I everything we know today about God, love/compassion, working hard, servanthood, and our passion for agriculture through their own actions. All while living on a hill surrounded by my great-grandparents' vacant barn with open fields and the woods. What beautiful scenery! Every chance we got, we were outside, taking in God's beautiful creation. Gardening was the majority of the outside work, which I hated weeding (and still do). However, there was something about sowing and reaping the fruits of your harvest that was fulfilling. For example, picking mulberries was one highlight of our summer. Hunting was a family tradition (years later fishing would be a new hobby). Loving animals (especially our three cats), I spent a lot of time wondering what it was like for my great-grandparents to have their own beef cattle operation. Thus, my career choices back then were the same as many young kids all over America: to either be a teacher or work with animals, like a veterinarian. All of it making me who I am today and something that I am forever grateful for.
High School
Even though I grew up in the country with the woods, open fields, gardening, and cats, it was not until the eighth grade Vocational Agriculture course that I started to understand what agriculture truly was. Due to my career passions moving more towards veterinarian, this middle school course intrigued me and created a desire in me to register for agricultural courses at the high school for ninth grade.
This is truly where my Agricultural and Extension Education career journey began. It all started in my ninth grade agricultural class when the teachers were discussing to us about membership for the FFA. There was a brief discussion about what the FFA was and what their chapter did before handing out the membership forms to the students. Not sure if I wanted to join, I pondered the membership for a while, praying to God for guidance. Was this what God had intended for my life or not? A few days later, the teacher asked me about attending an FFA event called the Fall Leadership Conference (FLC) for freshmen members. Out of all the freshman students, the teachers only picked a handful of students to attend and I was one of them. The only catch was that I had to become an FFA member. Unsure with no answer to my prayer yet, I wanted one more day to discuss the event with my parents before agreeing to go. Little did I know, when I went to accept the offer the next day, that the decision was to be made the day that the teacher asked, which gave my position to another student. For reasons unbeknownst to me, I was upset when I found out that I was...too late. For someone not sure about joining the FFA, I sure was upset over the smallest thing. At least I had more time to pray and think about joining the FFA. Then, after a few days, the same teacher came up to me and again offered me the position to go to FLC, due to another student not being able to go. That, ladies and gentlemen, was the answer to my prayers that I needed! From there on, I knew that God was leading me towards the FFA for a reason.
From that answer, I was able to join the West Perry FFA Chapter and attend multiple events such as: FLC, State Legislative Leadership Conference (SLLC), State Convention, Mid-Winter Convention/Farm Show, Ag Progress Days, and the list goes on. I was also able to compete in many speaking competitions such as: Creed Speaking, Junior and Senior Prepared, Extemporaneous, and Parliamentary Procedure, which was something that this quiet, shy girl was afraid of doing. Later on, I became the Secretary in 2014-2015 and also Vice President in 2015-2016 for our chapter, helping create a better system for committee meetings and banquets. I also ended up starting my own rabbit business by showing, breeding, and selling Californian rabbits and working at Ashcombe's Greenhouse. Plus, I also decided to teach the middle school FFA club by myself to help continue this new middle school agricultural program for the second year in a row. FFA not only brought this introverted kid out of her shell, but helped her to find her passion within the FFA and agriculture.
It was here, going throughout my agricultural/FFA career and getting the middle schoolers excited about joining, that my career goals started to shift towards agricultural education. Instead of just teaching or working with animals, why not put the two together? Still, the misunderstood fact that becoming an agricultural teacher would mean having to teach out of the state made me start to reconsider this brief, new career thought. So much so that I was still just as confused/undecided about my career goals as I was when I was a kid.
Miracle Mountain Ranch
As a high school graduate, you are supposed to have your future figured out or at least your career. At least, that is what everyone thinks, but sometimes you just need to step back and give it some more time to come up with a decision before becoming thousands of dollars in debt with paying for college courses that you might not need. So, I embarked on an adventure that would change my life forever.
That was attending the School of Discipleship program at Miracle Mountain Ranch in Spring Creek, PA! This program is more adjacent to a gap-year (or two) program where students can grow deeper in their faith with God by taking Biblical courses and applying what you are learning through real hands-on experience by helping out your major with the retreats, winter camps, and summer camps. The course lasts from the beginning of September to the middle of August.
