Pasture Blaster a big success!
Pamela Roberts Inspires Youth and Adults in Jefferson County
She’s a dynamic, energy-filled force who keeps changing the landscape of youth development in Jefferson County. Pamela Roberts, a WSU 4-H Extension agent/activist, collaborates with community partners, engages volunteers, and works directly with youth to motivate, stimulate, and enhance their lives now and, if she has her way, for the rest of their lives.
Adult volunteer Nancy Wyatt is continually impressed with Roberts’ dedication and drive. “Pam is always there for the youth and the adults. She is a strategist who works together to inspire volunteers and all her efforts center around what is good for the kids and/or community,” said Wyatt. Wyatt has worked with Roberts during her eight years at WSU on multiple tasks including the challenge course curriculum, trainings, recertifications, maintenance, and safety. “I have always felt appreciated, honored, supported, and capable in every experience with Pam,” added Wyatt.
Roberts came to Jefferson County 4-H after a varied career as a solo cellist and as an innovative public school teacher and principal where she focused on working with high at-risk youth. A graduate of the University of Washington, Roberts has developed a comprehensive 4-H program which includes clubs, in-school and after-school programs, workforce preparation opportunities, camps, a challenge course, and a host of special events. She also works as an intervention specialist with some of the highest needs youth in Jefferson County - those who show increasing patterns of incarceration and those experiencing extreme mental health challenges.
“In our community people see 4-H everywhere,” said Katherine Baril, Director, WSU Extension Jefferson County. “Pam uses her skills and expertise to integrate 4-H into every youth initiative in the area. I've never seen anyone say no to her because we all know she's there every night, every weekend, with every youth, smiling, saying yes, and making things happen. Pam's work is a piece of art, a time of joy, and a gift to our community.”
Roberts’ focus is working in large organizational systems where she can analyze strengths and weakness and then devote her energies to specific growth areas. She has done this particularly with the 4-H Network News project where 4-H members report at pubic events and produce videos online about 4-H clubs, projects, and community service. Other top priorities include program development and support, partnership creation and development, fund-raising, grant writing, and marketing.
“There is no focus on the face of this earth that is more rewarding than being an educator and hands-on advocate for youth and families,” said Roberts. I love working with adult 4-H leaders, who truly care about youth and who will go out of their way to give them opportunities for success. I am blessed to do this work and receive the personal satisfaction that comes with it.”
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VOTE FOR THE GOATS!
VOTE FOR THE GOATS!
Sunfield Farm and Waldorf School
need your votes on Facebook to win
$500,000!
Click on the arrow and help us! Tell your friends and anyone else
you know who will VOTE FOR THE GOATS!
(You can vote a maximum of five times for Sunfield!)
(Deadline: Sept. 3, 2010)
Note: Sunfield School is a member of Jefferson County 4-H through its
in-school and after school 4-H programs.
Mailing Address
Sunfield Education Association
P.O. Box 85
Port Hadlock, WA 98339
Phone
(360) 385-3658
Email
info@sunfieldfarm.org
VOTE FOR THE GOATS!
need your votes on Facebook to win
$500,000!
you know who will VOTE FOR THE GOATS!
(You can vote a maximum of five times for Sunfield!)
(Deadline: Sept. 3, 2010)
Note: Sunfield School is a member of Jefferson County 4-H through its
in-school and after school 4-H programs.
Mailing Address
Sunfield Education Association
P.O. Box 85
Port Hadlock, WA 98339
Phone
(360) 385-3658
info@sunfieldfarm.org
VOTE FOR THE GOATS!
4-H Paws-N-Claws cat club wins the Green and White Award at Jefferson County Fair!
Congratulations to the Paws-N-Claws 4-H cat club for winning the coveted Green and White Award at the Jefferson County Fair for the best decorated building!
Broadband Makes Its Way to Rural Washington State!
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke joined U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee and Brian Baird, and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn to announce a Recovery Act investment that will help improve economic opportunity and support job creation in Washington State. The event followed an announcement by Vice President Joe Biden outlining new projects across America that will bring reliable broadband Internet service to communities that currently have little or no access.
Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 at the urging of President Obama, who signed it into law on February 17, 2009. A direct response to the economic crisis, the Recovery Act had three immediate goals: create new jobs as well as save existing ones, spur economic activity and invest in long-term economic growth, and foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently said that the Recovery Act is responsible for saving or creating as many as 2.8 million jobs.
