The young woman who graduates from college and becomes a h om e demonstration agent steps into a challenging position. Her personal character must be an inspiration to the people with whom she works and she must have a complete knowledge of everything from making a flat-felled seam to refinishing grandmother\u27s walnut chair

Iverson, Alvina

English

The young woman who graduates from college and becomes a h om e demonstration agent steps into a challenging position. Her personal character must be an inspiration to the people with whom she works and she must have a complete knowledge of everything from making a flat-felled seam to refinishing grandmother's walnut chair.</p

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University (ISU)

rrAny question may be asked and ,df must be answered" warn Extension grads Learn All to Do All THE YOUNG woman who grad-uates from college and becomes a h om e demonstration agent steps into a challenging position. Her personal character must be an inspira-tion to the people with whom she works and she must have a complete knowledge of everything from making a flat-felled s e a m t o refinishing grandmother's w a 1 n u t chair. The work of a home demonstration a g e n t means directing the work of rural women and girls in extension activities, conducting t r a i n in g schools for the women and planning a broad program for the rural girls in their 4-H activi-ties. More specifically it means checking club programs of the county, having charge of all communication to 4-H leaders and girls, han-dling publicity for ex-tension activities, conducting training schools in each township on the main and subsidiary projects, attending meet-ings of 4-H clubs in each township and planning for such special events as 4-H Achievement Shows, banquets, contests, Rally Days, state convention, summer camps, state and county fairs, home project achievement· days, drama tour-naments and other events associated with a particular county. In order to be successful in such work, Mrs. Edith Barker, state leader of 4-H girls, believes that in addition to a well-grounded knowle dge of home economics subject matter the pot.2ntial home demonstration agent should have a sympathetic understanding of human problems. "Her specialty is people. She must like to work with people, under-stand them and be able to inspire them to assume positions of leadership. She herself must have leadership without being aggressive; must possess cour-age, tenacity and faith." Iowa State graduates who are now home demonstration ag.znts advise col-lege women to "take good notes, keep them in good order and learn all you can from every course you take." Edith Bass, home demonstration The Iowa Homemaker by Alvina Iverson agent in Emmet County, writes, "I can't ov.eremphasize the need for get-ting every bit of available subject mat-ter in every course taken in home economics. At best an agent can't know everything, but she will quickly lose the confidence of her wom2n and girls if they find she seems to know very little or if they find she is often mistaken." Home demonstration agents also realize the value of the social sciences. Sociology, psychology and courses dealing with family relationships have proved valuable aids to extension workers. Miss Ella Loughran, assistant state 4-H leader, feels that in addition as many education courses as pos-sible should be taken in college. Miss Gladys Adams, clothing special-ist, feels that courses in public speak-ing are of utmost importance. "A per-son not only needs to know her sub-ject matter but she must be able to pn.sent it forcibly and in an interest-il1[! way." Frances Hettler, home demonstration agent in Powesheik County, is one of the many girls who stress courses in journalism as worthwhile electives. The agent has to write many news stories and knowing how to do so effectively is the difference between "publicity" and "good publicity." Miss Hettler also adds that since much em-phasis is being placed on conservation, courses dealing with trees, flowers, birds and fish would be worthwhile. Since home demonstration agents are often called on to lead community singing or organize musical produc-tions, an appreciation of music is essential. Any course which leads to a wider aesthetic appre-· ciation can be used to advantage. In addition courses in family finance, adult evening school methods, work on com-piling statistics and fil-ing, hygiene and physi-cal education have been or would have been beneficial to home dem-onstration agents. Extra-curricular ac-tivities are invaluable to the person who plans t:> do extension work. Mary Martin, home demon-stration agent in Musca-tine County, feels that working with people in activities is a g o o d background for work-ing with people in extension. She also stresses the importance of activi-ties in learning how to handle meEt-ings. Blanche Brobeil, Boone County, also advises to take advantage of every college activity which gives con-tact with groups of people. "One can-not have too much experi2nce work-ing with people." Miss Brobeil has also made good use of work in drama-tic activities in helping rural people find means of creative expression through drama. As one of the young women ad-vised, "Please don't tell all that the work of a home demonstration agent includes or many of them will get scared out." I don't believe, however, that any potential home demonstra-tion agents will be scared out be-cause they are looking forward to just this kind of work. Each day holds something different for the home de-monstration agent. Her work calls for the best which she can give. Th·ey'll like their work and the people with whom they work. They can look for-ward to a position which gives genuine pleasure and enjoyment through work and service. Who could ask for more? 

Learn All to Do All

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2951&amp;context=homemaker

Learn All to Do All

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