Multiplying Good: Sharon Tubbs
Sharon Tubbs has been a member of 4-H since childhood, and says it was a big part of her life growing up.
She says she knew she wanted to always be apart of it.
“My agent said, ‘Well, you know you get out of 4-H when you’re in the 12th grade.’ I was like, ‘Oh no. I don’t want to do that. What can I do to continue?’ And so she said you can major in this and go to work for 4-H,” Tubbs shared.
That’s exactly what she did! She went to college to meet the requirements to become a 4-H Extension Agent and has now been one for 34 years.
“We are a family when we’re all together. When we’re all working together toward the same goal, it’s just like a personal family. You know, you still go through ups and downs, but then you work through those,” Tubbs explained.
Over the years, her goal remains the same: to build future leaders. Tubbs say one way to do that is by teaching life skills.
“If it’s consumer education, if it is child development, if it is food science, whatever it is, you know we help you with the things that you need throughout life,” Tubbs said.
“I found it fun to work and to serve others, and that it not only benefited me, but it benefited others and it can give me opportunities to work in the things that I like,” said 16-year-old Maddie Grace Thierfelder.
Thierfelder has been in 4-H for eight years.
“When I got into 4-H I enjoyed working and I wanted to do stuff, like Chicken Shack, where you work hard in the heat for a week selling chicken of coming to the office and helping my agents by cleaning up their offices because I can,” Thierfelder shared.
Thierfelder says from volunteer work to summer camps, 4-H provides a space for children to learn and grow into young adults.
“It gives you so many opportunities. It opens so many doors, it lets you do what you want in fun ways,” Thierfelder said.
She says it’s 4-H agents like Tubbs who motivate her to be successful.
“They push you to do better. They make you get up and do your best because they know that you can do that and that they have that confidence in you that you may not have in yourself,” Thierfelder explained.
“It’s really gratifying to see them, and I remember them when they were in the 4th grade. You know, and each step they take it’s awesome to know that hopefully my life’s work has gone into helping kids,” Tubbs said.
You can nominate someone for the Multiplying Good Award here.
