College of Agriculture & Natural Resources



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|Lake County | |

|Lake County Extension |P: 231-745-2732 |E-mail: msue43@msu.edu |

|915 Michigan Ave |F: 231-745-6213 |Web: msue.msu.edu/Lake |

|Baldwin, MI 49304 | | |

| |June 2006 |

| Lake County Master Gardeners create workshop opportunities for all local |The first program was an emerald ash borer educational workshop was held in |

|gardeners |February. A “Landscaping with Native Plants” session was held in the spring. |

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|MSU Extension Master Gardeners and other gardening enthusiasts have numerous | |

|opportunities to attend educational workshops offered at on the MSU campus in |Both workshops were taught by MSU specialists. Participating Master Gardeners |

|East Lansing and other locations across the state. These events are often offered|received two certification hours for each workshop, though the sessions were |

|far from Lake County, making it difficult for local gardeners to attend. |open to everyone. Another session will complete the series of workshops this |

| |fall. |

|Each Master Gardener must earn five credits of certified training each year to | |

|stay certified, but most accredited training sessions have been held sixty to |Most of the session participants have driven less than forty one-way miles to |

|ninety miles one-way from the area. This means that area Master Gardeners spend a|participate. They report that they appreciate the networking that has taken |

|great deal of time and gas money to maintain their certification. |place at the two workshops. One of the highest-rated survey evaluation |

| |questions revealed that interaction with other workshop participants was very |

|The Lake County MSU Extension Horticulture Committee saw the need for certified |important. |

|educational sessions that are accessible to residents in Lake County and the | |

|surrounding area. |“Great presentation, thorough coverage of the information and good handouts”. |

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|The committee members are all Lake County Master Gardeners and are led by Lake |Program Participant |

|County MSU Extension Director Connie Theunick. | |

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|The committee began planning to offer a series of accredited horticulture | |

|workshops to area Master Gardeners, garden club members and other individuals | |

|interested in gardening topics. | |

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|[pic] |Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives through an educational process | |

| |that applies knowledge to critical issues, needs and opportunities. Offices in counties across the | |

| |state link the research of the land-grant university, MSU, to challenges facing communities. | |

| |Citizens serving on county Extension councils regularly help select focus areas for programming.  | |

| |MSU Extension is funded jointly by county boards of commissioners, the state through Michigan State | |

| |University and federally through the US Department of Agriculture. | |

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|MSU Extension brings nutrition, food safety, health lessons to local school |Lake County 4-H Staff awarded Listen America’s M.A. D. Award |

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|(NAME) High School has not had a home economics teacher since 2002, when the |Lake County 4-H coordinator Karen Neiger received the 2006 M.A.D. Award from |

|teacher who had offered that subject for more than 20 years retired. |Listen America, a northern Michigan nonprofit organization that partners with |

|Enter MSU Extension Family and Consumer Sciences educator Kilah King, who arrived|organizations to create materials, resources and activities that build and |

|at the school to offer a semester-long Family Nutrition Program series during the|reinforce character in children . |

|past school year. |This award spotlights young people, adults, businesses and corporations |

|From the beginning, the class was very eager to learn about nutrition and |throughout northern Michigan who are “making a difference” in the lives of |

|cooking. They began by learning about the USDA nutrition guidelines and the |others. |

|importance of a maintaining a balance of nutrition and physical activity. |Neiger was nominated by the Luther Elementary School staff members for |

|They also learned about food safety and the importance of handling food properly |creating materials, resources and activities that build and reinforce |

|to prevent food poisoning. They also studied food labels, made their own butter, |character in children, motivating them to make a difference in the lives of |

|and mastered cooking basics like measuring and baking. |others. |

|One student said, “My mom always thaws her meat on the counter. I’ll have to |The award was presented to Karen by the Pine River Middle and High School |

|tell her to put it in the refrigerator next time, so it doesn’t collect |Principal Barb Parmenter. Parmenter noted the vision Neiger shared in helping |

|bacteria.” |the school create an outdoor classroom and nature trail while working with the|

|Students made healthy fruit smoothies with milk, frozen fruit and yogurt. |fifth grade classes each year. |

|Several students later stated that they sometimes drank smoothies for breakfast |“Karen Neiger makes it possible for our fifth graders to visit Kettunen Center|

|because they were quick and easy. |each year during the winter for a special program. Our students learn survival|

|By the middle of the semester, the teacher told King, “The students are |skills, how to use snow shoes and identify animals by their tracks. The kids |

|responding well to your program. I can tell because, when we review what you |really enjoy hiking to the bird sanctuary and identifying the birds through |

|taught in class, they give the correct answers and go over details of what they |binoculars,” said Aaron Schab, fifth grade teacher. |

|learned. They also tell me what I missed when I’m not there.” |Neiger also visits the school each month for parent luncheons. She and Kilah |

|At the end of the semester, the students prepared a full meal with baked BBQ |King, Lake County MSU Extension Food and Nutrition educator help students and |

|chicken wings, corn-on-the-cob, green beans, broccoli and brown rice. They topped|parents learn good nutrition. They also teach the parents how to sew, give |

|it off with homemade peanut butter cookies made with whole-wheat flour. |them craft ideas they can share with their kids and make feeding their |

|One young lady declared, “I loved learning how to do measuring and cooking |families a fun experience. |

|because we learned a lot of things we didn’t know about health.” | |

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|MSU is an affirmative-action, equal opportunity institution; Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, |

|color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status. Issued in furtherance of |

|MSU Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Thomas G. Coon, Extension Director, Michigan State |

|University, E. Lansing, MI 48824 |

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Lake County MSU Extension Staff

Connie Theunick – Director

Wanda DeMeyere – Administrative Asst.

Kilah King – Family & Consumer Science

Educator

Karen Neiger – 4-H Program Associate

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