Greenville County 4-H – Extension Agent Patricia Whitener

January 28, 2021

Patricia Whitener has been happily serving the Greenville Community for the past 6 years. Her connection with families, schools, recreation sites and non-profit organizations has helped her transition to delivering virtual programs over the past 9 months. Despite the changes in how we all work and live that Covid-19 pandemic has wrought, Greenville County 4-H has continued to engage and educate youth ages 5-18 with hands-on learning. 4-H clubs may not be meeting in person but since March, Greenville 4-H’ers have participated in and completed independent project learning in healthy lifestyles, embryology, Small Garden project, Tomato project, 4-H Flower project and the Wildlife Food plot project. Several of our volunteer led community clubs have transitioned to virtual meetings including Stablemates, Robotics, Teen Council, 4-H Forest Explorers, Chess, and Pleasant Valley Connection. Over the summer, 113 campers received materials and curriculum in mailed kits to utilize while at home. The virtual day camp “Journey to Mars” program aimed to enhance computational thinking skills and promote computer science literacy. In August, 4-H once again partnered with the state-wide Clemson Extension School and Community Gardening team to deliver transplants and supplies for over a dozen gardens. These gardens provide learning for 271 students. Whitener is currently training volunteers and teachers, as part of an online course, to install 4 additional school gardens. These outdoor classrooms have led to partnerships with researchers in the College of Behavioral, Health and Social Sciences where Patricia is working closely with other graduate students to develop an Ag.STEM curriculum as part of her doctoral research. This winter, over 50 youth received a regionally specific natural resource materials as part of our Winter Wildlife Activity kit. Spring is off to an exciting start as the Poultry projects and Pollinator project kick off next month. For more information about how you can support, engage, and participate in 4-H, please contact your county agent, Patricia Whitener, by emailing pwhiten@clemson.edu or calling (864)365-0627.