If someone had told me – oh, two years ago, let’s say – that social media would play a huge role in my professional career, I probably would have had a good chuckle. You see, I’m going to school to become a teacher. And not just any teacher, of course.

An agriculture education teacher.

Who would think that an ag teacher would use Facebook, Twitter, Skype and YouTube to help their students learn? I mean, come on, ag teachers help kids learn about tractors and soil and plants and animals, right? Not the Internet.

Well, sorry to break it to you, but this future ag teacher is going to shake thing up a bit!

Over the past two years, using social media has reminded me how much I can learn from others inside and outside of the agriculture industry. I never knew organic dairy farmers from Minnesota before social media. I’d never met any type of rancher prior to Twitter. I didn’t know the impact you could have through YouTube. Simply put, I’ve learned that social media is an unbelievably valuable part of the necessary relationships surrounding our food – from the farm to the plate.

So why shouldn’t our students learn about it and learn from it?

As we celebrate National FFA Week, it’s a great time to reflect on the experiences we had as FFA members, how our lives have been impacted by an FFA member or how we can continue to help current FFA members “develop their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success”. Social media fits in perfectly with that mission. I want my students to be able to become leaders who have an educated opinion and voice in online conversations about our food system. I want them to grow in their beliefs and opinions by interacting with others from across the country. I also want them to advance professionally because of the strong connections they were able to make with others through social media.

Those are all opportunities that these technologies have afforded me, and I can only hope that social media will enrich the lives of my students as well – exactly as the FFA mission says.

There’s still a bit of time until I have my own class, though, so for now I’ll continue to work hard to encourage FFA members, alumni and supporters from all over to ‘agvocate’ through social media and hope that you will too. Consider conducting a social media workshop with your local FFA chapter officers or maybe help an advisor get their FFA chapter Facebook page up and running. For many agriculture programs, they’d love to be involved in social media, but are just looking for some assistance. Can you be the one to bring social media to an agriculture program and FFA chapter in your area?

Amanda Sollman is a student at Michigan State University, majoring in Agriscience with concentrations in Education and Communication. Amanda is a former member of the Sanilac FFA Chapter and currently co-moderates #AgEduChat, a bi-weekly Twitter chat focused on agricultural education. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and at her blog!

Michele sidenote: As a product of the Michigan FFA program, it gives me great pride to have a Spartan student here who once wore the same FFA jacket I did as as state officer. And, before I forget – Go Green! Go White!