Our Impact
Making A Difference in Our County
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is working hard for its constituents. The following are examples of Extension’s impact in the county in 2024.
4-H Youth Development
In 2024-2025, Glynn County 4-H served all 10 elementary schools. 4-H visited fifth-grade classrooms, providing hands-on science education for around 1,000 students. In addition to visiting fifth-grade classrooms, Glynn County 4-H partnered with the 21st Century Program to deliver science instruction to 3rd and 4th?graders at Burroughs-Molette, Goodyear, and Altama Elementary Schools, as well as 6th?graders at all four middle schools. Glynn County 4-H got out of the classroom and onto the beach to teach constructive and destructive forces to fifth graders at Altama, Sterling, and Golden Isles Elementary schools. Glynn County 4-H has also partnered with Brunswick High School's AP Environmental Science class to provide field trips and in-school learning opportunities. This partnership has provided unique field trips and hands-on activities, including a marsh walk, a visit to Chemours Mine in Brantley County, and a shark dissection in the classroom.
In the past year, Glynn County 4-H has increased enrollment and participation by over 250 youth in grades 4-12 and hosted over 100 more activities. Some of these activities include teen-led clubs, which are created and operated by Senior 4-H'ers. These clubs include Art for Heart, an art club for 7th- 12th graders, STEM Club for 4th- 6th graders, and Garden Club, led by a teen and a Master Gardener Volunteer for 4th- 12th graders. In addition to teen-led and volunteer-led clubs, Glynn County 4-H has monthly County Council meetings for all 4-H members in Glynn County.
Glynn County 4-H'ers have also had the opportunity to participate in district and state events. These include competitions, like Project Achievement, Cotton Boll and Consumer Judging, and Egg Chef. Additionally, 4-H'ers attended Summer Camps, Mission Make It, Senior Regional Leadership Conference, 4-H Day at the Capitol, Junior Conference, Southern Region Teen Leadership Conference, and Spring Junior Conference. Glynn County 4-H will represent the Southeast District in 2025-2026 by serving on the Senior Board of Directors as the elected President, as well as the Vice President and an additional representative on the Junior Board of Directors.
Family and Consumer Sciences
The Glynn County Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) Agent, Michelle Quick, assists in addressing real-life issues faced by Georgians of all ages. The agent provides programs and research-based information on nutrition and well-being, food and financial insecurity, healthy housing and environments, food safety, and preservation. Michelle travels throughout Glynn and McIntosh counties, partnering with local agencies to provide research-based education to community members and groups.? These groups can include (but not limited to) HeadStart programs, local civic groups and churches, Coastal Pines Technical College, Job Corps, Gateway Behavioral Health, Sea Island, Glynn-Brunswick Library, City of Brunswick Parks and Recreation, local senior centers and support groups, and the Glynn County Government. During the 2024 program year, Michelle taught 32 adult programs, reaching 340 participants. Total youth reached through FACS programming totaled 86 participants through eleven different community and 4-H related programs.
During 2024, Michelle developed an award-winning youth curriculum, Kitchen Masters, a healthy living program for youth that strives to foster positive development, lifestyle behaviors, and self-confidence from kitchen to table. Program topics include food safety, handwashing, knife skills, and dining etiquette.
Kitchen Masters is an interactive, hands-on program for youth between the ages of 6th – 12th grade. The program consists of three main topic areas: food safety and handwashing, knife skills, and dining etiquette.
Michelle Quick is also responsible for the management and oversight of the USDA NIFA grant-funded program, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Suzanne Walker, EFNEP Program Assistant, spends her time in the community providing this free nutrition education series that teaches families how to stretch their food dollars, eat healthier meals and snacks, and reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses.
In 2024, Glynn County EFNEP directly reached 168 adults, representing households of 524 individuals. Sixty-eight adult participants attended enough sessions of the Food Talk series to become program graduates. These EFNEP Graduates reported improvements in behaviors related to the core areas of EFNEP:
?Diet Quality:
·? 50% increased fruit intake.
·???????? 45% increased vegetable intake.
In 2024, Glynn County EFNEP directly reached 122 youth with direct education sessions.
·???????? 89 youth attended enough educational sessions to become program graduates.?
·???????? 84% improved diet quality.
·???????? 62% increased physical activity.
·???????? 53% reduced the risk of foodborne illness.???
·???????? 53% improved their ability to prepare simple, nutritious, and affordable food.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
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ANR programs provide research-based information in Agriculture and Natural Resources to all residents. Educational programming is developed and designed to assist individuals in making sound economic and environmental decisions that affects everyday life. MC Halbrook, ANR agent for Glynn and McIntosh Counties, served both counties through the following programs.
