Yadkin County 4H Youth Development Agent Madaline Jones (left) claims multiple awards at the 4-H Youth Development Professionals Annual Conference in September.
The Yadkin County Cooperative Extension continues to provide unique educational events for area youth and the hard work of staff members has been recognized with recent awards.
On Sept. 28-29, sixth graders from all of Yadkin County’s Public Elementary Schools participated in an Environmental Field Day hosted by Yadkin County 4-H and Yadkin County Cooperative Extension.
“We had this event in order to give students a hands-on and up close learning experience with what they are learning about in school this year regarding the environment,” explained 4H Agent Madaline Jones. ” For sixth grade, based on the K-12 Standards, Curriculum and Instruction for Science, students are supposed to learn about the earth systems, structures and processes, structures and functions of living organisms, and ecosystems. This field day was centered on delivering valuable information to sixth grade students regarding these topics that they will be studying throughout the school year.”
Jones went on to explain that students visited various stations during the event which focused on a range of environmental topics.
“The eight stations that were held at this event included a recycling, bees, wildlife, soils, plants, insects, photosynthesis/forestry, and a healthy snack station,” said Jones. “The students rotated through the stations with their teachers and listened, interacted, and asked questions of each presenter. The stations were taught by Cooperative Extension Staff, Forestry Services, Yadkin County Beekeepers Association, NC Wildlife Commission, Farm Service Agency, and 4-H Volunteers. These station presenters used hands-on and interactive teaching methods to give students a memorable learning experience about the environment.”
Jones’ work with the NC Cooperative Extension was honored recently. Jones was awarded the TC Blalock Young Agent Award during the 2022 North Carolina Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals Annual Conference held on Sept. 8. The purpose of the award is to recognize 4-H agents for doing outstanding work in the 4-H Program.
Jones was also awarded an Achievement in Service Award, which is a national recognition. The Achievement in Service Award recognizes 4-H Youth Development Professionals, with 3-7 years experience based, for outstanding accomplishments on the previous year’s work.
In 2021, Jones helped serve 1,078 youth in Yadkin County through 4-H programming. Some of her accomplishments included being selected to present the 2nd/3rd Grade Steps to Health Program for the state, assisting in creating an Ag Day for 799 students for Yadkin/Davie Counties, and creating an Environmental Field Day for 371 students.
Jones was not the only member of the Yadkin County Extension Agency to win awards at the ceremony. Addie Wilson, Yadkin County Cooperative Extension CED, Ashley Beard, former Yadkin County Family and Consumer Science Agent, along with Jones, won the NCAE4-HYDP Teamwork Award in 4-H Programming for Walking for a Better Community. This project was conducted in 2021 to help youth understand and perform walking assessments for bettering communities.
To learn more about 4-H, please contact Madaline Jones, Yadkin County’s 4-H and Youth Devolvement Extension Agent, through email at madaline_jones@ncsu or by calling 336-849-7908.