My Trip To Penns Manor!

I decided that I was going to go visit Rachel Spicher and observe her teaching style as well as the facilities at Penns Manor High School on Friday, April 15. I left my apartment at 6 for a nice drive in the morning to Clymer, PA. This is a school that I have heard about, but I have never been there, I was happy to have the opportunity to finally go visit.

Throughout the day I had the opportunity to watch all of their classes. These classes included Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), Plant Science, Power Technology, animal/vet science and Ag. Mechanics. I was most intrigued with the SAE course that they offered at Penns Manor. They had cows, goats, 2 greenhouses, a pig, chickens, a horse, and even a sawmill. Students have the opportunity to keep a record book on any of these animals. The reason that I was so interested in this class was because I have never seen such a wide variety of courses taught, and this was mostly because of this SAE class. It was very cool to see Rachel work with the students on all of their record books. She was definitely very busy trying to attend to all of the student’s needs.

This is the first time that I have
ever seen a goat kid in real life! So
of course, I had to take a picture
with it! 

During animal and veterinary science they were working on a cheese lab; anyone who knows Rachel could probably take a guess of what type of cheese it was... Anyone who doesn’t know her, it was goat cheese! The students calculated the percent yield from the day before. Students were a little bit nervous to try the cheese, but eventually, everyone tried it and like it!

The work that I seen done in the greenhouse was very nice! The plants look to be doing very well and both greenhouses are full! I learned a little bit about pesticides and fungicide from Mr. Hughes while the students were working!

I thought that Rachel did good while teacher the students, she is stern, but she has the attention of the class. I enjoyed being at the school and Mr. Hughes has a lot going on, it is very impressive! 

Until Next Time,

Mike