MATA Meeting and Spring Judging

During my time at Boonsboro High School, I had the opportunity to attend a few different events where our students were competing. We had Regional CDE's where our Agricultural Mechanics team placed first in the region, as well as Creed Speakers, Prepared Public Speakers, and Extemporaneous Public Speakers all scoring incredibly well in their respective areas. This event opened my eyes to what it means to be an advisor and take a look into the advisor aspect of teaching agriculture outside of the traditional FFA meetings throughout the school week. I recognized the time and commitment that is takes to prepare students for this event and then provide a helping hand throughout the entirety of the contests as well.

Not only was I able to play an active role in the execution of these contests, but I was also able to expand my content knowledge in regards to agricultural mechanics by helping to coach this CDE team with the assistance of an industry expert and Boonsboro Alumni. This experience allowed me to take part in a contest that I knew little about and a content area that I have fallen in love with and will continue to grow in throughout the course of the following years. 

After the regional CDE's, students can also participate in the spring judging event. This event is a much larger event where all of the regions come together to compete in several different CDE's. At this event, students are competing for the state title rather than waiting and competing at the state convention in June. The purpose behind this separate event is to reduce the amount of CDE's that are taking place at state convention due to the limited space and availability at the location. 

This event is for students participating in Agricultural Mechanics, Milk Quality and Products, Floriculture, Nursery and Landscape, Agrscience Fair, Agronomy, Food Science and Technology, Meats Evaluation and Technology, Middle School Ag Challenge, and Veterinary Science. Many students who decide to compete in these events will wait to see if they place in the event and if they do not, they will often times pick up another CDE in order to attend the Maryland State FFA Convention.

While attending Spring Judging, I was able to also attend the Maryland Ag Teachers Association Meeting. Rather than PAAE, Maryland has MATA. The members come together each month to discuss prominant issues that are effecting the ag programs and teachers. What really stood out to me at the meeting was how supportive they were of students who are in college to become agriculture educators and came through Maryland Ag Ed programs. The teachers decorated package boxes and donated several items to be shipped to the students who are finishing up their degrees.

At this event, several items were brought to the attention of the members of MATA. Prevalent items included Operation Nebraska, an effort to send supplies to the farmers in Nebraska. Mrs. Terrie Shank gave and update on FFA and what to expect at state convention this year, they also discussed how to book rooms for National Convention and when those housing blocks will become available for advisors to book. There was also discussion regarding the new look of the MATA website which members had worked hard to update and make more user friendly. Mrs. Cashell-Martin discussed how to nominate teachers for NAAE and MATA Awards. Overall, the meeting went by quickly and addressed a lot of important information that advisors needed to be sure to take note of. I recognized that while the meeting was short, there was a lot of information presented and if you were new to the crowd, you needed to be paying attention or you could miss information.