BY TRACY LEE TATE
Times Editor
LAKE BUTLER — After a couple of months with no one to oversee the Union County 4-H activities except Extension Agent Luke Harlow and several volunteer club leaders a new person has been hired with the prime function of keeping the clubs active and involved at the Union County IFAS Extension Office.
Meagan Daniel started work on June 6, 2022 as the new 4-H Extension agent, replacing Kristi McCallister who served as the 4-H Program Assistant previously. The upgrade in title comes from the fact that the University of Florida is now paying a higher percentage of the position’s pay, saving the county money in the process. It also stems from the fact that Union County was one of very few counties in the state that did not have an extension agent running the 4-H programs.
Meagan was chosen from among 18 applicants for the position, all going through a lengthy application and interview process. She is a former 4-H’er herself, showing animal projects from third through twelfth grade and also serving as a FFA officer in grades seven through 12 in Lafayette County, where she was born and raised on a fourth generation dairy farm.
Daniel moved to Union County in 2010 when she married her husband, Dustin. She worked in the Union County School System since 2011, spending most of that time in third grade classrooms, but she also spend some time with fifth graders and driving a bus for three years because of the driver shortage. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from St. Leo’s University, which she earned in 2010.
“I applied for the position because I have always been good at planning events, working with children and communicating with others,” Daniel said. “But I sure will miss teaching and the interactions with the students in the classroom.”
Daniel said she plans to implement a great deal of 4-H programs in the classrooms of LBES and LBMS to assist the schools with early agricultural education. This will be done through in-school programs and she has already been working with the district in making plans for some of these.
Daniel came into the picture just three days before the start of the 4-H Summer Camps for the year, but she hit the ground running and said she “really enjoyed the fun activities in the summer camps.”
Daniel and her husband have two sons – Weston (10) and Shaw (6). Dustin drives a truck for Aggregate Haulers of Union County as an owner/operator. She said she enjoys spending time with her family camping, traveling and fishing in saltwater and that she really enjoyed being a mom. In her quiet time she enjoys reading, both fiction and non-fiction. She and Dustin enjoy attending baseball games and watching their sons play and attending Sardis Baptist Church as a family. Daniel also works with the AWANAS program at the church.
At home, the couple have raised cattle and then switched to feed corn production, mainly for deer. This season they have about 10 aces ready for drying.
When asked what her vision is for her new job shepherding 4-H she said she had a number of items on that list. She said she wanted to continue the various clubs already in operation and looks forward to working with the “amazing volunteer club leaders already in place in the program. She wants to add a gardening club to the offerings as well and is thinking about further adding to the list of clubs, possibly with sewing, crafting and pet care club options. Daniel said she wants to develop some “common sense” projects for the clubs in the area of community service to help meet the community’s needs.
Daniel said she also hopes to expand the day camps for young people to include offerings on teacher work days and professional development days in the school system.
“This would give the students productive activities for the day and also assist parents with scheduling,” Daniel said.
Overall, Daniel is thrilled with the new position and is brimming with both visible enthusiasm and ideas for the future. She said she hope to have positive impact on both the county and its young people through her work.
“I would like to help the county youth and watch all of them grow into confident and successful human beings,” she said.
