Named 2015 Outstanding Young Member of MAAE
I am an agricultural educator by choice and not by chance.
I believe in American agriculture; I dedicate my life to its development and the advancement of its people.
I will strive to set before my students by my deeds and actions the highest standards of citizenship for the community, state and nation.
I will endeavor to develop professionally through study, travel and exploration.
I will not knowingly wrong my fellow teachers. I will defend them as far as honesty will permit.
I will work for the advancement of agricultural education and I will defend it in my community, state and nation.
I realize that I am a part of the school system. I will work in harmony with school authorities and other teachers of the school.
My love for youth will spur me on to impart something from my life that will help make for each of my students a full and happy future.
That is the Ag Teacher’s Creed for members of the Minnesota Association for Agricultural Educators (MAAE).
On the opening day of this year’s annual summer conference for MAAE, Lindsey Brown, an agriculture teacher and FFA advisor at Mountain Lake Public High School (MLHS), was named the group’s 2015 Outstanding Young Member. The Outstanding Young Member Award is sponsored by the Minnesota Association of Cooperatives. As the 2015 winner, Brown receives a traveling trophy, plaque and scholarship. In addition, each year’s winner becomes Minnesota’s candidate for the National Association of Agricultural Educators Young Teacher Award.
The 2015 MAAE Summer Conference, hosted by Region 6, is being held this week at Jackpot Junction Conference Center near Morton. It began on Monday, July 6 and continues through Thursday, July 9.
Brown has just completed her second year as a member of the MLHS ag ed/FFA team of instructors. She is a 2007 graduate of MLHS and graduated in spring 2011 from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Campus. She taught ag ed for two years at Chisago Lakes Public High School in Lindstrom before returning to her alma mater in 2013. At MLHS, Brown teaches food science, horticulture, landscaping, eighth-grade family and consumer science and small animal science, as well as serving as a FFA advisor. (In 2011, her older brother, T. J. Brown, a 2000 MLHS and 2004 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, graduate, who is an ag educator and FFA advisor at Springfield Public High School, also received the Outstanding Young Member Award.)
MAAE is an organization of teachers of agriculture at the high school, post-secondary and adult levels who seek to advance agricultural education in Minnesota. The organization strives to provide leadership opportunities, service, and advocacy for its members.
In addition, MAAE works with legislation affecting agricultural education in Minnesota and assists in the development of priorities and strategies to effect state and federal legislation and appropriations. The MAAE is affiliated with the National Association of Agricultural Educators, Inc. (NAAE) and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). The students of these instructors are members of the Minnesota FFA Association and the Minnesota Postsecondary Agricultural Student Organization.
MAAE and NAAE both seek to advance agricultural education and promote the professional interests and growth of agriculture teachers as well as recruit and prepare students who have a desire to teach agriculture. Membership benefits assist members in growing professionally and in becoming more effective agricultural educators.
Aside from the Outstanding Member Award, MAAE also annually presents an Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, Outstanding Middle/Secondary Ag Ed Program of the Year Award, Outstanding Post-Secondary/Adult Ag Ed Program of the Year and Outstanding Teaacher/Mentor Award.
MLHS ag educators/FFA advisors have been recognized by MAAE over the years:
* In 1971, the late Jim Crawford was named the MAAE Outstanding Teacher of the Year.
* The Outstanding Teacher/Mentor Award was presented to Tom Appel in 2005.
* Tom Appel was named the MAAE Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2011.
* In 2014, the MLHS ag ed team of Tom Appel, Lindsey Brown and Stephen Funk were recognized as the MAAE Outstanding Middle/Secondary Ag Ed Program of the Year.