Morehead State University Agricultural Education

09/01/2026

🦅 Where did our Ag Ed Eagles fly this summer?

The school year may have just started, but our students are coming back to campus with a whole summer of new experiences behind them!

We’ve had a few photos shared with us that give us a glimpse of what some of our Ag Ed Eagles were up to:

💙 DJ Wilson spent his summer working at the Carol Martin Gatton Kentucky FFA Leadership Training Center, working alongside FFA members and agriculture teachers from across Kentucky.

🔧 Lydia Arnett spent time sharpening her skills at an Agricultural Mechanics professional development hosted by Kentucky Department of Education.

🌱 Savannah Kelsch served as a Teach Ag Ambassador for Kentucky FFA, helping promote a profession she’s preparing to join herself!

And we know there are MANY more stories we haven’t seen yet.

Ag Ed Eagles, what did YOU do this summer? Drop a photo in the comments and tell us about a job, internship, FFA experience, professional development, volunteer opportunity, or anything else that helped you learn, lead, or grow.

We’d love to fill the comments with all the places our Eagles flew this summer! 🦅💙💛

08/27/2026

🍬 Teaching Methods, but make it a Candy Salad Trauma Dump. 😂

Our AED 470: Teaching Methods students are going to teach A LOT this semester. They’ll practice frequently with their peers, but they’ll also head into real secondary agriculture classrooms each month to plan and lead lessons with actual students.

And there’s another piece to those field-based lessons: student feedback.

After teaching, our future educators will survey their students about their experience. The goal is to start developing the reflective practice they’ll need throughout their careers—What worked? What didn’t? What could I change next time?

But there’s also a very real lesson to learn before handing teenagers an anonymous survey. 😅

So, we had a “Candy Salad Trauma Dump” using their instructor’s own course evaluations.

Add some candy to the bowl, read an evaluation, and discuss. 😂

Were the evaluations overwhelmingly positive? Absolutely.

Was there still that one person who seemed to have a problem? Of course there was. And THAT was the lesson.

As a teacher, you will not be everyone’s cup of tea. You will not make every student happy. And that’s okay.

Good reflective practice means being willing to listen to feedback without allowing one comment to define your effectiveness. Our students are practicing looking at feedback as a whole, identifying patterns, separating useful criticism from an isolated opinion, and deciding what actually warrants a change in their teaching.

We want our Ag Ed Eagles prepared for the lesson plans, labs, FFA events, and curriculum…but we also want them prepared for the very human side of teaching teenagers.

Sometimes that preparation apparently requires a giant bowl of candy. 🤷‍♀️🍭🦅

08/26/2026

🦅 Our Ag Ed Eagles were chatting up a storm tonight!

At the MSU Agriculture Department’s Back-to-School Cookout, Abby, Malynn, and Lexi spent the evening connecting with students, answering questions, and sharing what’s happening in Ag Ed at Morehead State.

And between the three of them, they represented some pretty exciting pieces of our revamped Ag Ed program—our traditional undergraduate pathway, our Ag Ed Society, and our new MAT pathway.

That MAT pathway is especially exciting for our current agriculture students. Maybe you chose Animal Science, Agribusiness, Horticulture, or another agriculture degree—but somewhere along the way realized you’d really like to become an ag teacher. You don’t have to go back and earn another bachelor’s degree. Our MAT pathway gives students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree another route toward earning their teaching certification and stepping into an agriculture classroom.

Whether you’re just starting your flight path toward becoming an ag teacher, discovering the profession a little later in college, or looking for a way to get more involved—we’ve got a place for you. 💙💛

📅 Current Ag Ed Eagles: mark your calendars! Our first Ag Ed Society meeting is September 8, and we’d love to see you there.

More details coming soon! 👀🦅

08/19/2026

🦅 Hey, new Ag Ed Eagles!

Didn’t get a chance to connect with our Ag Ed Society Director, Abby, at Eagle Fest last night? No worries—you’ve got another chance coming up!

Come find Abby and the rest of our Ag Ed Eagles next week at the Agriculture Department Back-to-School Picnic. 🌾

It’s a great chance to meet other agriculture students, learn more about Ag Ed Society, and find out how you can get involved outside of the classroom from the very beginning.

New to MSU? Don’t be shy—come find your people! 💙💛

👇 See the comments for more details about the Back-to-School Picnic!

08/17/2026

🦅 And just like that…our Ag Ed Eagles are BACK!

The first day of the fall semester is in the books, and we’re kicking things off with our AED 470: Teaching Methods crew!

This group is getting very close to the finish line. Four of these future ag teachers will head into their student teaching semester this spring, while the other two will complete theirs next fall.

Between now and then? We have work to do. 👏

AED 470 is where students really start putting the pieces together—strengthening their teaching skills, practicing different instructional methods, planning lessons, spending time in real ag classrooms, and preparing for the expectations of clinical practice.

And there’s something else pretty exciting about this group: two of these students are also Early Graduate School students, meaning they’re already earning graduate credit while completing their undergraduate degree.

