AECM 2022 Student Showcase
The third annual Agricultural Education, Communication & Marketing (AECM) Student Showcase was held on December 7, 2022. This event highlighted the successes of our students’ hard work, and celebrated the opportunity for our students, alumni, donors and friends to be on campus together again.
Below are highlights from the event - PLUS some other projects you didn’t see at the Showcase! |
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Showcase highlights
In the Gallery Lounge, select Agricultural Education students shared excerpts of course assignments and field experiences, highlighting their vision for agricultural education and philosophy on teaching, experiential learning, and leadership development. More information about the artifacts shared are included in the Ag Ed Posters section below!
This year we had the unique opportunity to host student photos, podcasts and videos in the Larson Gallery. Attendees were able to admire the work of Agricultural Education, Communication and Marketing students and alumni as they captured the hidden stories of food, agriculture and natural resources. Students also filmed video introductions of their work, and attendees were able to view these videos via QR codes posted on the exhibits. Curious about the inspirations behind the photographs, podcasts and other projects, but weren’t able to attend the Showcase? You can view the videos on the AECM YouTube channel!
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See the rest of the videos on the
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Student Photos
In AECM 5115 Foundations of Agricultural Education, students designed Agricultural Education Goals & Vision boards. Here are a few examples of these fun projects!
Synthesis Boards
Kelsey Biel:
- Agricultural Mechanics
- Agricultural Education and FFA Involvement
- MAELC Teach Ag Internship
Emilee Xayanourom:
- Agricultural Education for All
Paige Stuber:
- Growing as an Educator
Isabelle Patterson:
- My Ag Ed Experience
Karli Knopf:
- Experiences of Future Agricultural, Food and Natural Resource Educators
Synthesis Boards
Kelsey Biel:
- Agricultural Mechanics
- Agricultural Education and FFA Involvement
- MAELC Teach Ag Internship
Emilee Xayanourom:
- Agricultural Education for All
Paige Stuber:
- Growing as an Educator
Isabelle Patterson:
- My Ag Ed Experience
Karli Knopf:
- Experiences of Future Agricultural, Food and Natural Resource Educators
Students in AECM 5135: Instructional Methodology for Agricultural Education were challenged to develop an innovative idea or approach to enhance instruction or program development in secondary classrooms. The students highlighted their innovative idea by creating an informative poster displayed at our annual AECM Student Showcase.
Innovative Posters Monica Pinkerman: - Ag in the Suburbs - Procedures, Expectations, and Consequences Krystal Viktora: - Where 4-H Meets FFA Leadership Development - Classroom Procedures - Classroom Consequences - Be Kind - Work Based Learning & SAE - Ag Teaching Vision - FFA Plan |
In AECM 5115 Foundations of Agricultural Education, students designed a “synthesis board” highlighting the variety of Ag Ed programs they’ll see during their 25 hour field experience and how they’re thinking about incorporating what they experience into their own classrooms.
Synthesis Boards Kelsey Biel: - Agricultural Mechanics, Agricultural Education, and FFA Involvement - MAELC Teach Ag Internship Emilee Xayanourom: - Agricultural Education for All Paige Stuber: - Growing as an Educator Isabelle Patterson: - My Ag Ed Experience Karli Knopf: - Experiences of Future Agricultural, Food and Natural Resource Educators |
"Rural Roadway Safety"
Filmed and Produced by Emma Nelson,
Agricultural Communication & Marketing
1st Place Short Video Package
Filmed and Produced by Emma Nelson,
Agricultural Communication & Marketing
1st Place Short Video Package
We are excited to have the following Agricultural Education students embark on their semester-long teacher candidate experiences this Spring. Here's where our students will be headed:
Award-winning student produced content
“The Life Cycle of Corn”
Filmed and Produced by Emma Nelson,
Agricultural Communication & Marketing
1st Place Long Video Package
Filmed and Produced by Emma Nelson,
Agricultural Communication & Marketing
1st Place Long Video Package
“The Life Cycle of Corn”
Filmed and Produced by Emma Nelson,
Agricultural Communication & Marketing
1st Place Long Video Package
Filmed and Produced by Emma Nelson,
Agricultural Communication & Marketing
1st Place Long Video Package
Our program is all about hands-on opportunities, including learning how to film and edit videos, and record compelling audio content. Our students put a lot of work and time into perfecting their skills, and it paid off! The University's student chapter of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) won 25 awards for content submissions in the 2022 National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (NACT) Critique and Contest. The NACT is meant to build relationships among agricultural communication professionals, college students and faculty, to provide professional and academic development for members and promote agriculture through communications efforts.
"I am incredibly proud of our students. The content that is being produced by our current students and alumni makes a great impact on the agriculture industry. It’s always a great experience for our students to compete with students from other universities and receive feedback from industry professionals.” - Dr. Troy McKay.