During this year (2016-2017), I became a barn major, where I was finally able to ride horses on a regular basis! We rode almost every day, even in the snow. (Boy, do I have some interesting stories about my time in the barn!) Not only were we taking riding lesson throughout the year to become better riders, but we were teaching those riding techniques to the retreaters and campers when we were wrangling trail rides and teaching horsemanship classes. Being able to put two of my passions, God and agriculture, together, I was beginning to smile like I did every time I taught the middle school FFA club. A smile that would not go away even if I tried.
My passion for teaching agriculture to students was back! Through this experience, I learned how hard it is to teach children of all ages information that might seem super simple to you, but is something that is hard for the student to grasp. Having to figure out several different analogies to describe the same task, like adding more leg pressure to the horse. Still, not breaking through until you use the same analogy for the hundredth time. Not only are you teaching children how to ride, but you are adding teachable moments (sharing with the class what God has been teaching you through horsemanship exploration aids and Scripture) while also ensuring their safety. Surprisingly, my most favorite moments of the summer camp were the difficult roadblocks that I had to overcome. For instance, one week of camp, I was assisting a horsemanship class and there was one boy in the class that was terrified to even be near his assigned horse. Using everything that I could think of from teachable moments to my own personal testimony and reassurance, I was able to gain this boy's trust and take him from just standing close to the horse to riding the horse under constant supervision in just the first lesson of the week. By the end of the week, he was riding the horse entirely by himself, super proud and excited to come back next year to ride more horses. I realized that you learn more in those difficult moments than you ever do when everything is going well. Watching that change is fulfilling, being able to help someone else reach the potential that you saw in them. It sticks with you forever! Therefore, creating a passion within me to help others reach their full potential and inspire others to find what they are passionate about (hopefully agriculture).
From 2017 to Now
Fast forward to after Miracle Mountain Ranch graduation, I came back home still concerned about a career in agricultural education. So, in the mean time, I started to work at Sheetz as I was looking and praying for career answers. I had applied to vet clinics for job opportunities to help make my career decision, but alas no positions were open. After a year went by, I decided to dip my toes into college life in order to find the answer. Fort Hays State University out of Kansas had wonderful online classes that I could take while still working at Sheetz.
Later on, one day at church, I prayed again for guidance to the answer to my career pathway. Only to think about in my head: agricultural education. At first, I laughed and thought of all the reasons that I might fail at it and then continued to listen to the sermon. Then, after the service, I will not forget what a family friend had told me. It was as simple as a conversation on where we wanted to eat lunch. Yet, no one could decide where to go. The family friends stated that you know sometimes the first thing that pops into your head is the only answer. At that comment, I realized that God did answer my prayers just as He did when I was trying to see if I should join the FFA. He used other people to provide the answer to me and in this case a simple comment about where to eat for lunch. Agricultural Education was the first thought in my head after that prayer; it was God's answer!
Overall, leading me to finish my Associates Degree in General Studies from Fort Hays State University and transferring to Pennsylvania State University to study Agricultural and Extension Education (the college of my dreams). I am currently in my junior year, participating in the once in a lifetime Global GOALs program. Through GOALs, I was able to travel to Iowa and learn more about the World Food Prize in order to take those lessons and teach a high school classroom in Glenwood, Minnesota in March. I am also the Secretary of the PSU FFA Alumni and Supporter Club, an honorary FFA chapter.
All I am trying to do is soak up every opportunity that I can during my time at Penn State before it is off to student teaching and finally making this career a dream come true. As I embark on this next piece of the road that God has in store for me, I would love to use this blog space to share with you my experiences at Penn State. Don't worry, I will try to keep those posts to a minimum. Please feel free to comment to my posts and others because I want this space to be a professional community network and inspiring to all. Now, I hope you understand a little bit about who I am and the road that created me into the person that I am today. I could not have done it without God and my amazing support group of friends and family. Thank you all!
PS- I will leave you with some verses that have been a constant in my life: Jeremiah 29:11-13.
Keeping it Veal,
Emily Jay
