Penn State's BEST Program trains next generation of Extension professionals

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences hosted the fourth annual Broadening Extension through Student Training, or BEST, program in May, welcoming its largest group yet. For the first time, this year’s cohort included students and extension professionals from North Carolina State University. 

As a land-grant institution, Penn State partners with federal, county and state governments to deliver extension education, bringing innovations in scientific research to communities across the commonwealth. BEST is part of that mission. Since launching in 2022, this free professional development program has trained 102 students, offering modules on stakeholder engagement, program design, youth outreach, equity and sustainability. 

Melissa Kreye, extension specialist and professor in Penn State’s Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, explained what sets BEST apart from other extension training programs.

“Graduate students want their research to have an impact on people, but few realize that Extension is exactly how they can accomplish this,” she said. “We want to catch students early in their careers and show them how their research can support farmers, landowners and communities through extension.” 

Over the course of the program, each student develops their own logic model, which is a blueprint for an extension program that they can improve over the course of their career. The diverse background of the 2025 cohort was reflected in their wide variety of logic models, from recruiting underserved youths into nontraditional sports to training Nepalese farmers to cope with water insecurity. 

“Everyone here has unique knowledge and perspective,” said Isaac Carachilo, a master’s degree student in ecology at Penn State. Carachilo designed his extension program to teach best management practices to landowners with perennial streams. “BEST showed us that we all can make valuable contributions in helping communities address their problems.” 

BEST expanded career horizons for many students like Carachilo, who didn’t have much exposure to Extension before completing the program.

“I’ve always had an open mind about the different opportunities available for graduate students, but we are usually trained to go down an academic path and pursue a doctoral degree,” he said. “BEST helped me to explore some of the other avenues that conservation work can take.” 

Program evaluation surveys show that BEST doubles students’ confidence in delivering extension programs on average. With these promising results, BEST hopes to expand programming in North Carolina and Pennsylvania next summer, Kreye noted. 

For more information about BEST, visit Broadening Extension through Student Training | Pennsylvania State University