Q&A with Paulette Madson

1)  Why did you get involved with your agriculturally-based career?
    “I retired from being a classroom teacher in May of 2018 after 38 years as a Family and Consumer Science Educator. When the ISU Extension and Outreach Associate Extension Educator position came open in November it just seemed a perfect transition from classroom teaching.  I get to continue to work with education, just a wider age range, and I get to develop new programs in agriculture that has been a significant part of my life.  I have a wide network in our county from years of community service and volunteering.”
2)  What are the greatest challenges with your career?
    “My greatest challenges in this first year has been to learn about the livestock side of the fairgrounds and all of their needs for testing, weighing, verifying, identifying, vaccinating, fitting and showing.  I have learned new terminology and technology.  I had never seen a retinal scan done, or tattooing of livestock. ”
3)  What were your greatest rewards?
    “I continue to love teaching and I still get to see eyes light up with wonder and joy at learning something new.  It is so rewarding to help someone with a concern in their garden, field, feedlot or 4-H animal.  We have an amazing group of superintendents for our Shelby County Fair that go out of their way to offer new opportunities for our 4-Her’s and their families.  Our Shelby County Fair Board has been amazing at providing the building space and scheduling so our 4-Her’s and their families can participate in a wide variety of opportunities at our fair.”
4)  What do you have to do for an on-going education?
    “I don’t have the certification requirements that an education degree requires, but I do have to keep up on what is going on in the agriculture and extension worlds. We have on-line training for livestock care and updates.  We have started to use Facebook Live and You Tube for our own education tools for our members.  I regularly attend meetings with other 4-H youth county leaders in our area, as well as ag and natural resource leaders in other counties.  We also have state-wide annual meetings to learn about new programming and updates.”
5)  What do you wish people knew about your career?