Twenty-five overall awards were awarded to our students, including six 1st place, four 2nd place, three 3rd place, six 4th place, two 6th place, two 8th place, one 9th place and one 10th place. Award-winning high resolution photos, videos, designs and writing pieces are available on the AgriCast website, linked below:
"I am incredibly proud of our students. The content that is being produced by our current students and alumni makes a great impact on the agriculture industry. It’s always a great experience for our students to compete with students from other universities and receive feedback from industry professionals.” - Dr. Troy McKay.
Twenty-five overall awards were awarded to our students, including six 1st place, four 2nd place, three 3rd place, six 4th place, two 6th place, two 8th place, one 9th place and one 10th place. Award-winning high resolution photos, videos, designs and writing pieces are available on the AgriCast website, linked below:
We are excited to have the following Agricultural Education students embark on their semester-long teacher candidate experiences this Spring. Here's where our students will be headed:
Best of luck to these talented future educators, and a sincere thank you to the cooperating teachers for sharing your knowledge and experience with our students! It’s going to be a great Spring!
- Jack Roessler (BS): St. Paul Humboldt
- Cooperating teachers: T.J. Austin, Brad Novachek, Andrea Nthole
- Krystal Viktora (MS): Alden Conger
- Cooperating teacher: Pam Koenen
- Monica Pinkerman (MS): Mankato
- Cooperating teachers: Ethan Dado, Robin Tidd
Best of luck to these talented future educators, and a sincere thank you to the cooperating teachers for sharing your knowledge and experience with our students! It’s going to be a great Spring!
Thank you, Broadhead, for welcoming Dr. Rebecca Swenson and our students to your communications agency! Students got a behind-the-scenes take on the Rock the Crop communications campaign, learned about different roles within a communications agency, heard about upcoming internship opportunities, and visited with recent University of Minnesota graduates who are now working at broadhead. A special thank you to Marguerite Winter for hosting the visit, and to recent ACM graduate (now Public Relations Coordinator at broadhead) Suzanna Viau for meeting with our group.
Teacher Candidates
We are excited to have the following Agricultural Education students embark on their semester-long teacher candidate experiences this Spring. Here's where our students will be headed:
Best of luck to these talented future educators, and a sincere thank you to the cooperating teachers for sharing your knowledge and experience with our students! It’s going to be a great Spring!
- Jack Roessler (BS): St. Paul Humboldt
- Cooperating teachers: T.J. Austin, Brad Novachek, Andrea Nthole
- Krystal Viktora (MS): Alden Conger
- Cooperating teacher: Pam Koenen
- Monica Pinkerman (MS): Mankato
- Cooperating teachers: Ethan Dado, Robin Tidd
Best of luck to these talented future educators, and a sincere thank you to the cooperating teachers for sharing your knowledge and experience with our students! It’s going to be a great Spring!
Industry tours
This fall, students in AECM 2096 Career Exploration & Early Field Experience in Agricultural Education, Communication, and Marketing participated in tours at companies across the Twin Cities.
Thank you, Broadhead, for welcoming Dr. Rebecca Swenson and our students to your communications agency! Students got a behind-the-scenes take on the Rock the Crop communications campaign, learned about different roles within a communications agency, heard about upcoming internship opportunities, and visited with recent University of Minnesota graduates who are now working at broadhead. A special thank you to Marguerite Winter for hosting the visit, and to recent ACM graduate (now Public Relations Coordinator at broadhead) Suzanna Viau for meeting with our group.
Thank you, Broadhead, for welcoming Dr. Rebecca Swenson and our students to your communications agency! Students got a behind-the-scenes take on the Rock the Crop communications campaign, learned about different roles within a communications agency, heard about upcoming internship opportunities, and visited with recent University of Minnesota graduates who are now working at broadhead. A special thank you to Marguerite Winter for hosting the visit, and to recent ACM graduate (now Public Relations Coordinator at broadhead) Suzanna Viau for meeting with our group.
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Spirit award
One of the highlights from this year’s AECM Student Showcase was Bob Roesler’s recognition as our program’s 2021 Spirit Award recipient! This award was started in 2014, to recognize individuals who have significantly impacted the success of the AECM program. Bob is an enthusiastic recruiter, dedicated educator, lifelong mentor, and tireless advocate for Agricultural Education - and most deserving of this award!
