Taking Flight

My name is Ryan Rupert, and I am a member of the #psuaged19 cohort!

I was raised in the small town of Beech Creek Pennsylvania, and have spent the last ten years of my life growing up on a small farm. I attended Central Mountain High School, and was an active participant in the school's FFA and Agriculture program. I currently work at Calico Creek Fed and Pet in Mill Hall, where I work with customers to help them purchase the right products for their pets and livestock! My faithful (and sassy) companion Bruce the Goose is always by my side, and always living each day to the fullest!

I come from a small farming/ homestead background, and have been raising everything from chickens to peacocks and even honeybees for several years now. My family loves to grow and can vegetables in our garden each summer, an we even make our own maple syrup form maple trees in our front yard! Every winter we cut our own firewood in the woods that border the farm. We even butcher our own chickens, pigs and steers on occasion.

These types of experiences, and the joy, appreciation and enlightenment they have brought me over the years, have been formative in shaping my desire to teach agriculture! I hope to engage with my future students in a way that develops them into future leaders and innovators, while giving them the opportunity to grow in the same type of space I was so fortunate to have been able to. We need critical, informed, and imaginative students, to become successful, passionate and driven adults--and I believe that agriculture education for all is where to start.

I am here embark on my own journey in Ag Ed, and grow into a successful, prepared and more well travelled agriculture teacher! I hope to make the most of my final years at Penn State, and it is my goal to make the most of every opportunity afforded me--all with that future classroom in mind!