Purdue News
Purdue News
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November 18, 1998
Outstanding Indiana Extension educators win awardsWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Indiana Extension Educators Association honored 13 of its members Nov. 17 at the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service annual conference on Purdue's West Lafayette campus.Mary Ann Lienhart-Cross of Elkhart County won the Senior Award in Consumer and Family Sciences. Lienhart-Cross worked with the director of the Greencroft Retirement Community to present a two-day conference on positive aging that focused on learning to get the most out of life, challenging yourself though your daily routine, and learning about selected issues faced by older Americans. Other topics addressed included celebrating being an older adult and improving the quality of life by having fun. Almost 200 seniors participated in the first two conferences, with 93 percent of the participants responding that it had been a great celebration and well worth their while and 100 percent indicating they would participate again or encourage others to participate in the workshops. Kay Chenoweth, Blackford County, won the Junior Award in Consumer and Family Sciences. Working with the county food sanitarian, Chenoweth conducted a "Food Safety Day" at a three-day training session for Blackford County hospital and retail food service employees. The mayors of Hartford City and Montpelier proclaimed the day "Food Safety Day." All 36 of the participants who completed evaluations indicated they benefited from the program, could communicate the information they learned to co-workers, and could identify food-handling problems in food service establishments. Susan Meier Erickson of Vigo County won the 1998 Bob Amick Award in 4-H and Youth Development. Erickson developed a Spring Break Workshop Series in 1994 and has offered the workshop every spring since. The workshop is designed to provide fun, educational programs for students who don't go on spring break trips, as well as give parents an alternative to day care during this time. Youths have been able to participate in workshops covering a variety of topics, including foods and nutrition, basket weaving, dream catchers, photography, geology fossil hunt, stained glass, flower arranging, wildlife, and soil and water conservation. From 75 participants in 1994, the workshops drew more than 200 students in 1997. The Senior Award in 4-H and Youth Development went to Dorothy Campbell of Marion County. With the Marion County CSR Steering Committee and community involvement, Campbell has helped initiate several programs in Perry Township, such as community curfew sweeps, the summer Brightwood/Martindale school/community collaboration program, restorative justice, parent programs/networks, and student drug-free education and contracts. The programs continue to grow, with more than 5,000 families networked through the parent programs, and 300 students signing drug-free contracts. Sharon Broughton, Crawford County, won the Career Award in 4-H and Youth Development. In cooperation with the Crawford County Community School Corp., Broughton established the "My Buddy" mentoring program, pairing high-school sophomores and juniors with sixth-grade students at the county's five elementary schools. Monthly activities involve the "little buddies," their parents and their "big buddies" in team building, communication skills and other family strength building activities. More than 75 percent of the little buddies experienced a rise in their reading level, and 25 percent improved from C to B. The Agricultural Innovator Award in Agriculture went to Terry Keeneth of Gibson County. Keeneth worked to form the Gibson County Plot Committee, a partnership of Purdue CES with processors, specialty corn buyers and seed corn companies, in an effort to educate area farmers and help them upgrade their food corn quality to receive the maximum incentive premiums. The committee was invited to host the 1997 National Food Corn Field Day by the national committees and received two value-added grants from the Commissioner of Agriculture totaling $55,494. Attendance at the field day included 200 participants form 11 states and two countries. Keeneth also received the Senior Award in Leadership and Community Development for his response to the announcement of a new Toyota truck manufacturing site near Princeton. Realizing the many opportunities and fears created by this announcement, Keeneth worked to initiate community meetings with the Take Charge concept. More than 600 invitations were sent to a cross-section of residents, with 137 residents responding. The effort produced the largest Take Charge audience in Indiana history, an average of 123 participants for three meetings. The group identified key issues of land use and controlled growth, transportation, employment, education, leadership and environmental/solid waste management. The committees formed are still active today. Steve Engleking of Lagrange County won the Junior Award in Agriculture and Natural Resources for his effort in forming the Northern Indiana Farm Safety Committee to address the county's problem of having the highest number of farming-related deaths in Indiana. The committee began meeting in 1996 to raise awareness in both Amish and English communities through activities sensitive to Amish values, such as safety town meetings held in Amish school houses, a safety coloring book for Amish children, and farm safety field days held on Amish farms. More than 650 people have participated in these events. Accidental farming deaths were reduced from six in 1995 to one in 1996, and nonfatal farming-related accidents were reduced from 15 in 1995 to three in 1996 and five in 1997. The Innovator Award in Community Development went to Valynnda Slack. Because of her effort, Whitley County is one of only two counties in Indiana with a coordinated/combined planning and building department. Residents utilize one office for all permits and one staff for advice. The biggest benefit, according to Slack, is the willingness of almost all the local governments to work together for the good of the county. Phillip Schmidt, Spencer County, and G. Allen Ullom, Perry County, won the 1998 Team Award for the development of the Perry/Spencer Crop Day in February to present timely, basic information to farmers. More than 150 people attended the meetings, which emphasized the need and concern for proper conservation management practices. The County Staff Award was won by Adams County staff members Mark Merkel, Steve Siegelin and Trisha Hockemeyer. They initiated and coordinated the second annual Kids Safety Day for students in kindergarten through fist grade. A total of 348 youths participated in programs at eight sites focusing on fire safety, fire equipment, power take off safety, combine safety, EMS tour, lawn mower safety, food safety and household cleaner look-alikes. About 55 percent of the second-grade students participating in the program showed an increase in practical safety knowledge as a result of the program.
Source: Floyd Branson, assistant director, Cooperative Extension Service, (765) 494-8490; e-mail, Floyd_Branson@ces.purdue.edu Writer: Jane Houin, (765) 494-2722; e-mail, news_students@aes.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
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