With Beaufort County big enough for two 4-H agents, a county native returns to the area to take one of those positions.

Erin Massie, extension agent for 4-H youth development in Beaufort County, is originally from Chocowinity. Massie, who grew up on a horse farm, has an affinity for the outdoors.

A Washington High School graduate, Massie was president of the Future Farmers of America chapter at WHS and a WHS cheerleader.

“There’s something about having kids that makes you want to come home,” she said. “So, we ended up coming back to Beaufort County.”

Massie said a lot of things change in life when you become a mother. She said she enjoys running after and playing with her 2-year old.

Massie worked with U.S. Department of Agriculture for five years, doing international trade, working with veterinary regulations concerning the exporting and importing of animals.

Massie said her first interview after college was for a positions as a 4-H agent, something she wanted to do. Though she did not get the job, she interviewed with USDA and took the position it offered.

“Right after I took the job with USDA, the Extension called me back for another interview to put me in another county,” she said, “but I had already accepted the job with the USDA.”

Massie said she has always been agriculturally based, earning a degree in animal science from N.C. State University.

The opportunity to work in Beaufort County couldn’t have come at a better time, she said.

After Massie and her husband moved back to the area, although she was still working with USDA, a 4-H agent position opened up. She went for it.

“We focus on youth in the county and provide an education program to the youths, ages five to 18,” she said. “We have a very active 4-H program already, but we’re looking at expanding it.”

Louise Hensley, the other 4-H agent in the county, has been with the local CES office for 26 years.

Massie said the current and future goals of the for local 4-H programs are to get the program more “tech savvy” by utilizing Facebook and Internet blogs.

“We want people to know that 4-H isn’t just about animals,” she said. “When people think of 4-H, they tend to think of cows and cooking. And that’s not what we’re all about. We’re about all kinds of things, such as presentation skills to character education and so much more.”

Massie said 4-H also involves fashion and other areas in which youth have interest.

“If there’s an interest,” she said, “we can pretty much mold a program around it. If they’re socializing together and they’re learning, and doing it in a good manner, then that’s what we’re all about.”

The 4-H motto is: “To make the best better.” And the 4-H slogan is: “Learning by doing.”

With 4-H promoting and supporting events and activities such as camps, school enrichment, special-interest programs and so much more, Massie said, 4-H is something that offers so many things to so many people.

“We even have robotics,” Massie said. “I told my husband about it and how the kids are building these robots … and he was wondering why they didn’t have things like that around when he was a kid.”

They were around, Massie said.

“Everyone says the Extension is the best kept secret,” Massie said. “And you hear that all the time from people who know about the Extension office. But we are a wealth of knowledge, from N.C. State and N.C. A&T. We’re here to provide these services to the community.”

Massie said that in addition to working with youth, 4-H agents also train volunteers to work with 4-H youth.

“And I’m working on building more of a volunteer base so we can get more diversified clubs in the community,” she said.

Anyone interested in becoming a 4-H volunteer should visit the CES office, 155-A Airport Road, Washington, and submit an application.

“You can be a club volunteer and even start your own club,” she said. “A lot of the clubs are theme-based, such as horse clubs, shooting-sport clubs and things like that. We have some clubs that do everything, like science projects, building stools, working with livestock and so on. And we like to see those kinds of clubs that are doing everything.”

Massie said she would like seeing more of a community-service 4-H club develop that would do things like preparing food for homeless-shelter residents.

“That’s what we really want our kids to do,” she said. “It really helps build a well-rounded kid.”