Purdue Extension presented Rachel Peden McCarty with the 2024 Friend of Extension award at this year’s Purdue Extension Professional Development Conference, which took place from December 4-5 at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds.
McCarty has only worked with Extension for a few years, but she has become well known in her community. She serves in many roles, including as a board member for Extension Monroe County, an advocate with the Purdue Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) and an education and outreach coordinator for Indiana Farm Bureau.
“To know Rachel is to love her,” Ody Ekwonwa, Monroe County Health and Human Sciences educator, said. “She’s invested in the work she does. She’s involved in all areas of our county. She really is a big force.”
Jeff Holland, former county Extension director and 4-H youth educator in Monroe County, has known McCarty for over 35 years.
“She was born and raised in 4-H. She had green blood when she was born,” Holland joked. “She worked in the Monroe County Extension office two summers and was an excellent addition. I could always hand her stuff and know she’d do it to the best of her ability.”
In her roles now, Holland sees the effects of 4-H on McCarty, not only in how she raises her two children but also in how she brings educational resources to schools and children throughout the county.
“Rachel and her family have seen at least five generations come through the farm because of the Children’s Farm Festival,” Holland said. “We have people who are 60 years old who came out and are bringing their grandchildren. It’s that lifelong legacy of learning by doing, which is the 4-H motto, and Rachel articulates that.”
She gave me all these ideas about who to contact for meal donations that I hadn’t thought about. As an educator, Extension emphasizes that we know our community. Rachel helps me to expand my knowledge of Monroe County, deepen my connections and make the programs more impactful.
- Ody Ekwonwa, Monroe County Health & Human Sciences Educator
