4-H impact personal for youth development educator
Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 10:49 am
Extension Educator Katie Larson is helping shape tomorrow's 4-H
By Larry Peirce
Banner-Press Editor
You could say that Katie Larson and her generation of 4-Hers represent the bridge between the past and the future of the youth development organization.She knows her way around the animal show ring and the rabbit cages at a county fair, and she also handles the majority of her communications by email.
Her job these days is delving into Butler County 4-H, its clubs and involvement, to see how it operates and how it can improve.
Larson doesn't have any problem telling young 4-Hers that the organization of Heart, Head, Health and Hands can shape a young person's life.
She's lived the experience.
Larson is the UNL Extension Educator specializing in Youth Development.
She splits her time between Lincoln and David City, with three days each week at the Butler County Extension Office in the courthouse.
She invites anyone with an interest in youth development, whether in 4-H or not, to visit, call or ask questions by email. Generally, her days in David City are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Butler County Extension Office forged an agreement last summer between County Board of Supervisors and UNL to fund Larson's work, and she started in September.
As a child in Magnolia, a town of 900 people in northeast Ohio, she had her aunt and uncle who had a nearby farm.
Helping them became fun, and she had a place for her rabbits, hogs and other 4-H animal projects.
She took a random picture of an old barn and it won Best of Show in photography at the Ohio State Fair, and she was hooked.
Now she's working toward her first summer in Butler County and she can't wait for the fair.
"My mom always teased me that I could live at the county fair and that's entirely true," she said.
She had experience on the junior fair board, running fair competition and working in the fair office.
Larson graduated from Ohio State University in 2006 with a degree in education. She received her master's degree in leadership education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2008.
At 25, she is not far removed from the age of many 4-Hers.
"I remember being in their shoes not too long ago," she said.
She recognizes that families are busy with school, sports, church and other activities, but she wants to grow 4-H in Butler County.
"We are going to build something that is worthwhile and they are going to want to invest that time," she said. "4-H was a priority of mine because of the impact it had. I've seen it work."
She also has seen 4-H grow and evolve from including a few computer-related projects to current robotics opportunities.
"4-H has changed, the projects have changed, the kids have changed and the leaders have changed," she said. "People are concerned about all this change, but the core values are still there."
Drawing upon her experience, she said the projects were mostly tools for skill development.
"You might not be raising hogs your entire life, but it's the responsibility, the record keeping, the accountability is really what the program is about," she said. "I don't think I sat with my hog project and said I'm learning about responsibility. But it happens."
She appreciates the diversity of the job at the Extension office, where she fields a variety of questions.
"Every day is different," she said. "That's one reason I got away from (classroom) teaching."
A visitor or caller might bring up a question about family education, consumer science, a 4-H question involving a project or a club, or a workshop.
Ag related questions go to her colleague, Extension Educator Michael Rethwisch, and office manager Carol Fuxa fields some as well.
Larson, Rethwisch and other area extension educators will be writing columns that will appear weekly in the Banner-Press.
On the 4-H front, Larson has been meeting with club leaders, and just concluded a leadership workshop in February.
She emphasized that the Extension office is about teaching and helping to improve life in Butler County, whether it involves 4-H or other programs.
"Anybody is welcome to come to our workshops," she said. "You don't have to be in 4-H."
Contact Larson at 402.367-7410 or by email at Klarson4@unl.edu
