Spotlight on: Jeff Goodwin
Assistant Director, 4-H and Youth Development
Fort
Collins
I grew up in the Texas Panhandle
in the town of Sunray, Texas on an irrigated farming and stocker cattle
operation. The ground is so flat, level, and treeless that on a clear day you
can stand on the top of a snuff can lid and see Ethiopia!
Sunray is one
of those small towns where you do everything growing up. I was involved with
rodeo, football, band, boy scouts (I'm an old Eagle Scout), drama-you name it.
I was involved in everything but 4 H-that is until I was a senior in high
school and a 4-H volunteer leader came knocking at my door one night and told
me that I needed to do a demonstration in the Cooperative category to go to the
state 4-H Round-up at Texas A&M. I said sure and went to the state contest
and also showed one steer that year. That same 4-H leader ended up being the
4-H agent in my home county after I graduated from high school.
I capped off an eight year stint (shades of John
Belushi in Animal House) to get my B.S. degree in Animal Science from West
Texas State University in 1982. Within 2 weeks of graduation I started my first
Extension job as an assistant county Extension Agent-Agriculture (90% 4-H
responsibility) at Gray County in Pampa, Texas.
For five years I served
in Gray County under a trainer agent, Joe VanZandt, who was a true mentor and
was like a second father to me. It's too bad that the trainer agent system has
gone away. It was a great system to train new agents.
In 1987 I got my
own county and was the Ag Agent, with 50% 4-H responsibility, in Hartley County
(just south of Dalhart). There were 250 people in the county seat of Channing,
Texas and they had both city limit signs on the same post! That's a small town!
In 1990, I graduated from West Texas
State University with my Master's in Plant Science with an emphasis on range
management. I was in the last graduating class of West Texas State before it
became West Texas A&M University. Upon receiving the master's degree I
pulled up stakes and headed to College Station, TX with family (wife and two
kids by then) in tow to work on a Ph.D. in Agricultural Education which I
completed in 1993.
After the Ph.D. was in hand, I took a job in Dallas,
Texas as a county agent-natural resources. This was quite a shock to my system
as my last agent job was in that town of 250 people. My main job was to start
and manage the Texas Agri-food Master program. This was a master volunteer
program that conducted consumer education about agriculture. This was a great
job with a rewarding mission for an Ag guy like myself. I had 75 volunteers
that I did some cool educational work with; I had a weekly column titled People
Say the Darndest Things about Agriculture that ran in 14 ag publications in 10
states and 4 Canadian provinces; and I did weekly radio spots from the articles
that aired all over the state of Texas. Then in 1996 (for reasons I'll have to
share with anyone interested over a couple of refreshments again) I took my
first truly 100% 4-H job as the livestock / horse 4-H Specialist at the State
4-H office at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.
Family in tow
again to the Pacific Northwest (a shock again to the system of a Texas
Panhandler). After eight years and making it to the rank of tenured full
professor at the U of I, in 2004 I received a phone call one day from Kurt
Jones in Colorado who asked me to apply for the 4-H Director job in Colorado.
Yes, you have Kurt to blame for my appearance in Colorado.
The four and
a half years that I've been your state 4-H program leader has been great and I
tell people that it is the best job I've ever had. Challenging yes-- demanding
on occasion--but it's still the best job I've ever had. I believe that the
number one job of anyone in the State 4-H office is to help county agents be
the best county agent possible. That's a great job to have because county
agents are a great bunch to work with and to work for.
One of the most satisfying things I've
accomplished in my professional career has been the production of eight
educational videos which cover topics from animal activist concerns related to
animal agriculture to livestock show ethics and quality assurance. I spent over
$100,000 in personal funds and bank loans (mostly bank loans) to produce these
videos which you could say are kind of unique. The videos are in use in every
state of the nation and several Canadian provinces. I have also spoken to more
than 50,000 people in 43 states and five Canadian provinces. In 2005, I was
awarded the Humane Award from the American Veterinary Medical Association for
my work on livestock show ethics. This part of my life has been one wild
ride!
I have also been bitten by the high altitude
bug in the last year and have climbed one-third (19 of 54) of the 14,000 foot
peaks in the state between June of 2008 and February of 2009. If anyone wants
to join me to climb a 14er, just give me a shout, we'll mark out a day on the
calendar, and I'll be your guide for an adventure you won't forget.
I
hope that Colorado is the last stop of my Extension career, at least until I
get all 54 14ers and all 640 13ers in Colorado climbed!