4 Grant County Educators Honored by WVU Extension Service for ‘Excellence’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

To be archived (4-H, Ag. F&H) after October 20, 2008

Faculty and staff in the Grant County office of the West Virginia University Extension Service have received statewide recognition for their outstanding work in agriculture, 4-H Youth Development and nutrition education. 

Brad Smith, Martha Garton, Cassie Mitters Vandevander and Vicki Jones-Fertig were among faculty and staff honored recently during the WVU Extension Service’s annual recognition program at WVU Jackson’s Mill State 4-H Camp, Weston.

Smith, a WVU Extension agent and assistant professor, received the Team Program Excellence Award as a member of the multi-county Grassland Team. The award is given in appreciation of “efforts that provide significant contributions to the well-being of West Virginia’s people.”

The 30-member Grassland Team was honored because the educators continue to help cow-calf producers learn how to manage pastures, extend the grazing season, deal with droughts and control costs.

Smith and other team members initiated their project by conducting on-farm research. They then began creating fact sheets, organizing pasture walks, and conducting educational meetings to show agricultural producers the effectiveness of improved pastures and the benefits of an extended grazing season. 

On farms in Grant County and throughout West Virginia, better grassland management is creating better production figures. WVU researchers report that summer forage has increased by 406 pounds per acre.  Producers have reduced production costs by $21.92 per animal, while cattle performance has increased by 31 pounds per animal.

Martha Garton, an Extension agent and associate professor, received the WVU-ES Advanced Researcher Award for her achievements as a member of the National Camping Research Consortium. The 10-member group field-tested evaluation instruments and procedures. They then developed the National 4-H Camp Evaluation Tool Kit for Extension faculty, camp directors and staff to use in implementing and evaluating   4-H camping programs. Garton was instrumental in developing the tool kit’s life skills questionnaire.

Garton shared a second award with Vandevander, who is a youth nutrition outreach instructor with the WVU-ES Family Nutrition Program in Grant County. The two received the Diversity Program Excellence Award for developing “projects that provide educational opportunities to diverse or nontraditional audiences.”

Because 4-H camp is a “life-changing experience” for youths, Garton and Vandevander pursued many channels to make the youth development activities available to more limited-resource youths, especially those who live in northern Grant County.

Concentrated recruiting, additional scholarships and clothing gifts increased the number of campers in 2007. The number of limited-resource campers rose form 18 in 2006 to 51 in 2007.  The number of northern county participants increased from two to 35.

Garton and Vandevander’s successful push for more campers created additional challenges. They needed more staff.  So, they recruited more camp counselors and added more classes.

Jones-Fertig, the family nutrition outreach instructor in Hardy and Grant counties, received the New Employee Excellence Award. In less than two years with the WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program, she has raised more than $2,000 in cash and in-kind donations to assist her work. The funds equipped a kitchen in the new Hardy County Food Bank building, where she now can teach nutrition classes to low-income families.

Across the mountain in Hardy County, she connected with civic groups that allow her to conduct classes in their facilities. In Grant County, she developed a relationship with the Ministerial Association to conduct classes in facilities in those communities. 

In both counties, Jones-Fertig also teaches nutrition to Head Start parents and works weekly with Women, Infants and Children program participants.

Through her efforts, a new Community Educational Outreach Service club was formed in a limited-resource community, which now will have easier access to additional family, health and leadership education opportunities. 

A Master Gardener, Jones-Fertig created and continues to organize the annual Community Garden. She supplements her nutrition class budget with produce grown in the garden and also encourages her class participants to use the garden to reduce their food bills.

The educators offer other agriculture, 4-H Youth Development and human nutrition programs through the Grant County WVU Extension Service Office at 115-1/2 Virginia Ave., Petersburg. For more information, call 257-4688, or visit the WVU Extension Service Web site (www.ext.wvu.edu).

—WVU-ES—

fsm 11/07

Last modified November 15, 2007
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