Tuesday 5/8

Today our speakers were Brittany Pangburn and Joyce Shriner. They both represented the OSU extension office. Brittany mainly covered the extension offices correlation with 4-H. 4-H has previously been geared toward rural youth, clubs, and specializations. More recently they have switched gears toward science, national/state, community clubs/school enrichment, and saving America's youth. Problems that are addressed include: teenage pregnancy, drugs/alcohol, nutrition, and illiteracy. 4-H offers youth development groups, projects/curriculum, camping, and agricultural experiences. A percentage of 4-H funding comes from OSU, a percentage comes from the county commissioners, membership fees, and local areas may or may not pay a tax that goes to 4-H. Brittany did not mention a role specific to a nutrition professional--however; an RD may be useful to those doing nutrition or health science projects.

Joyce talked more about the OSU extension office. The mission of the office is to "engage people to strengthen their lives and communities through research-based educational programming." Funding mostly comes from the university. Joyce went over a brief history of the university and listed the program areas (agricultural and natural resources, community development, family and consumer science, and 4-H and youth development). The role of a nutritional professional would largely be needed in the family and consumer sciences area. The focus of this area includes: healthy families, healthy relationships, and healthy finances. OSU is also involved in the Family Nutrition Program (FNP) which is a class that discusses several nutrition-related topics for families receiving food assistance.