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Published on 03/06/14

UGA Extension invites Georgians to help celebrate 100 years

By Merritt Melancon

University of Georgia Extension invites Georgians to help celebrate 100 years of working together to build a better Georgia by chronicling their Extension stories.

The history of UGA Extension is comprised of thousands of stories of Georgians who spent their youth at 4-H summer camps, organized home demonstration clubs or relied on their local county agent for canning, gardening or farming advice. As it celebrates its official centennial, the organization wants to hear and share these stories.

Anyone who feels UGA Extension has affected their life should visit 100years.extension.uga.edu and submit their story in the online form. Selected stories will be compiled as part of this historical website celebrating the Georgia Extension’s centennial.

The dynamic website will share the history of UGA Extension through articles, historic photographs, videos, timelines and personal anecdotes. It will be available to help the public explore the history of UGA Extension and the impact it’s had on the state’s history.

Who should submit a story? Farmers, homemakers, Extension agents, retired agents, former 4-H Club members, parents, business owners, grandparents, grandchildren and anyone else who’s been influenced by UGA Extension.

What constitutes a good story? For the 100years.extension.uga.edu website, UGA Extension is looking for both specific anecdotes about personal involvement with UGA Extension and general impressions of the organization’s impact on the state. The stories can be funny, heartfelt, personal or general.

Here are some tips for jogging memories and sharing stories:

  • Browse some of the stories on the 100years.extension.uga.edu website. Do you have any similar experiences?
  • Get together with friends and colleagues from your time with UGA Extension or Georgia 4-H.
  • Flip through old photo albums.
  • Think about your childhood. Do you remember a time when you or your family turned to UGA Extension for help or advice.
  • Think about special people. Is there a farm friend who always attends field days with you or an Extension agent who went out of his or her way to help you or your family with a problem? What are some of the things you remember about them?
  • Remember turning points, both good and bad. Are their farm years when drought or bumper yields made a lasting impression on your memory? Do you remember a time when you came up against a challenge and overcame it?
  • Think about milestones. Whether it’s the year you went to 4-H National Conference or the year you put up new broiler houses, it’s a big event in your life. Did UGA Extension play a part?

It may also be fun for children to interview their parents or grandparents to elicit stories and memories from their younger years. Those stories can be written down and later entered into the 100years.extension.uga.edu website.

UGA Extension was founded in 1914 through the Smith-Lever Act, a federal law that established and funded a state-by-state national network of educators to bring university-based research and practical knowledge to the public.

Today, Extension in Georgia is a cooperative effort by federal, state and local government partners administered by UGA and known as UGA Extension.

For more information about UGA Extension, see extension.uga.edu or call 1-800-Ask-UGA1.

Merritt Melancon is a public relations manager with UGA's Terry College of Business and previously served as a public relations coordinator for the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and UGA Extension.

Authors:
Merritt Melancon
Experts/Sources:
Steve L. Brown
The University of Georgia is celebrating the centennial of the Smith-Lever Act, which created the national network of educators known as the Cooperative Extension System. This website is a collection of our stories and events.
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