DUKE CENTER — Otto-Eldred High School’s Brandon Witmer was awarded a Teachers Turn the Key Award at the Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators Summer Conference earlier this month.

Witmer completed his second year of teaching this spring after having established a curriculum that attracted more than 100 students. He believes, the post reads, “taking an ownership, project-based and hands-on learning approach, students have the opportunity to have so much more exposure to different content areas and get to the high level thinking.”

Witmer has built partnerships with local companies and turned an old industrial shop into an ag science lab for his students.

During the conference, teachers attended workshops, university tours, and industry tours throughout the conference. Ag Educators also discussed current events in the profession, and shared different lessons and skills to take back to their classrooms.

Educators were able to choose from workshops ranging from environmental resources to animal science and plant science.

Witmer grew up in State College and began his time as a Penn State student at Penn State DuBois, where he participated in the Wildlife Society and earned a background in wildlife and forestry. During his time as an Agricultural and Extension Education major at Penn State University Park, he was an active member of LEAD Society and interned at Conneaut Area Senior High School where he taught agricultural mechanics and agricultural science.