That’s another advantage of choosing Ag Ed at MSU. Our Eagles can prepare for teacher certification, gain extensive hands-on experience, and get a head start on a master’s degree before they even graduate.

If you’re looking for an Ag Ed program that can help you make the most of your time in college while preparing you for a career that is actively looking for qualified teachers, come find your flight path at Morehead State. 💙💛🦅

08/15/2026

🦅 Our Ag Ed Eagles have been flying all over this summer!

Before we officially welcome everyone back to campus on Monday, we have one more summer highlight to share!

This summer, Haley Murphy represented the MSU Agriculture Department at the West Virginia State FFA Convention. As an Ag Ed Eagle, Agriculture Ambassador, and former West Virginia FFA State Officer, Haley was the perfect person to connect with WV FFA members and share what it’s like to continue your agriculture journey at Morehead State.

And now, it’s almost time for our Eagles to fly back home. 💙💛

Classes start Monday, and we’re ready to have our students back on campus, back at the farm, and back in Reed Hall for another year of learning, growing, and preparing for their futures in agriculture.

📍 Ag Ed Eagles, where are YOU flying in from this weekend? Drop your hometown (and state!) in the comments so we can see just how far our Eagles travel to call Morehead home. 🦅

And to our new Eagles making that trip for the first time: welcome to MSU Ag Ed. We’re glad you’re here.

08/12/2026

The fall semester is almost officially underway, which means another Ag Ed Eagle is taking one of the biggest steps on her flight path to becoming an agriculture teacher!

This semester, Miss Anna Reffitt will be completing her student teaching experience at Mary E. Britton Middle School alongside her cooperating teacher, Mrs. Haley Kiniry.

Over the coming weeks, Miss Reffitt will transition from preservice preparation to full-time teaching—putting years of coursework, field experiences, teaching demonstrations, lesson planning, FFA involvement, and professional development into action with her own students.

We’re thankful for cooperating teachers like Mrs. Kiniry who open their classrooms and programs to our future educators and help them experience the day-to-day reality of being an ag teacher.

We’re excited to follow Anna’s journey this fall and share a few glimpses of what student teaching looks like along the way.

Have a great semester, Miss Reffitt! Your classroom is waiting. 💙💛

08/10/2026

🦅🌱 A new school year is almost here…and we’re ready to keep growing the next generation of agriculture teachers.

This spring, Morehead State shared a little more about the work happening within MSU Agricultural Education to prepare future teachers for a profession that needs them now more than ever.

And as we prepare to welcome our Ag Ed Eagles back to campus, this article feels like the perfect reminder of why this work matters.

Our students aren’t simply learning about teaching. They’re practicing it. They’re spending time in real classrooms, learning from current ag teachers, designing curriculum, integrating FFA and SAE into instruction, building professional networks, and developing the skills they’ll need to lead agriculture programs of their own.

And we’re continuing to grow and evolve right alongside the profession.

This year brings another group of future teachers continuing their flight path, new Eagles joining us for the first time, and even more opportunities to prepare highly qualified agriculture teachers for Kentucky and beyond.

🌾 Thinking about becoming an agriculture teacher? Whether you’re a high school student planning your next step or already have a bachelor’s degree and are considering a career change, MSU is building pathways to help get you into the agriculture classroom.

Give this article a read, then come see what being an Ag Ed Eagle is really like. 💙💛

Read:

Located in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, Morehead State University has always taken pride in its location, its service region, and its giving back to the professions that help shape its economy. One of many ways it does this is by helping to better prepare future generations of farmers through....

08/01/2026

🎉Congratulations Abbie Knox, recipient of a $10,000 scholarship from the Fayette County Farm Bureau Education Foundation.

Abbie is the daughter of Jason & Tiffany Knox and graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar and Locust Trace. While a member of Locust Trace FFA, she chaired multiple committees and was President of the Locust Trace Hispanic Honor Society. Outside of school, Abbie served as a Kids Leader at Gospel Collective Church, worked at Chick-fil-a, and was an intern at The Kentucky Castle Teach Garden.

Abbie is attending Morehead State University in the fall where she plans to major in Agriculture Education.

07/27/2026

Connections you build today can shape your career tomorrow. At MSU, we encourage our Ag Ed Eagles to support one another, share ideas, and work as a team. The connections made through collaboration can grow their networks and build relationships that will support them throughout their career. By instilling the importance of collaboration in our Ag Ed Eagles, we are actively teaching them how to thrive in their careers and SOAR Higher.
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Morehead State offers a Bachelor's in Ag Education and a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in Ag Education because we are dedicated to making sure the agriculture industry has the next set of leaders it needs.

Interested in learning how you can become an Ag Ed Eagle? Email Shelby Roberts at [email protected].
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💻📸Savannah Kelsch, current Ag Ed Eagle and Ky FFA Teach Ag Ambassador, is taking over our social media for the summer.