Family and Community Wellness, 2024 Q4
Katelyn Jespersen, Extension Agent, B.S. MLS, M.A. Ed.
Katelyn.Jespersen@ndsu.edu
As we put a wrap on 2024, it’s a great time to reflect on the past year and the hopes of what 2025 will bring. New year, new programs, and new goals to improve health and wellbeing! In reflection, the past few months have provided a chance for personal growth for myself and programming opportunities to a wide array of our community members.
October:
The Stepping On program was completed in October. This seven-week workshop has been successfully finished four times in the last two years and is highly recommended by participants as a proven falls prevention program for the aging community. I am planning to provide another workshop this spring.
November:
November was a busy time with annual conference, trainings, and two large youth events. The first week I attended the NDSU Fall Conference for All Ag in Fargo. There are a lot of good things happening in Extension throughout the state and it is exciting to learn new ideas to bring back to Williams County. After the conference, I spent much of November prepping for and presenting at the youth events of Special Assignment Pizza and Marketplace for Kids. During Special Assignment Pizza I covered the “Nutrition Booth” for both days of the event. Through this, I had the opportunity to teach a total of 540 local area 4th graders about MyPlate, the food groups, serving sizes, and making healthy choices. Shortly after, I presented a 4-H lesson on Career Exploration at Marketplace for Kids in Williston. This was a full day where I taught 258 4th/5th/6th graders and their chaperones about all the different career clusters and helped them discover which type of career might best fit their interests through a game of “Would You Rather” career edition.
December:
December was much quieter with the year winding down. I was able to do a short presentation on Conflict Management and Communication to a local business who wanted to provide training for their employees to help them de-escalate situations that may arise. The training was beneficial and I hope to be able to provide more of these types of informal trainings to various businesses through staff meetings.
