Each year the MYBEP Ideas & Insights Symposium brings together youth exhibitors and knowledgeable speakers for an incredible learning opportunity that kicks off the Expo.
Participating youth will have the opportunity to listen to a celebrity motivational speaker and select a range of sessions to learn about everything from management practices and nutrition to genetics and improving your MYBEP application. Past motivational speakers have included Katey Jo, “Ultimate Cowboy” from season two of Ultimate Cowboy Showdown; Amberley Snyder, motivational speaker, author and barrel racer; Lance Pekus, “The Cowboy Ninja” from America Ninja Warrior; and agricultural advocates, the Peterson Farm Brothers.
Meet the 2023 MYBEP Symposium Keynote Speaker: Nathan Anderson of @mnagteacher social media fame! Nathan is a high school agriculture education teacher at Watertown-Mayer High School who has found fame on social media by showcasing the life of an ag teacher and FFA advisor. Nathan will speak to participants about the importance of being yourself and being an “Agvocate” while using social media.
Nathan has been an agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor for eight years. He spent his first four years teaching at Breckenridge High School and the last four years at Watertown-Mayer High School. Nathan’s father is the reason he wanted to become a teacher. He was Nathan’s ag ed teacher in school and was responsible for exposing him to FFA and ag education from a young age. Nathan considered other subject areas to teach but knew he did not want to give up FFA after he aged out of the program and becoming an ag teacher allowed him to continue to share his passion and instill it in his students.
Nathan’s TikTok journey began during the winter of the 2019-2020 school year but really took off during the COVID-19 pandemic. He saw how much his students were using the social media platform and saw it as an opportunity to continue connecting with them during the months of virtual learning. Nathan said, “I started making TikToks during COVID as a way to connect with my students and it has snowballed from there. I never expected to have the reach that I have now.” Videos posted on the @mnagteacher social media accounts range from relevant classroom material and FFA life to behind the scenes of ag education. His profile now boasts 220.4K followers and over nine million likes.
Nathan has begun to expand his platform beyond the screen and this year he had the honor to speak at the 94th Minnesota FFA Convention. Nathan said the biggest benefit he has seen is how he can reach so many people beyond his classroom and teach them about agriculture and how they can learn something they may never have had exposure to before.
SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct.19, 2023 (CHS Miracle of Birth Center)
- 5:00 p.m. – Pizza is served
- 5:10 p.m. – Welcome/introduction and BQA session begins (new in 2023!)
- Beef Ambassador contest information, explanation of three breakout sessions and procedure to earn Premier Exhibitor points
**Move to Coliseum concourse to attend the educational sessions (Please use the Cattlemen’s Code. If all chairs are full, move to another session. Please be respectful and attentive. Feel free to ask questions. Thank the speakers and group leaders as you leave.)
- 5:30 – 6 p.m. – Educational Session #1
- 6:05 – 6:35 p.m. – Educational Session #2
Educational sessions include:
- Showmanship Tips and Tricks with Magen Tol, former MYBEP heifer recipient and field staff with Focus Marketing Group
- Navigating the Modern Beef Case: Label Claims, Lab Grown and Plant Based Meat with the University of Minnesota Meat Lab
- Beef-O Bingo with the MN Beef Ambassadors
- Calf Care with Dr. Carey Prigge, official Minnesota Beef Expo veterinarian
- Corrective and Maintenance Hoof Trimming with Dave Capatske, Capatske Cattle & Hoof Trimming
- Cattle Selection with Visual Appraisal with Kyle Rozeboom of the University of Minnesota
- Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certification with Kaitlyn Root of Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association (begins at 5:10 p.m. in the FFA Chapter House)
**All participants return to CHS Miracle of Birth Center.
- 6:40 – 7:30 p.m. – Keynote Speaker: Nathan Anderson of @mnagteacher
- 7:30 p.m. – Announcement of the MYBEP Symposium heifer recipient
- Heifer will be awarded to the MYBEP applicant with the next highest score
- Applicant must be present to win