Keith Brown inducted into 4-H Emerald Clover Society Keith L. Brown of Jonesville was one of 10 4-H alumni to be inducted into the Michigan 4-H Emerald Clover Society in a ceremony June 22 at 4-H Exploration Days on the campus of MSU.
The Michigan 4-H Emerald Clover Society honors former Michigan 4-H members whose
professional leadership and community service reflect the ultimate outcome of 4-H membership – extraordinary use of an individual’s head, heart, hands and health to make communities, the country and the world better places to live.
This recognition is provided by Michigan 4-H Youth Development with support from the Michigan 4-H Foundation.
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Keith Brown
rown graduated from MSU in 1954 with a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry. He and his family own and operate
He served as district director for Congressman Nick Smith from 1997 to 2004 and served 12 years as township supervisor and on the township board for 15 years. Brown also participated as an advisor in the Kellogg National Leadership Program.
Brown currently serves as Jonesville Lions Club president, Hillsdale County Fair Board president, Michigan Dairy Memorial and Scholarship Foundation past president, and Michigan Centennial Farm Association past president.
He also serves on the Hillsdale County GOP Executive Committee and served on the Michigan Farm Bureau State Policy and Development Committee.
He was a founding member of Hillsdale Hay Inc., and currently serves the combined role of secretary/treasurer. Brown has also been Jonesville School Board president, MABC-Select Sires board member and Select Sires, Inc. national board member, Michigan Holstein Association past president, Michigan Purebred Dairy Cattle Association past president, and Michigan Board of Veterinary Medicine lay member.
His other honors include the 1981 MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Distinguished Service Award and recognition as 1982 MSU Dairyman of the Year.
Brown and his wife Christine recently completed the 4-H Volunteers Selection Process and re-enrolled as Hillsdale County 4-H leaders to provide assistance to their grandchildren.
“I firmly believe that my early experiences in 4-H, and later with Extension, provided the groundwork for my later accomplishments in life,” Brown says.
Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives through an educational process that applies knowledge to critical issues, needs and opportunities. Offices in counties across the state link the research of the land-grant university, MSU, to challenges facing communities. Citizens serving on county Extension councils regularly help select focus areas for programming. MSU Extension is funded jointly by county boards of commissioners, the state through Michigan State University and federally through the US Department of Agriculture.
MSU Extension “grills” local radio station DJs Disseminating information via media is an important part of Extenison work. A 2000 survey of U.S. citizens conducted by Fleishman-Hillard International Communications showed that people hear about the Extension Service primarily through television, radio and newspapers. These media sources were also rated as the most effective sources of information.
In Hillsdale County, MSU Extension programs have aired twice a day, six days a week, 52 weeks a year for more than 35 years on local radio station WCSR. This small but powerful radio station has a potential listening audience of 213,000.
These MSU Extension radio segments, presented by staff members, provide listeners with information about Extension programming and inform listeners about MSU Extension’s upcoming activities.
Mike Flynn, the WCSR owner commented positively about the quality of MSU Extension’s radio programs.
Glei’s Orchards and Greenhouses has sponsored the MSU Extension radio programming since it began.
To show appreciation to the station and Glei’s, the MSU Extension office staff decided to “Grill the DJ’s” on May 31. Dave and Owen Glei, the owners of Glei’s and WCSR DJs were invited to a cookout on WCSR’s lawn.
During the event MSU Extension staff members did a live radio program, sharing their appreciation for the long-time sponsor and the radio station, as well as a bit about grilling and food safety.
Jeannie Nichols, Family and Consumer Sciences
Extension Educator
WCSR DJ Bob Flynn interviews EE Jeannie Nichols during Grill the DJ
New 4-H educator organizes youth photography workshop Insa Raymond, Hillsdale County 4-H Youth Development educator, joined the MSU Extension staff in May. She has been meeting with school superintendents, 4-H leaders and advisory groups and 4-H members to learn about the county and its 4-H program and to get a feel for programming needs.
During one of the conversations the need for a photography workshop for 4-H members was expressed.
Pete Mowry, Hillsdale Daily News staff photographer, was contacted and he volunteered to be the instructor for the workshop. Three photography sessions were set up for July and August.
The objective of the workshop was to help members gain an appreciation of photography as an art, a science and communication tool, a career, and to teach photography skills and knowledge of equipment.
Nineteen 4-H members and their cameras came together on July 13 to learn how to take their best pictures.
Mowry had brought an assortment of old and new cameras and many pictures and photography books.
Participants learned about the history of cameras and how they work while looking at different pictures learned about light and shadows, foregrounds and backgrounds, focus points and colors.
During the second workshop session the young people went outdoors to apply the photography techniques they learned during the first session.
The third session of the workshop will be later in August. 4-H members will bring all the pictures they took and evaluate them.
Raymond will continue to recruit and work with volunteers to develop and implement programming to meet the needs of Hillsdale County Youth.
Insa Raymond, 4-H Youth Development Educator
MSU is an affirmative-action, equal opportunity institution, Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status. Issued in furtherance of MSU Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Thomas G. Coon, Extension Director, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI 48824
rofessional leadership and community service reflect the ultimate outcome of 4-H membership – extraordinary use of an individual’s head, heart, hands and health to make communities, the country and the world better places to live.
