Agriculture teacher, student produce bumper awards crop
Anna Pauletta and Darla Romberger have not only grown together in agricultural education, they’ve produced a bumper crop.
Pauletta, a student of Romberger’s at Cumberland Valley High School in suburban Harrisburg, is the National FFA champion. Romberger, who is in her fourth year of teaching, is the recipient of one of six Outstanding Young Member awards given by the National Association of Agriculture Educators.
For Pauletta, her pairing with Romberger and ag education comes with a unique twist. She signed up for one of Romberger’s classes by accident when she was a freshman four years ago – the same point in time that Romberger was just starting her teaching career.
Pauletta loved and grew up around horses, but the suburban Harrisburg girl never lived on a farm and thought the class was a prerequisite to an animal sciences class.
“I had no idea I was enrolling in an ag class, but it opened a whole new world for me,” said Pauletta. “I just took off with it. I raised a goat for market that year and got involved in FFA and other projects. My sophomore year, I started getting involved in the environmental aspects, particularly conservation.”