Extension to me is happiness.

 

 

When I remember the extension office in my hometown, I see a meek woman with her head down walking behind her husband attending a farmer’s market meeting. I never imagined that I would be working for that same office ten years later. I was newly divorced, afraid, and possessed very little self-esteem. I had been a housewife for 13 years. I had married my high school sweetheart and we all know we are supposed to live happily ever after. I found my happily ever after with extension. I finally found who I was and what I wanted to do with life after divorce. I loved being able to help the people in my community as well being able to bring my children to 4-H events and have them volunteer with me at other events. Life for me changed the minute I was hired with the University of Kentucky Edmonson County Extension Office.

 

I am no longer meek and afraid. I left extension 2 years ago to reach for my dream of one day returning to extension. It was one of the hardest decisions that I had ever made. I was stepping outside of my comfort zone and leaving my security blanket of 11 years. I had been attending WKU for almost 8 years with the help of the University of Kentucky tuition wavier. I took online classes, face to face classes, and night classes at every campus in my area.  I found that I needed certain classes that could only be taken on main campus during the day. They were twice a week and I could not take the classes and work. I had always worked 2 jobs. I couldn’t survive on one pay check. My children were out of school and starting the next chapters in their lives so I took a leap of faith and here I am 2 years later working as an intern for the University of Kentucky Grayson County Extension Office.

 

I met Natalie Tual FCS Agent on April 15, 2016 at orientation. I was a nervous wreck and a little embarrassed. I was the oldest intern in the room. I was the happiest intern in the room because I was back home and in my safe spot at the Good Barn. It was like going home. I am a grandmother of a beautiful little boy but at that moment I felt like I was the youngest person in the room. Natalie is almost young enough to be my daughter and I was thrilled to be her intern. Many people see a happy, over confident woman because I will never allow anyone to see me as meek and afraid again. I am far from confident in all areas but I am willing to learn to be a better me. I already knew about planning and implementing a program with extension. I wanted to increase my knowledge and develop skills in staff/ office management and supervision. I wanted to increase my knowledge and develop skills in personal time management and organization and I wanted to increase my knowledge and develop skills in reporting and programming as it relates to Cooperative Extension. I know, right? I have gone over the deep end! REPORTS!! They are the devil in extension. I knew to report in KERS but I did not know if it was different from an agent’s aspect. I came to realize it is different because they not only have all the reports that I once had but more. Without these reports we could not receive the funding that helps Cooperative Extension do what it does best, help our communities. Extension is the heart of a community if the agents are doing their jobs correctly. Which I am sure they are because it takes special people to work in extension.

 

I have learned a great deal from being in another county extension office. Grayson County and Edmonson County are like night and day. Edmonson County did not have a tax until last year. We struggled financially to do as many programs as we possibly could with the funding that our physical court allotted us each year. I would have never had a job without the SNAP grant. Our county could not have paid for my travel let alone my salary. Grayson County has a tax that has been in place for many years. They are able to do so many wonderful things for their community. One that comes to mind is purchasing preserving equipment to loan out to people who cannot afford to purchase the equipment to preserve their garden harvest. This made my heart happy when Natalie explained why she had ordered 2 of the more expensive pieces of equipment. One for her to teach with and one for her to loan out. I have gathered so much from my experience with her. I have learned to utilize Outlook calendar, I have learned about the Report to the People, I have better understanding of how the duties are divided among the agents and why they are divided and I could go on and on. Yes, I was overwhelmed when I first started but Extension is so much more than an 8 hour job. It is a family helping families.

 

 

 

My last health Camp 2014 and my first Homemaker Fieldtrip 2016! Thank you to the University of  Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service for giving me this opportunity!