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Extension specialists, educators gain national recognitionNebraska University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension specialists and educators from the Panhandle were among the national award winners at several recent meetings. Several Panhandle Extension personnel were recognized at the Joint Council of Extension Professionals Galaxy III Meeting in Indianapolis recently: --Linda Boeckner, Jamie Goffena and Jeanne Murray were members of a team that won third place from the National Association of Family and Consumer Sciences in the category of Communications, Internet Education Technology. Boeckner, formerly an Extension nutrition specialist, is now the director of the Panhandle Research and Extension Center. Goffena and Murray are Extension educators based in Dawes and Box Butte County, respectively. They were recognized for their work on the Walk Nebraska website, (www.walknebraska.org), a website that encourages physical activity by allowing walkers to virtually trek across parts of Nebraska without physically leaving their hometown. Visitors can record their walking activities and the website allows them to translate the miles they have walked on a treadmill, or in their own neighborhood, city, or locale, into miles walked along any of five different virtual routes in Nebraska. The virtual trails range in length from several hundred miles to more than 600 miles. As a person records miles walked, a map on the website shows progress along the virtual trail. Pictures of landmarks, historical sites and natural scenery along the trail can be viewed. --The Diverse Youth-Adult Partnerships in Rural Nebraska Team, of which Jackie Cervantes-Guzman is a member, received one of five exemplary national 4-H Families Count Family Strengthening Awards. The $15,000 award was given by National 4-H Council, in partnership with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The programs were selected by 4-H for their ability to improve outcomes for rural, disadvantaged families by fostering the social network, economic opportunities, and the support that families need to be successful. Diverse Youth-Adult Partnerships in Rural Nebraska also received a $1500 Award of Excellence from National 4-H Council with support from the MetLife Foundation. The local program was recognized for creating PRIDE, a youth-adult partnership with a focus on youth service. A Scotts Bluff County PRIDE group was formed several years ago by Latino youth and Cervantes-Guzman to promote East Overland and the southeast area of Scottsbluff. The group has been active in efforts to beautify East Overland, and also to recognized efforts by businesses and homeowners to make the area more attractive. --Cheryl Burkhart Kriesel, community development specialist based in the Panhandle, was a co-winner of the national Excellence in Teamwork Award from the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals. The award was presented for UNL's Red Carpet Service, a train-the-trainer program created because of a specific community request. Red Carpet Service is designed to help front-line employees in rural communities learn how to promote tourism in their area, practice skills to identify and respond to traveler needs, and sell their community in a positive way. Burkhart-Kriesel and Connie Francis, Extension Educator based in North Platte, are the team members. At the American Society of Agronomy Meeting held in Houston, a Certificate of Excellence for Publications was awarded to "Producing and Marketing Proso Millet in the Great Plains", an Extension Circular that was updated and expanded this year by a team including Dryland Crops Specialist Drew Lyon; Ag Economist Paul Burgener; Educator Karen DeBoer; Plant Pathologist Robert Harveson; Entomologist Gary Hein; Soil Fertility Specialist Gary Hergert; Educator Thomas Holman, and Lenis Nelson, of the Agronomy and Horticulture Faculty. Other co-authors are from Colorado State University, South Dakota State University, the University of Wyoming, and USDA's Agricultural Research Services Central Great Plains Research Station in Colorado. The 20-page guide to growing and selling proso millet has a number of improvements over the first edition, published in 1995. 11/10/08 Date: 11/4/08
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