SAE Visits: A Valuable Experience for Both Students and Teachers

A student’s Supervised Agriculture Experience or SAE is a critical component of the three circle model for agricultural education. Supervised Agriculture Experiences are work-based learning experiences which allow students to gain hands-on experience while building upon knowledge gained in the classroom. Students in their first year of school-based agricultural education classes can start a Foundational SAE before committing to multiple years in an agriculture program, and transition their Foundational SAE into what is called an Immersion SAE. The difference between a Foundational SAE and an Immersion SAE is the scope and complexity involved in record keeping in effort towards earning FFA degrees and overall focus on one particular area of interest. 

The SAE Roadmap describing the different SAE paths a student can chose from

At Northwestern Senior High School, SAEs are graded on a “Pass/Fail” basis. All students must have a minimum of 180 hours logged into the Agricultural Experience Tracker each school year. Many students start a Foundational SAE in a career exploration to explore agriculture related careers, and once they find something that interests them, they can turn it into their Immersion SAE. 

For my first ever SAE visit, I had the opportunity to visit Colin's SAE. Colin is a junior at Northwestern, who is currently serving as the Albion FFA Junior Vice President. He is active within the program and the FFA chapter, and is always willing to help where he can with his determined and hard-working attitude.

Before visiting Colin, Mr. Honeycutt and I had to schedule a time that both he and the farmer he helps were available. Once we decided on a date and time, I talked with Mr. Honeycutt about Colin's SAE and what all it entailed. 

Colin has a paid placement SAE where he works for a local beef farmer outside of Albion, PA. His typical duties include feeding and watering the cows, cleaning the barn, and replacing straw bedding as needed. The farm is currently raising approximately 11 beef cows, including Hereford and Angus. When we arrived, Colin introduced us to the farmer that owns the cows and Mr. Honeycutt and I talked to him about how Colin has been doing and the progress he has been making since he started working with the cows.

Colin currently works just about everyday after school to keep the cows happy. He has worked with them for about a year. He has his full routine with the cows down to a science - in fact it only takes about 45 minutes to an hour to complete all of his tasks. He says his favorite thing about his SAE is, "the joy that working with the cows gives me."

When suggesting improvements for Colin's SAE, I would say he needs to work on finding a more efficient way to provide water to the cows. Currently, the water pump in the barn is in the ground and can freeze on cold nights, leaving the cows without water. He is keeping his records up to date in the AET, but I would also recommend he adds some photos to his profile as well to provide a better picture as to what his typical work days look like and to further developing his project descriptions to help him towards earning his Keystone Degree.

Overall, I had a great time visiting Colin and I am happy I was able to see a tiny part of the work he does with the cows. Other students are looking forward to Mr. Honeycutt and I going to visit them now, too, so don't worry, more SAE highlights from the Northwestern Ag Ed program are sure to come!



Thank you for your endless support,
Ms. Cusate