Featured are: Gary Locke, U.S. Secretary of Commerce; U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee of the 1st District in Washington State; Greg Markey, CEO of NoaNet; Mike Henson of NoaNet; Katherine Baril, Director of WSU Jefferson County Extension, Rogers Weed, Director of the Washington State Dept. of Commerce; and our own 4-H Network News reporter, Stephanie Weir!
Broadband funding comes to Washington State from the U.S. Department of Commerce!
Stephanie Weir, 4-H Network News reporter, admires the fountain in front of the Seattle Central Library after attending the press conference related to the new broadband award to Washington State from the U.S. Department of Commerce - her video interview of Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke will be posted soon!
Stephanie Weir interviews U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee - Pamela Roberts, camera.
Message from Katherine Baril, WSU Jefferson County Extension Director:
The EDC/ TEAM JEFFERSON and WSU are so proud/ pleased to announce that our proposal with NOA Net to provide fast, high speed broadband throughout East Jefferson County was awarded $3.5 million by the Department of Commerce on August 18th. Hooray!! Let's CELEBRATE BROADBAND !!!
Noa Net now has funding to lay fiber and set up wireless systems to link over 30 "community anchor" sites throughout East Jefferson County. This will match the funding that was already funding t by the Jefferson County fire districts for JeffComm 911 towers and equipment for a total of $6.5 million in new technology infrastructure.
This ensures fast-speed access at our "anchor institutions". our libraries, schools, the hospital, government offices, emergency response and fire teams, and hubs that can then be linked and connected for business development and home access. Whether it be telemedicine in our homes, employers that can now attract a skilled workforce, our students accessing the best math and language programs in the nation, this investment is priceless. We may have missed the train 100 years ago but today Jefferson County will now be connected to the new knowledge based global economy. Farms can expand, businesses will connect with customers and suppliers, and we can now do more to attract young families and entrepreneurs because we will have the connections !!!
I truly want to thank each and every one of you for your effort, the meetings, the expertise you brought to the table, the passion that this was the right time and the right issue. It truly took a team. It also took a partnership with Mike Henson, from Noa Net!! We could never have done this proposal without his support, maneuvering through the complex grant work, and his true caring for this community.
On a personal level, yesterday was really memorable. Noa Net had invited me as the only awardee to attend the press conference. I watched our 4-H Network News youth, Stephanie Weir, interview Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and the congressional reps. I saw the passion the NoaNet management brings to their work. I saw their pride in the innovation that ten years ago they believed that this region could replicate the public investment made in BPA in the l930s and use that same infrastructure to bring broadband to under-served rural communities . As we talked about how economic development had required first the train, then the phone, then the interstate highways and BPA and now, broadband, we recognized this as historic. This is all about investing in the future so that our kids can truly participate in the information economy and have a place at the table. I have no idea how much creativity and innovation this will release- I have no idea how many good paying jobs or small businesses this can start. its priceless! but I do know that I felt pride and hope for our community, for the EDC/ TEAM JEFFERSON's effort to set a new tone and the success that collaboration can really accomplish.
I also thought to myself that this community should never doubt the value of having a University Extension, funded in our community . WSU Extension brought the tractors to farms in the l930s - the after-school, hot meals and mobile libraries in the l950s and pioneered Learning Centers and rural access to technology in the l990s. We've hosted youth from Rwanda, Korea, and Ecuador in our computer lab; our youth based 4-H news network and shellfish operations are national models; daily with Clemente, our volunteer programs, the new food and farm economy and TEAM JEFFERSON-- we grow community and change lives. Today, in a time that we all recognize that the "New Economy" is one based on knowledge, innovation, and collaboration- on a global scale- this community's university was able to be the pivotal convenor, work with you and deliver this broadband, a sizable new investment for this community. I feel that whatever comes next we accomplished something really good here and delivered something important to this community- a legacy that we can now gift to the young so that they can live their dreams- make their way - make a dent in the Universe.
CELEBRATE BROADBAND !! Dream big!! Help explain to our communities what a really big opportunity that this is!!
We'll get together to celebrate soon!! There is still a lot of work to do. Mark your calendar for September 28- TEAM JEFFERSON will be hosting the Director of Policy for Washington Internet Access, Angela Wu, from the Washington Department of Information Services. We'll get everyone together and CELEBRATE BROADBAND
Thank you!
L. Katherine Baril
Director, WSU Jefferson County Extension
EDC- TEAM JEFFERSON-
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