Spotlight on: Jonathan Vrabec
Extension Agent, Agriculture/4-H Youth - El Paso County
Hi, my name is
Jonathan Vrabec. I am an Extension Agent in El Paso County (75% 4-H Youth
Development and 25% Agriculture/Natural Resources/Small Acreage). I was born in
Pittsburgh, PA in 1972 but I grew up in Casper Wyoming upon moving there in
1980. Wyoming-living proved to be a culture shock at first, but we eventually
found our niche in the country. We developed a horse breeding operation of
10-15 Quarter Horses and Appaloosas.
As a kid I mostly played sports and
the drums but living in the country got me into 4-H and showing horses. While I
was in 4-H I had my standard projects that I did every year which were horses
and hogs. Each year I would take a sort of side project - everything from
poultry to dogs to shooting sports. I also participated in what they called 4-H
Junior Leaders, kind of the equivalent of County Council, only a little
different. I attended Kelly Walsh High School where I continued in 4-H as well
as playing football, track and field and band.
Upon graduating High
School in 1991 I received a music scholarship to Casper College; although music
was never going to be my major, I decided that I should take advantage of the
scholarship opportunity. I wasn’t sure what I was going to major in when I
first went to college. I was considering becoming a P.E. teacher, majoring in
business, becoming a vet or going into something in the agriculture field. For
that first year I took a variety of classes to see what I might be interested
in. I started to lean more and more towards a career in agriculture when
someone suggested I try being on the livestock judging team at the college. I
will never forget the first day of class when there were 30 new kids in the
class, most of them there on scholarship for judging in 4-H or FFA. I had no
idea what they were talking about - “reasons” and stuff - but I
toughed it out and learned a bunch! By the end of that semester the coach
offered me a livestock judging scholarship if I would stay on for another year.
I could now drop the music scholarship and focus on my major more. I stayed on
at Casper College for a third year to finish out my Livestock Judging Team
commitment at which time out of the 30 “new kids” who started the
class/team 7 of us remained. I learned a lot in the two years I was on the
judging team there and probably even more about myself than at any one time in
my life.
From Casper College in 1994 I transferred to Colorado State and
moved to Fort Collins where I majored in Animal Science and competed on the
Horse Judging Team. I participated in the Block and Bridle club, Equestrian
Team, as well as being president of the Collegiate Horsemen’s Association
for several years. I really enjoyed college and right about the time I was
preparing to graduate realized I was only six classes away from having a minor,
so I added a minor in Agriculture and Natural Resource Economics. I really
enjoyed that and it kept me in school for another year. I finally graduated
with my B.S. in Animal Science and a minor in Ag and Natural Resource Economics
in the fall of 1997.
While I was an undergraduate I also did some
internships. I interned for a summer at a horse training and showing facility
in Elizabeth called Gamble Oats Equestrian Center. I also did a Beef Cattle
Artificial Insemination and Heat Synchronization internship. Following
graduation in December I had an internship at the National Western Stock Show
in January. My plan was to take a semester off and check into graduate schools.
I finished up my internship and made it until the end of February before I was
back at CSU seeing if there were any classes I could get into that I could
apply to a graduate degree. I talked to Dr. Glen Rask, who suggested I take
some classes that could apply towards the Masters of Ag in Extension Education.
Then I could apply to get into that program for the up-coming fall. I started
my spring semester a few days before the first day of March. I also applied for
a masters program at the University of Western Kentucky in Animal
Breeding/Genetics but I really enjoyed the people aspects of Extension. In the
fall of ’98, I started my Masters of Ag program in Extension Education.
During that abbreviated spring semester I did some research as part of an
independent study project on peoples’ awareness of Extension and that
brought me into contact with (at that time) what was called the Outreach,
Technology and Communications unit of Extension. Because of my interactions
with them I received a Graduate Assistantship and got to work on my graduate
program research through that unit. My graduate research was to conduct focus
groups on Marketing Extension to Student Audiences. I also did a 12 month
internship at the Adams County Extension office working with Tom Fey, Tom
McBride and Amy Star as part of my masters program.
While I was working
on my Masters, an agent position in El Paso County became available. I applied
for it and began my career as El Paso County Extension 4-H and Agriculture
Agent June 1, just after graduating in May, 2000. As such I have been fortunate
enough to earn the Tyro Award and meet and work with a lot of great
people!
I continued showing horses through college in reining
competition and during that time earned two National Top 10s in Amateur Reining
at the U.S. Arabian Nationals. Also while in college I started coaching youth
football and worked for one year at a middle school in Fort Collins as a
seventh grade football coach and a boys and girls seventh and eighth grade
track coach. Since 1995, I have continued my horse judging career at county
fairs and open shows. Also in 1993, I started my mobile DJ business which I
continue today.
As you can see I never liked being idle and that
continues today as I am now a carded National Reining Horse Association judge
and an Arabian Horse Association judge. My experiences in judging programs
benefited me greatly and I really enjoy helping to pass that experience on by
coaching our county Horse Judging Team. Furthermore, I still coach football and
am now an Assistant Coach/JV Offensive Coordinator at Vista Ridge High School.
In my spare time I enjoy playing hockey (a hobby I picked up while in college)
and I am an amateur poker player.
In May 2008, my girl friend and I had
a daughter, Alexandra Rose. She keeps me very, very busy and I spend a lot of
time playing with her and being amazed watching her grow and learn. In fact,
for about six months she spent one day a week at work with me. That lasted
until she started crawling and getting into my beautiful and meticulously
organized office! It is hard to believe it has been a year and a half and she
is a talkative (although I am not sure what she is saying all the time)
expressive, giggly toddler already! So that’s who I am and how I got here.