The Newsletter for A&M System Employees and Retirees
January 2006
The Newsletter for A&M System Employees and Retirees
January 2006
4-H
touches the lives of more than a million young Texans each year.
(College Station)—Throughout its nearly 100 years in Texas, 4-H has worked to reach all Texas youth wherever they live—and still does.
In 1908 Tom Marks, Extension agent in Jack County, founded the first “corn club” for boys, which was followed a few years later by “pig clubs” and “beef calf clubs” in Coleman County (1910), and “tomato clubs” for girls in Milam County (1912).
But times change and so does 4-H. From its original 25 members in 1908, the statewide organization now touches the lives of more than a million young Texans each year, and the numbers are expected to grow.
Although Texas 4-H still has roots that go deep into agriculture and in rural areas of the state, for the last 25 years or so its programs have been branching out into all urban settings.
Martha Couch, Texas Cooperative Extension associate director for 4-H and youth, and Toby Lepley, associate professor and Extension 4-H and youth development specialist, said many of these new urban programs are conducted through partnerships with school systems because 4-H goes where kids go, and kids are in school.
They are also in urban areas—about 60 percent of the young participants in 4-H programs live in urban areas, Couch said.
Some of these programs are designed to teach city kids about agriculture, Dr. Couch said. For example, 4-H in Tarrant County offers a program called “100 Horses in 100 Schools,” which was designed to teach young city dwellers about horses and how important they are to the state’s agriculture and economy.
Other agriculture literacy programs in urban areas help kids from urban areas learn where their food comes from, Couch said. For the past 10 years or so about 300,000 youngsters have participated in these programs, which are sometimes called Pizza Ranch, Burger Farm, Kids and Kows, and AgVenture.
“The whole effort is to make them aware of agriculture and its importance to the state,” she said, adding that surprisingly enough, some of these kids didn’t realize French fries came from potatoes. “They thought French fries came from McDonald’s!”
(Kingsville)—The King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management at Texas A&M University-Kingsville is revolutionizing ranching education to meet the ever-changing needs of the 21st century.
“Ranching is a constantly changing business. It isn’t enough just to be a cowboy these days,” said Barry Dunn, executive director and endowed chair of the institute. “You have to be a businessman, wildlife manager, animal expert and range conservationist all at the same time. Our new program is uniquely designed to produce ranch managers that are just that.”
KRIRM
student Matt Etheredge
The institute’s curriculum is unique, as each student’s plan of study is tailored to strengthen his or her skills and intellect in all areas of ranch management, including animal science, wildlife management, range management, business and system analysis.
The birth of the KRIRM was to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the King Ranch in 2003. The program accepted its first two students in fall 2004 and picked up two in fall 2005. The master’s degree curriculum is designed as a two-year program with two new students each year.
“When we look at the way traditional masters programs are structured we see that the focus of their research is typically directed at one specific subject.However, the KRIRM program offers a flexible and diverse curriculum that requires its students to focus on the many different aspects of a ranching system,” said Clint Richardson, a first-year student from Orlando, Fla.
“I was intrigued by the opportunity to have the program tailored to my needs to become a successful ranch manager in the future and learn to apply a systematic approach to management and problem solving,” he said.
Prairie
View A&M, TEES receive $1 million NSF grant