Purdue Extension Knox County 2025 Newsletter, featuring news in all of our program areas. Learn our latest updates from our extension educators. Here is one story that is featured in our newsletter.
What does Purdue Extension in Knox County look like?
Many people that I talk with are always surprised when I start discussing what all we do in our office. We have three Extension Educators that focus on Agriculture and Natural Resources, Health and Human Sciences, and 4-H and Youth Development. We also have a Nutrition Education Program Advisor (NEPA) and Community Wellness Coordinator (CWC) which are more regional personnel. So, what do these amazing people all do?
Agriculture and Natural Resources-Valerie Clingerman. I conduct education programming for farmers, applicators, gardeners, landscapers, and for naturalists. I love hands-on programs like teaching gardening, fishing, or crop diagnostics. I also enjoy assisting the community with their questions.
Health and Human Sciences-Tonya Short. HHS outreach focuses on food, family, health, and money. Some of her programs include those focused on mental health, ServSafe, and her favorite: food preservation. Tonya also really enjoys receiving calls from the public and being able to provide them with the information they need and/or connecting them with the appropriate specialist. Check out page 10 for more detail.
4-H and Youth Development-Mitch Wagoner. He oversees the 4-H program this includes the community clubs and volunteers but he also does afterschool programs and school enrichment activities. He is also the County 4-H Camp State Coordinator which is fitting since camp is his favorite 4-H activity.
Nutrition Education Program: This includes both the NEPA (Chris Clark) and CWC (Chloee Hurst). Chris works with low- income residents of the community leading cooking demonstrations and programs on stretching food dollars and increasing physical activity. Chloee provides support for community partners to make the healthy choice the easy choice. She provides support to impact policies, systems, and environments.
If you have 4-H, health, human science, agriculture, natural resource, or gardening questions feel free to call us at 812-882-3509. Click on the link below to see entire newsletter: