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What Will I Do as a County Extension Agent?
County Extension agents are educators and facilitators.
Whether local citizens want to learn more about a topic,
need someone to guide them through a process, want to
develop local partnerships, desire to make community
changes or just need an answer to a question, the Extension
staff is there. Extension agents' primary goal is to
provide transformational education for local citizens.
Agents assess local needs and develop relationships
with people. They work with advisory groups, facilitate
discussions and develop educational programs to meet
local needs. They evaluate programs and report results.
Extension agents typically focus on agriculture and
natural resources; family and consumer sciences, 4-H
youth development; community, economic development and
leadership; FNP and EFNEP work. However, nearly all
agents carry out educational programming in 4-H youth
development and community, economic development and
leadership.
In addition to serving their counties, agents usually
lead educational programming in their areas of expertise
in nearby counties or within communities of interest
across the state.
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"In
addition to the variety and flexibility of the
job, the main reason I show up for work every
day is my personal lifelong love of learning and
the belief that we can change attitudes and behavior
through education. I know that sounds hokey, but
it’s how I feel about what I do. Besides,
I have seen proof (otherwise known as evaluation
data!) that it works."
Ellen Bjelland
Extension Agent/Human Development and Family Science,
Barnes County
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