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For 2024, we had 6 full time Master Gardeners (MGEV), and they reported 1,086 volunteer hours dedicated to the Glynn County community. This program has grown to include Friends of the Master Gardeners. These volunteers help to maintain our Madge Merritt 4-H Teaching Garden and learn-by-doing under the guidance of the veteran MGEVs. The fruit and vegetables that are harvested from the garden are donated to a local food bank to ensure we are serving our community each step of the way. Total produce harvested and donated was just under 400lbs.
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Each spring, Camden County Extension hosts a Master Naturalist program that consists of nine, six- hour classes. This year, Glynn and McIntosh Counties partnered with them to include a wider range of potential participants. During this course, participants learn topics including living shorelines, stormwater management, fisheries management, native plants, invasive species, barrier island ecology, prescribed fire, swamp ecology, and so much more. This year we had 17 participants who hailed from all three counties plus some additional, surrounding counties and Florida.
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St. Simons Island Plant Clinic is an opportunity for islanders to visit with the Extension Ag Agent without crossing over the causeway. Essentially a remote office for the day, your ag agent can take calls, emails, and walk-ins just like normal. This is also an opportunity for clients to drop off soil and water samples. This was piloted August – December. Five participants joined over the course of this time. Adjustments will be made to locations to better reach those clients who are further away from the main office going forward.
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Experience Agriculture Locally was launched with four planned farm tours during the month of August. Ten community members signed up to attend this program. This program was still eye-opening to those participants who attended, and several made comments about being inspired to give some of the practices they were introduced to a try on their own land. This also inspired the farm-to-sea or fields-to-flats program that 成人影院 Extension will partner with Marine Extension to carry out in the near future.
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In 2024, we celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Georgia Master Gardener Program. Our county chapter prepared in several ways to participate in the state-wide celebrations. All volunteers attended the Teaching with Demonstration Gardens Advanced Training, they also worked with other Extension Volunteers to prepare the garden in the spring for the final celebration step. This event was intended to span the state and allow visitors from nearby or anywhere across the state to visit a teaching garden and meet the MGEV. When the data was presented at the Annual Program Update, our garden was amongst the average for attendees at 32 visitors. Even though we are far away from other counties that offer the program (Metro-Atlanta) we were still able to bring in a great crowd to celebrate with us.
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Glynn County Master Gardener Extension Volunteers have developed two monthly programs that teach our community localized gardening skills. Adult learners attend Meet Me in The Garden (MMITG) and kids can join the 4-H Garden Club.
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MMITG is a free event primarily targeted at community adults. They learn about different lawn, garden, and landscape topics while seeing first-hand the success the MGEVs have in our Teaching Garden. Madge Merritt 4-H Teaching Garden provides a visual for plans they can implement in their own landscaping. Topics for the Nov. 2023-Oct. 2024 program year of MMITG included: gardening books, rain barrels, sharing gardening with children, seed starting, turfgrass for homeowners, pollinators, Pollinate Your Plate, composting, container gardening, and preparing a fall garden. This diverse array of educational programming attracted 180+ visitors to the last 12 sessions.
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The 4-H Garden Club also meets monthly. At these meetings, students learn both short and long-term crop evaluation techniques. They engage by planting new crops and harvesting produce. This club provides the opportunity to gain experience by doing under the guidance of MGEV. Their Nov. 2023-Oct. 2024 educational programming spanned eight sessions and included topics such as planting, propagation, harvesting, irrigation, pollinator plants, grouping plants for aesthetics, and yearly crop rotations. The 4-H Garden Club is open to any child in Glynn or McIntosh County who is registered as a 4-H member.?At present, there are 10 members who regularly attend these club meetings. We are collaborating with the 4-H program staff in both Glynn and McIntosh counties to grow the Garden Club even more.
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Other educational opportunities include a monthly ANR newsletter, where we share blog posts covering timely topics within the ANR scope. This is also a place where we will advertise upcoming educational events, fundraisers, and local news that is relevant to the agriculture community. This newsletter has over 200 subscribers and is continuously growing.
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Other presentations given include Indoor Houseplants, Historic Rice Production, Pond Management, 13-Year Cicada Emergence, Preparing a Spring Garden, Recycling, Rain Gardens and Rain Barrels.
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What Extension is most known for is our soil testing. Through our offices, we submitted 606 soil tests and 102 water tests for the last program year. Along with this testing, we offer personalized guidance for a fertilization routine based on their results and the plants they would like to grow. We also interpret water test results and most often offer guidance on water filtration systems, softeners, and how to treat well water.
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