Heard County resident wins distinguished award for youth influence

(Franklin, GA) — Dinah Rowe of Heard County was recently awarded the William H. Booth Award for the Northwest District which recognizes the outstanding work of Georgia extension agents involved in the 4-H program.

The Booth Awards, sponsored by Georgia Electric Membership Corp., were presented virtually through the Georgia 4-H broadcast, “Stars Across Georgia.”

“Georgia 4-H provides a powerful positive influence on young people’s lives through 4-H Extension Agents like Dinah Rowe,” says Georgia EMC’s Senior Public Relations Coordinator Gale Cutler.

“By making a commitment to youth as they contribute their time, creativity and caring dedication, they make a difference across their communities and our state. Georgia’s EMCs share that commitment of improving the communities where we serve and are proud to sponsor an award that highlights these exceptional agents.”

Dinah Rowe

Rowe, the Heard County Extension Coordinator and 4-H Extension Agent, gives her 4-H’ers endless opportunities to grow and learn, knowing that every child has the potential to bring something unique and special to the world.

Through her service to Georgia 4-H over the past 15 years, she has accomplished a long list of significant professional achievements.

She was elected as the Georgia Association of Extension 4-H Agents vice president and created a lesson plan educating youth on the dangers of tobacco use that was adopted at the national level.

In addition, her efforts led to the expansion of programming to all 4th grade Heard County students.

While she did not grow up in 4-H, Rowe has grown to love everything that 4-H stands for and what it instills in the youth she works with.

Rowe says, “I was first introduced to this program called Georgia 4-H when I started as an Extension secretary in 2005. I watched the 4-H’ers as they matured into young adults. I saw them give back to the community and put their hearts into helping others. I witnessed them caring more and more about others and less about themselves. I was impressed and knew that this was something in which I had to be a part of!”

She has shared the benefits of the 4-H program with countless audiences, from writing nearly 700 published newspaper articles to maintaining the Extension website and daily social media network posts.

She obtained $200,000 through SPLOST funding to construct an educational kitchen to teach cooking classes to youth and their families, and her healthy cooking video series filmed at the kitchen – “Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah” on the Heard County 4-H Facebook page – has more than 3,000 views.

The William H. Booth Award is an honor acknowledging both peer recognition and career achievement.

Extension agents from all four districts were elected from their district for 7+ years in 4-H professional achievement, 4-H educational development, professional and university service, and philosophy. Nominees must complete a rigorous application and interview process.

Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state’s 41 electric cooperatives, Oglethorpe Power Corp., Georgia Transmission Corp. and Georgia System Operations Corp.

Collectively, Georgia’s customer-owned co-ops provide electricity and related services to 4.4 million people, nearly half the state’s population, across 73 percent of the state’s land area. To learn more, visit www.georgiaemc.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.