Morgan Martin from Danville FFA Wins Agricultural Education CDE at Indiana FFA State Convention

All this week throughout the 96th Indiana FFA State Convention, students from across the state are being recognized for Career Development Events, or CDE’s. These are special projects that FFA members work on throughout the year—and then, they compete against each other at the State and National Conventions.

One of the CDE categories is for Agricultural Education. It’s for those who might be interested in becoming an ag educator.

This year’s winner of the Agricultural Education CDE is Morgan Martin, who recently graduated from Danville Community High School.

“When I went on stage I didn’t really know what to expect. Then, as they went down the line and I realized I was first place, it was kind of a big relief,” Morgan tells Hoosier Ag Today.

She says she coordinated with her ag teacher and Danville FFA advisor, Laura Crosby, to put together her CDE presentation.

“I had to write a lesson plan centered around a food science lesson,” she says. “I chose food preservation, so we did a gallery walk where the judges went around and learned about different methods of food preservation. Then, we came back together, ate some food, tested our knowledge on the different types of food preservation, and ended our lesson with an exit ticket just for a summation of what we learned for the day.”

Given her recent award, is Morgan planning on becoming an ag teacher?

“As of now, the plan is not to study Agriculture Education, but we will see what happens in the next four years,” she says.

However, Morgan says she still plans on having a career in agriculture.

“I will be attending Huntington University this fall to dual major in Animal Science and Crop Science/Agronomy with the hopes of pursuing education and genetics to hopefully get into the agriculture genetics field,” she says.

So, what advice does Morgan have for those wanting to win the Ag Education CDE next year?

“It might sound simple, but prepare yourself,” she says. “This was a long time coming. I participated in a supervised agricultural experience throughout the summer where I was the volunteer program coordinator for the Hendricks County Ag Experience. I was educating people in the public, so if this is something that you’re looking to do or hoping to compete in or hoping to win, I would say prepare yourself and build yourself up to get that experience before going into the contest room.”

Hoosier Ag Today’s coverage of the 96th Indiana FFA State Convention is presented by McDonald’s of Greater Indiana.

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