The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
(Vol. 18 No. 19)
IN THIS ISSUE...
WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
I've been in settings recently where a great deal of thought and comment has been shared on the current and upcoming anniversaries of significance to those of us who are part of K-State Research and Extension. Specifically, I am speaking of this year, 2012, being the 150th anniversary of the creation of the United States Department of Agriculture, and of the Morrill Act that provided for the creation of land-grant colleges. In 2013, we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of Kansas State University, and in 2014 we will be celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Smith-Lever Act providing for Cooperative Extension and its connection among local, state, and federal partners including USDA. In "Kansas State University: a pictorial history, the first century, 1863-1963" by Charles C. Howes, 1962, the author provides a photo of the preamble to House Bill 148 that was introduced by Representative Henry W. Ide of Leavenworth, and signed and approved by Governor Thomas Carney on February 17, 1863, which states the following:
An Act to locate and establish a College for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. -
Whereas the Congress of the United States, by an act approved July 2, 1862, and entitled "An Act donating public lands for the endowment, support and maintenance of a college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.
And whereas, the State of Kansas, by its Legislature, has expressed its acceptance of the benefits of the said act of Congress, and has agreed to fulfill the conditions therein contained; - Therefore Be it Enacted by the Legislature of State of Kansas:--
The caption next to the photo read, "Prompt acceptance of the conditions of the Morrill Act and immediate official steps to accept a second Blue Mont offer and create the state institution at Manhattan provided Kansas with the nation's first land-grant college." Blue Mont Central College had previously petitioned the legislature to accept the building, library, apparatus and land to establish the state university at Manhattan. This then happened!
We'll be organizing a committee soon to put together plans to celebrate the centennial for Smith-Lever in 2014. If this is something that strikes your interest and passion, please let me know. I won't guarantee anything, but that will certainly put your name on the radar screen for such planning.
Have a great week! --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu
HUTCHINSON COMMUNITY COLLEGE HOSTING ANNUAL AGGIE DAY, APRIL 4
Hutchinson Community College will be hosting their annual Aggie Day event
on April 4, 2012 at the Kansas State Fair Grounds. Invitational events will
include: Livestock Judging, Floriculture, Ag Sales (one team per county), Ag
Mech, Agronomy, Nursery Landscape, Entomology, and Food Science.
Counties can
enter as many teams/individuals in each division as they wish. Each contest is
$3/person and entries are due by March 28. For additional information, contact
Ben Williams at williamsb@hutchcc.edu
or Lindsay Gardner at gardnerl@hutchcc.edu. --Lindsay Gardner
8TH ANNUAL EXTENSION HEALTHFEST FOCUSES ON 4-H HEALTHY LIVING
The ten 4-H Healthy Living Ambassador pilot projects will be attending the 8th Annual EXTENSION HEALTHFEST! April 13-14 and we invite you to join us! HealthFest is an opportunity to learn about the 4-H Healthy Living mission area,
how to include physical activity and healthy eating in your 4-H
clubs/groups and for everyone to have fun!
Activities begin on Friday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m.
with indoor physical activities and cafe conversations with the 4-H
Ambassadors. On April 14 (Saturday) we continue with outdoor 'fun and
games', introduction of the KNACK curriculum, the national WE CAN!
initiative and brainstorming about 'next steps' to support 4-H Healthy
Living Ambassadors across Kansas. HealthFest concludes on Saturday by 3 p.m.
Teams
of youth (6th grade and up) and their adult mentors are invited to
attend HealthFest! and should contact Elaine Johannes, ejohanne@ksu.edu, 785-532-7720, if you'd like to register.
Participants that are not members of the current 4-H Healthy Living
Ambassador pilot groups will need to pay $68/person to attend
HealthFest. The fee pays for Friday evening snacks, lodging, breakfast
and lunch on Saturday, materials and take home kits. Please contact Elaine by April 4 (Wednesday) to register.
For more information about HealthFest or the 4-H Healthy Living Ambassador pilots, contact:
Elaine Johannes, ejohanne@ksu.edu; or Linda Biles, sewandsewbiles@aol.com. --Elaine Johannes
MARIE'S PICKS . . .
This week my picks are outcomes, success stories, and public value statements resulting from programming around Financial Education and Income Saving at Tax Time. The information was based on reports from Extension agents in Geary, Johnson, Marshall, Miami, Riley, and Shawnee Counties, and compiled by Carol Young.
**Tax site partnerships offer KSRE agents the opportunity to expose new audiences to Extension programs, and distribute financial publications such as how to use tax refunds wisely – save it, pay down debt, or use for special needs. Several agents and volunteers provide taxpayers one-on-one financial coaching about record keeping, documentation required for tax returns, adjusting withholding amounts, importance of emergency savings, and other related money management topics. One agent obtained a $10,000 IRS site grant; another got a $5,000 United Way grant and estimated receiving an in-kind donation of well over $15,000 for office space, equipment, and supplies. Four agents served in leadership site manager roles; four Extension offices sponsored sites; many helped recruit, train, and recognize income tax site volunteers; all agents reported educational outreach and major media promotion.
**The combined tax site results reported by six agents for 2011 indicated
that the volunteer tax preparers they worked with completed more than 10,000
federal returns that resulted in over $11 million in federal tax refunds
returned to Kansas communities. Agents reported local preparation fees
that ranged from $80 to $250. Using $200 as an average cost of tax
preparation, the estimated total value in fee savings performed by
volunteers to be over $2 million. One agent reported, "When one
considers that our Extension budget is $470,000, and this program
returns $550,000 to the local economy, we’ve more than paid for
ourselves with this one program!” Another agent said, “The value of
refunds and preparation fee savings for our community totals over $12.1
million.” --Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
TRAINING OPPORTUNITY
Training Opportunity – KDHE/Office of Health Promotion is
pleased to offer leader training in the Kansans Optimizing Health
Program (KOHP). KOHP is the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program developed at
Stanford University for people with arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, stroke,
asthma and other chronic diseases.
Agents or Specialists interested in offering
this six-week program are invited to attend four days of training in Salina on April
25-26, May 2-3. In addition to the training, attendees must
commit to providing two six-week community programs within the following 12
months, with the first being held within six months of training.
The four-day leader training is offered at no
cost. KDHE will cover mileage to and from the training, as well as hotel
expenses. To register, contact Lisa Williams at lawilliams@kdheks.gov or 785-296-2330. If you have questions,
contact Joan Kahl, Extension Assistant at jkahl@ksu.edu
or 785-532-1905. --Joan Kahl
|