A Person You Should Know
This week's Person You Should Know is Zoe Husler, a Massachusetts native who recently moved to Indiana to lead the 4-H program in St. Joseph County (Ind.). She lives with her husband, Ian, in South Bend, and has extended family, including parents and grandmother, in western Massachusetts, where she grew up.
My Job: My job is to create educational experiences for the youth who participate in the 4-H program. I work with our 200-plus 4-H adult volunteers to create fun 4-H club experiences and educational workshops, as well as some in-school and afterschool programming partnerships. The capstone of each year is the 4-H fair, where youth show off the various projects they have worked on throughout the year. We offer over 80 different projects where youth can explore their interests, which helps them not only learn new things, but also to determine what career paths and hobbies they may want to pursue in the future.
My mentor: Liz Garofalo, an extension educator at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was my first mentor in the Cooperative Extension system. She invited me to work for the Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU) internship program after I took her deciduous orchards class as an undergraduate. Through that opportunity I eventually became the REEU program coordinator, and that experience creating extension education opportunities for undergraduates led to my position creating educational opportunities for 4-H youth today!
My mission in life: To serve God wherever He places me.
How I give back: I volunteer in the children's ministry at my church.
Hobbies: I like to bake and cook, crochet, take walks outside now that the weather is so beautiful, and read. Currently, I am reading "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir, and planning a Notre Dame themed blueberry-chocolate graduation cake for a friend!
If I Could Do Something Else: In an alternate life, I would have liked to have been a chef or a farmer with my own fruit operation, featuring apples, peaches, blueberries and brambles (raspberries/blackberries).
To nominate someone for this column, call or email Jerry Goshert (jerry@farm ers-exchange.net) editor. The telephone number for editor is 574/831-2138.