Taylor Lutz is an agriscience education major from Bucyrus, Ohio.
As an FFA member in high school, she loved sharing agriculture with others and knew that a career in agricultural education seemed to be a great fit, as she was passionate about teaching others about the agricultural industry.
She began her college education at Ohio State, which she feels was the best fit for her as she transitioned to college from a small high school.
Now finishing her fourth year as a Buckeye, Lutz was selected by faculty in the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and leadership as one of 10 students to be named an ACEL Distinguished Senior.
“Taylor has been active in professional development in several areas of agriculture, beyond agricultural education while at both the Ohio State ATI and Columbus campuses. Taylor is active across CFAES, in AFA and was a runner up for Ms. Agriculture, all while she has maintained strong academic standing,” said ACEL faculty in her nomination.
As a student she helped start the Collegiate 4-H Club at Ohio State ATI and served as it’s vice-president. Once she transitioned to the Columbus campus she became a CFAES Ambassador and joined Collegiate Cattle Association. She also attended the annual Agricultural Future of America (AFA) Conference and served on their student advisory team her final year.
The internships and work experiences she held during college had a large impact on her future. She worked as a loss control representative for Nationwide Insurance and oversaw northern Ohio farms for the Agribusiness Risk Management division, was an education marketing intern with Valent USA LLC where she traveled across the country to talk with diverse farmers and growers to better their marketing and communications, and she worked for CFAES Marketing and Communications where she managed social media posts and created a podcast for the college.
“Each of these experiences have helped pave the path I choose after graduation,” said Lutz.
Lutz also recently completed 14-weeks of student teaching at Northmor High School and Northmor FFA. This experience gave her the in-person experience of teaching in an agricultural education program while under the supervision of a cooperating educator.
As her time as a Buckeye comes to a close, Lutz shared that although she has too many fond memories to count, some of her best ones would simply be meeting people as an ATI and CFAES ambassador and her time with AFA.
She reflects on her major, saying “Agriscience education is a great all around major. As a wise man once said, in the agriscience education major, you will learn an inch deep and mile wide worth of information about agriculture.”
Following graduation, Lutz will be pursuing a career as a high school agricultural educator, but is also open to a career in communications and marketing in the agricultural industry.
Leading activities the CFAES booth at the National FFA Convention.
Following an Ohio State victory over Michigan.
In Ireland with the CFAES Human and Animal Interactions
Speaking at AFA.