{"id":202448,"date":"2016-07-14T11:48:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T15:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=202448"},"modified":"2023-08-08T11:57:29","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T15:57:29","slug":"10-questions-with-kelsey-karp-aspiring-agriculture-educator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2016\/07\/10-questions-with-kelsey-karp-aspiring-agriculture-educator\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Questions With Kelsey Karp, Aspiring Agriculture Educator"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this\u00a0new series<\/a>, the Neag School will be catching up with students, alumni, faculty, and others throughout the year to give you a glimpse into their Neag School experience and their current career, research, or community activities.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here, Kelsey Karp \u201916 (CAHNR) \u2014 an aspiring agriculture educator\u00a0currently enrolled in the Neag School\u2019s\u00a0Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG)<\/a>\u00a0in Waterbury, Conn. \u2014\u00a0shares insights into her time at UConn, where she was an animal science major with a minor in food science. She spent her last year as an undergraduate living and working at\u00a0UConn\u2019s Spring Valley Student Farm<\/a>, a community that provides UConn students with the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge and skills in organic farming \u2014\u00a0planting, growing, and harvesting produce for UConn\u2019s own Dining Services.<\/p>\n

Through TCPCG, an 11-month program designed for college graduates looking to earn teacher certification, Karp is getting one step closer to fulfilling her ambition to become an educator.<\/p>\n

Learn more about TCPCG \u2014 as well as dates for upcoming information sessions \u2014\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hometown:<\/strong>\u00a0Newtown, Conn.<\/p>\n

When I graduated from UConn:<\/strong>\u00a0May 2016<\/p>\n

The best part of being a student working on the farm:<\/strong>\u00a0We are like a little family.\u00a0All of the student farmers are like siblings\u00a0to me. It is a great support system, and we all enjoy working with one another. As student farmers, we reach out to the UConn community by tabling different events, such as spring fling, fresh check day, involvement fairs, etc. We all are passionate about sustainable farming and love to communicate what we do at Spring Valley Student Farm.<\/p>\n

What surprised me most about farming:<\/strong>\u00a0You would think that there is nothing for farmers to do in the winter time;\u00a0however, the amount of time and thought that goes into seed orders and crop rotation will blow your mind!<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing an intentional teacher is a teacher who accommodates and challenges all of their students. A great teacher should\u00a0ignite a passion for learning and foster new interests in their students.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Best part of TCPCG so far:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019ve just completed the first of four sessions and already feel so much more prepared to become a teacher. It has been a lot of work but completely worth every bit. The Waterbury [campus] cohort is only 15 students, and we all have become\u00a0very close. We communicate and work well with\u00a0each other. Having such a supportive and encouraging group of classmates and professors is amazing.<\/p>\n

\"Kelsey
Kelsey Karp, far left, currently a TCPCG student at the Neag School, spent a year living and working at UConn\u2019s Spring Valley Student Farm, where UConn students gain firsthand knowledge and skills in organic farming. (Photo courtesy of Kelsey Karp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What<\/strong>\u00a0I believe\u00a0<\/strong>makes<\/strong>\u00a0a<\/strong>\u00a0great<\/strong>\u00a0teacher<\/strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0Being an intentional teacher is a teacher who accommodates and challenges all of their students. A great teacher should\u00a0ignite a passion for learning and foster new interests in their students. Teachers should motivate their students to strive for success. Great teachers pave a path for students that will help them follow the road to assist them in gaining the skills they need for the career they are looking to pursue.<\/p>\n

My greatest accomplishment:<\/strong>\u00a0I am very proud of how much I immersed myself in the\u00a0agriculture community at UConn. I was the vice president of UConn Dairy Club, fundraising chair of UConn Block N Bridle, EcoHouse mentor, dairy herdsman, student farmer at SVSF, etc. As a future agriculture educator, I will continue to be involved in the world of agriculture.<\/p>\n

My greatest role model:<\/strong>\u00a0My parents are both my greatest role models. They both are very\u00a0hard workers and have taught me to be a\u00a0hard worker. Without them I\u00a0would not be the person I am today. They have helped me achieve everything that I\u2019ve wanted to and continue to encourage me to go after my goals.<\/p>\n

Something you don\u2019t know about me:<\/strong>\u00a0I am a huge Elvis fan, Zumba enthusiast, and pizza lover!<\/p>\n

Favorite UConn Dairy Bar ice cream:<\/strong>\u00a0Banana chocolate\u00a0chip<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read other installments of the\u00a010 Questions<\/em>\u00a0series here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this new series, the Neag School will be catching up with students, alumni, faculty, and others throughout the year to give you a glimpse into their Neag School experience and their current career, research, or community activities. Here, Kelsey Karp \u201916 (CAHNR) \u2014 an aspiring agriculture educator currently enrolled in in the Neag School\u2019s Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG) \u2014 shares insights into her time at UConn, where she spent her last year as an undergraduate living and working at UConn\u2019s Spring Valley Student Farm. Through TCPCG, an 11-month program
\ndesigned for college graduates looking to earn teacher certification, Karp is getting one step closer to fulfilling her ambition to become an educator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":202449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,2426,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1878],"class_list":["post-202448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-curriculum-instruction","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 07:59:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202450,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202448\/revisions\/202450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/202449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202448"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=202448"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=202448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}