Over the years, Bob has brought students to visit our programs, shared his wisdom with current students through classroom speaking engagements, provided student scholarships and support, and coached beginning teachers as a TIP mentor. He began his teaching career student teaching at Jackson High School in 1969 and received his Master's Degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities the same year. He spent 18 years as the Vocational Agriculture Instructor and FFA Advisor at Sherburn High School teaching 9-12th grade students. In July 1987, he transitioned to a role as a Farm Business Management Instructor at Minnesota West Community and Technical College where he worked with farm family businesses, assisting them in reaching their family goals until his retirement in 2019.
During the presentation of the award, Professor Amy Smith expressed, “When I think of someone who embodies the ‘Spirit’ of an amazing educator, I think of an individual with an amazing heart for students, a passion for the content area, a commitment to excellence, and a desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Bob Roesler, without a doubt, demonstrates those characteristics, both personally and professionally. In fact, I have emails, text messages, and voicemails from him saved, and sometimes refer to them when I need a pick-me-up at the end of a long day, or in the midst of a tough chapter of life. Somehow, Bob just makes you feel better, stronger, and more motivated to tackle whatever lies ahead.” Congratulations to Bob on this well deserved award!
Over the years, Bob has brought students to visit our programs, shared his wisdom with current students through classroom speaking engagements, provided student scholarships and support, and coached beginning teachers as a TIP mentor. He began his teaching career student teaching at Jackson High School in 1969 and received his Master's Degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities the same year. He spent 18 years as the Vocational Agriculture Instructor and FFA Advisor at Sherburn High School teaching 9-12th grade students. In July 1987, he transitioned to a role as a Farm Business Management Instructor at Minnesota West Community and Technical College where he worked with farm family businesses, assisting them in reaching their family goals until his retirement in 2019.
During the presentation of the award, Professor Amy Smith expressed, “When I think of someone who embodies the ‘Spirit’ of an amazing educator, I think of an individual with an amazing heart for students, a passion for the content area, a commitment to excellence, and a desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Bob Roesler, without a doubt, demonstrates those characteristics, both personally and professionally. In fact, I have emails, text messages, and voicemails from him saved, and sometimes refer to them when I need a pick-me-up at the end of a long day, or in the midst of a tough chapter of life. Somehow, Bob just makes you feel better, stronger, and more motivated to tackle whatever lies ahead.” Congratulations to Bob on this well deserved award!
Alum Joshua Muñoz hosted our Ag Ed and ACM students at Como Park Senior High in September. AECM 2096 students facilitated conversations with the high school students about the importance of agriculture and its related fields, CFANS, and how to communicate key ideas about agriculture with different audiences. Mr. Muñoz shared more about his career path and gave students a tour of his classroom space. According to one AECM 2096 student, "a key takeaway was how important it is to build relationships in the classroom and within the industry as a whole." Thank you, Joshua, for sharing your classroom with our students!
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We’re also extremely appreciative of Land O'Lakes, Inc. and host Courtney Igbo-Ogbonna, who welcomed our students to the Land O'Lakes corporate offices this semester. Students toured headquarters and met with professionals to learn more about careers and internship opportunities and about building important skills that can strengthen collaboration, innovation, and problem-solving abilities across professions. Thank you to the panelists for sharing their experience and insights with our class.
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A huge shout out to the small group and individual field experience mentors for making our students’ experiences great! These accomplished professionals and AECM alumni shared their experiences and advice with our students and led them through a variety of mini-projects, so students got a little taste of how to create communication plans, lesson plans, press releases, policy decision memos, and creative content for real life clients and situations. We are grateful to these professionals who took time to interact with the next generation of AECM students!
internship highlights
Congrats to all of the AECM students who completed internships this year! Here are a few example internships that our Agricultural Communication & Marketing (ACM) majors completed in 2022:
- Kate Meyer, ACM: 4-H Livestock Intern, UMN Extension
- Jordyn Munson, ACM: Crop Scout Intern, Centre Sota Cooperative
- Luke Borst, ACM: Small Business Internship, Soccer Shots
- Nic Potthoff, ACM: Member Relations Intern, Land O'Lakes
- Erin Quach, ACM: Digital Platforms Coordinator, ListenUp Youth Radio
- Alyssa Ripley, ACM: Intern, ArtCava-Spain
- Lauren Funk, ACM: Production Tech Intern, Vireo Health
- Tanner Reed, ACM: Agronomy Sales Intern, CHS Inc.
- Hailee Swenson, ACM: Intern, Ziegler CAT
Internship Spotlight:
Ashley Hagenow, ACM: Editorial Intern, Progressive Dairy Magazine
"This summer, I interned for Progressive Dairy magazine as an editorial intern, where my responsibilities included authoring feature stories and articles on technical dairy-related topics, conducting interviews with leading industry experts and planning video projects to promote top-performing articles on the company’s website. Through this experience, I learned how a print and digital magazine is produced from start to finish and the processes of other teams, such as copy editors, production and design, sales and circulation." |