Month: July 2021

Current and former EELI participants won several awards during the joint conference of the SC Association of County Agriculture Agents and SC Association of Extension 4-H Agents.

Below is a list of the awards that our EELI participants were a part of. Some of these awards also included non-EELI participants.

See below for a short video highlighting all of the award winners!

In November of 2020, Sydney transitioned from a 4-H Youth Development agent to an Education, Innovation & Support Agent.  This is the newest program area within SC State University’s 1890 Research & Extension Service.  She has worked with the College and Career Readiness Programs such as College 101 Workshops, Helping Youth Pursue Education (HYPE), and Youth Book Clubs.  She also assists with their Agriculture Innovation Scholarship where there are over 50 students in our 2^nd year received full scholarships to attend SC State and pursue a degree in Agriculture. Currently, Sydney also serves as a campus advisor for Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANNRS).  She is a 2019 Graduate of Leadership Orangeburg and a participant in the 2021 class of Leadership South Carolina.  Sydney also serves on the Board of Directors for Why Not Young Lives, a 501c3 committed to providing educational resources to underserved communities as the Community Liaison.

Kevin Burkett’s role is Agribusiness Extension Associate and Assistant Director of the Clemson Tax School. He works with South Carolina farmers on business management skills and help run the annual Clemson Income Tax School for tax preparers.

I have always felt leading by example is the best and most effective way of leading others. When I think of leaders I admire, they have always been great examples in work, life, faith, etc. It is also important to be a team player and realize you are representing all the institutions and organizations you are a part of.

In the past 9 months, (much like other programs) all Clemson Tax School programs transitioned to online delivery. In that time over 1,100 clients participated in the annual workshops. Going forward, there are plans for both virtual and in-person programming. I am also proud of the Small Fruit Certification Training course that was launched in conjunction with Auburn University and University of Georgia that helps agents learn about certifications for fruit farmers.

(And I would be remiss to not say I am glad to be able to join the EELI program).

One of Karen’s most significant achievements in the last few months is the release of the South Carolina Stream Bank Repair Manual! This document is a collaboration with Katie Altman, also an EELI class participant, and it is the newest resource for the statewide program launched in 2020. After seeing the degraded conditions of small streams around the state and the lack of knowledge surrounding what it means to have a “healthy stream,” it became evident that landowners and managers needed a program to help protect and restore streams. The Stream Bank Repair program has already hosted one workshop in the Upstate in 2021 and has three more scheduled for the fall/winter of 2021-2022. The listserv has quickly grown over the last several months, and more and more landowners are reaching out for guidance on stream issues. Although neighboring states such as North Carolina have similar programs, the South Carolina Stream Bank Repair program is novel to our state.

Lauren Hood leads the York County 4-H program through Clemson Extension. While the community clubs are all led by volunteers, Lauren works with the local schools to deliver school enrichment. School enrichment comes in the form of planting and maintaining gardens, hatching chicks through embryology lessons, creating healthy snacks and meals, and various other STEM and natural resources-related lessons.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lauren completed her master’s degree and wrote the first thesis of the new Clemson University Master of Science in Agriculture program. Her thesis was a mixed methods study gaining the perceptions of 4-H participants and their parents of the virtual programming efforts made by South Carolina 4-H during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The goal of this study was to learn what worked and how to improve if there is ever another situation like the pandemic. This study also provides recommendations to Extension leadership to aid county 4-H (or any program area) Agents in data collection and analysis, communication, and marketing, as these were common themes throughout the study. Lauren and other members of the research team hope this study will be beneficial for Clemson Extension, South Carolina 4-H, and other states’ Extension and 4-H programs as it is being formatted for publication in academic journals.

Amber Starnes, Area Livestock and Forages Agent, believes in a comprehensive extension program.  Her work covers multiple program areas within Extension, including Livestock, 4-H, and pesticide coordinator.  In Chesterfield, she manages all the 4-H activities, including offering at-home kits for youth to stay active during the pandemic.  In addition to the Chesterfield 4-H, she also serves as the Pee Dee Region 4-H and Livestock Coordinator, in which she assists in coordinating the following projects: poultry, swine, goat, rabbit, green tomato, coloring contest, and other activities for the ECA fair and Pee Dee Region events.

In her primary programmatic area of Livestock and Forages, Amber has developed and implemented several virtual workshops, including Forage Week.  These online programs cover production and management information for constituents to stay informed in a timely manner.  Her work through managing social media accounts and offering virtual programs in partnership within her team and across extension teams has gained several new supporters for Clemson Extension in multiple states.  In addition, she has also been working toward making the Backyard Poultry Series available as an online course.  She has a passion for serving the agricultural community in which she lives and works.

My name is Lance Beecher, and I have enjoyed being part of the EELI program and the people I have met so far at our gatherings. Being a part of EELI, I hope to expand my leadership approaches, strengthen my networking contacts, and leverage my passion for being an exceptional specialist and effective mentor of the Clemson Extension Service. Since becoming a Clemson University Extension member, I have individually managed an aquaponics, aquaculture, and fisheries program. Executing this program has been a challenge; however, I feel these are essential disciplines to explore natural resource conservation and produce an alternative, sustainable food source. I offer knowledge and advice for these disciplines in various methods such as educating adults through workshops, college students through the Creative Inquiry program, and youth through multiple programs. One such program I am involved with and genuinely enjoy participating in every summer is the South Carolina Commissioner’s School for Agriculture (SCCSA).  SCCSA, a partnership between Clemson University and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, is a program that provides a challenging and enriching college-based experience for rising 11th and 12th-grade students. The programs offered provide experiences from a variety of related disciplines in areas of agriculture and natural resources. I offer various specialized lessons for the students in aquaponics and fisheries; however, there is one experience, called stream surveying, that I enjoy participating the most in with the SCCSA students. The students arrive streamside, are taught all of the indicators to explore for sampling a stream, then each group is given a bucket and two nets and sent out to gather invertebrates and any other organisms found in the stream. The exploration is the most exciting and sometimes challenging time because of the students’ enthusiasm for returning with all kinds of exciting stream organisms. They then separate, count, and identify various organisms and follow charts to determine how healthy the stream is now and what can be done to improve stream health in the future. It’s a special time for all and gives me a chance to provide the students with the knowledge to make choices to improve the future for all.