August 9, 2022
Shout Out: Southwind Agents and Office Professionals
The Shout Out this week comes from Clara Wicoff, Southwind District Food, Nutrition and Health Agent, and Hunter Nickell, Southwind Livestock Production Agent, and is directed to other Southwind agents and office professionals. Clara and Hunter write:
"We would like to express our deepest thanks to Jennifer Terrell, Chad Guthrie, Krista Harding, Joy Miller, Barbara Stockebrand, Dale Lanham, Shelly Wagner, Andrea Hilyard, Leslie Kidwell, and Pat Simpson for all of their help with the Allen County Fair this year! As first year agents, we greatly appreciate all of their time spent guiding us through our first fair. We were both 4-H members in Allen County, but we have come to learn that there is a lot of behind the scenes work that must be done for the fair to run smoothly.
Even though they each had their own county fairs to plan, these ten individuals spent many hours helping us with the fair in Allen County. Jennifer spent countless hours helping us navigate Fair Entry, prepare our fair book, and much, much more. She also gave up many hours of her own time to come to Iola to help us get ready for the fair as well as to help us during the fair. Chad provided much needed help with all of the livestock shows, and gave up several evenings as well as a long weekend to ensure these shows ran smoothly. Krista made several trips to Iola to help us with fair-related items, including assisting with our weigh-in and helping answer all of our questions. She offered to help with whatever was needed, and we definitely took her up on that offer! Joy helped score family and consumer science judging and photography judging sheets, and also helped with our foods judging by serving as a last-minute judge. She did an excellent job of not only supporting us as agents, but also helping 4-H members grow in their project areas by providing feedback on their food projects. Barbara also helped our foods judging run smoothly by serving as a clerk that day, and also helped provide information about how this process is run in Woodson County. Even while she was busy at her own foods judging in Woodson County, she was willing to answer Clara’s many questions in person that day! Dale helped with many of the early steps in the livestock projects, including doing the spring weigh-ins before Hunter started as an agent at the end of May. Dale also assisted in person at the Allen County Fair, and even served as a gate man for one of the shows. These are just a few of the countless tasks that our more experienced Southwind District agents assisted with, as the full list of everything they did to help make the 2022 Allen County Fair a success would be too long to include in this edition of the Tuesday letter! We could not have survived fair week without their help and wise guidance.
We also want to express our sincerest gratitude to our office professional Shelly Wagner for everything she did to make the fair happen this year. It was also her first year working for the Southwind Extension District, but she picked things up quickly! From organizing awards to helping with the weigh-ins to assisting with foods judging and more, Shelly went above and beyond in her work to support the Allen County Fair! From the bottom of our hearts, thank you, Shelly!
Finally, we would like to thank the three other office professionals in the Southwind Extension District, Andrea, Leslie and Pat, for all of their help. Andrea helped ensure that all of our fair information was uploaded to our website and also helped design program flyers for us while already being busy with the Woodson County Fair. Leslie helped ensure we were spreading the word about educational programs taking place during the fair on social media. Pat helped keep our 4-H families up-to-date on fair happenings by writing and publishing an informative newsletter regularly throughout the year.
Once again, thank you Jennifer, Chad, Krista, Joy, Barbara, Dale, Shelly, Andrea, Leslie, and Pat for all of your help!"
Southwind agents and office professionals, thanks for all you do for the people of Kansas, our colleagues and K-State Research and Extension.
If you know of a colleague or team of colleagues who deserve recognition for a job well done, why not nominate them for a Shout Out. Simply send their name(s) and the reason for the Shout Out to ksreshoutout@ksu.edu. Also, it would be very helpful if you would put "Shout Out" in the subject line of the email.