February 21, 2023
Shout Out: Mary Hellmer
The Shout Out this week comes from Nancy Daniels, Community Vitality Specialist; and is directed to Mary Hellmer, Human Capital Specialist in Extension Operations. Nancy writes:
"I want to give a Shout Out to Mary Hellmer. Mary has been such an asset in Inclusion training.
Recently I reached out to Mary asking for advice about two specific programs I give and how to make them more helpful to Spanish speakers. Mary assured me that we already have our First Friday e-call recordings set up on YouTube, so a translation in closed captioning will be available when someone asks for it, but gave me two additional ideas.
Mary suggested that second-language participants in an in-person Grant Workshop may appreciate having the PowerPoint translated into Spanish when their brains are overloaded trying to follow the verbal presentation. She suggested I send the presentation to the host ahead of time with the suggestion and see if the host has the resources for translation or if we should do it. The host appreciated the idea and said they could translate them if they had second-language learners who registered.
The second idea was to speak with the Micro-Internship Program to see if they could translate their employer guide into Spanish so that The Toolbox of KCK could provide it to their Spanish-speaking small businesses. Although I offered to provide the services, the service provider already had the ability to translate their Employer Guide and said it would be done in a week.
When I celebrated these two small successes with Mary she said, “There is so much power in just trying.” Thank you, Mary. Because of your genuine desire to be helpful, your technical expertise, and your creativity, K-State Research and Extension can live closer to our intention of inclusion.
I urge you to reach out to Mary, she is extremely helpful."
Mary, 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.