Amanda Bradshaw is the new face of 4-H in Sampson County.

A bright, sunny smile lights her face when she talked about the reigns she’s taken and the plans she has for the county’s well-known and well-liked program.

Bradshaw, who started March 1, is the new Cooperative Extension Agent for 4-H, replacing long-time agent Deleon Wilks. She will be working with her teammates, Ardith Taylor, Charmae Kendall and interim intern, Anna Herring.

Bradshaw comes to the county from neighboring Duplin County, where she lives with her husband, Kevin, and their 8-month-old daughter, Cooper. Her dad, Danny Cooper, is a farmer, and her mother Johannah is a retired educator. She has two sisters, Catherine Register and Katie Cooper.

The new 4-H agent lives at Summerlin Crossroads in Duplin County. A graduate of James Kenan High School, Bradshaw received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Mount Olive College. The new agent owned and operated her own business, The Vine and Branch Florist in Warsaw for five years and also worked at the Old Courthouse Nursery in Warsaw. She was working at the Duplin County Cooperative Extension, with the 4-H Prevention Program, prior to coming to Sampson. She held that job for two years.

“I fell in love with extension work, and the job I had in Duplin was funded by a grant. It was not permanent and I wanted to stay in the extension family, so when this opportunity opened here in Sampson, I decided to apply for the job so I could stay in Cooperative Extension. I am really glad to be here,” shared Bradshaw.

Her goals for 4-H for the county is, first and foremost, working as a team. The new agent expressed her appreciation for all the hard work Taylor and Kendall had put into the 4-H program in the absence of a director and said they had done a fantastic job keeping everything up and running.

Bradshaw shared that she is a firm believer in working as a team to accomplish the task at hand. And she’s hoping she and her team can promote and build 4-H throughout the entire county.

The next goal she has set forth is to concentrate on the clubs. “We want to build healthy, prosperous clubs, and this will be one of our strong focuses this year.”

Her third goal is to move in the direction of starting more Latino clubs. It is an area, Bradshaw noted, where there has been little participation, something she wants to see changed.

Her last major goal is to work alongside the school systems to get the 4-H curriculum into the schools and use that as a recruiting tool for the county program.

Bradshaw see the strengths of the program as it now exists as the many supportive and giving volunteers they have participating in the program and the individuals who are already club members.

She sees the greatest weakness as growth, or the lack of it, something she believes can increase as she meets the goals she has set out.

The agent also listed both Taylor and Kendall as strengths of the program, once again noting that it would be hard to run the programs without them.

In order to get the word out about the programs and services the 4-H program has to offer, Bradshaw expressed that they were going to be working very closely with the schools to get that information to the students. “We have recently joined Facebook so we are hoping the young people will see us there and get the information we will be sharing concerning upcoming activities.” Bradshaw feels that this will be a valuable tool to communicate to the young people of the county. “Our teenagers will be more apt to go on to Facebook than any other way we can get the word out.”

Currently the county’s 4-H personnel are working on the summer program, which will be called Sizzling Summer Fun. According to Bradshaw, although plans are not completely finalized, they are planning a Career Week for the teenagers so they can check out the various careers around the county.

They are also planning a Bee Event. “This is where we will be getting a whole 360 degree picture of the bee industry and the affects on agriculture and each one of us.” Also there will be an Exploring North Carolina Week to familiarize people about all North Carolina has to offer. A North Carolina Fair Week is one of a few of the activities planned for the summer.

The new agent stated that volunteers were always needed and anyone interested can come by or call the office for a volunteer form and once it is completed and the background check is complete they will be called to assist.

“We are in the process of developing a volunteer services folder which will list volunteers and what they want to volunteer to do and when available so we can match the volunteers to the activities we have planned.”

She also noted that volunteers can participate in one event, or help out one time, or they can volunteer as many hours as they would like.

The agency, she said, was always looking for new ways for people to help provide services to the county’s young people. At the present time they are looking for volunteers for the Talent Show who can take up money and welcome everyone to the event. “We are very dependent on our volunteers. They make our program work.”

Bradshaw shared that if any parents wanted to know about what 4-H is all about they can attend one of our parent information sessions. Those sessions are held the second Monday of the month at 7 p.m., at the county extension office. “We hope that any parents, grandparents, teachers or youth ministers who would like to know what we have to offer, will come out to find out more about what 4-H is all about.” The who, what, when and where will be covered and hopefully new clubs will be started through this information.

If anyone wants more information regarding Sampson County 4-H, contact them through Facebook, call 592-7161 or come by the office. Bradshaw stated that her door was always open.

The Sampson County Center for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service is located at 55 Agriculture Place, on U.S. 421 South of Clinton.

To contact Billy Todd, call 910-592-8137 ext. 117 or e-mail sigeneral@myclintonnc.com.