TeWinkel takes happy look back at Extension career
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 03/18/2010 10:39 AM
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WATERLOO, Iowa —Developing and coordinating the Discovery Program at the National Cattle Congress Fair in Waterloo is among Mary TeWinkel's proudest accomplishments.
TeWinkel, 55, retired at the end of January after 31 years as a 4-H youth development specialist in Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler and Grundy counties. She took an early retirement package offered as part of ISU Extension's reorganization.
TeWinkel started the Discovery Program in 1989 and more than 27,000 elementary school students have taken part since. Many of the children returned to Cattle Congress to show their parents what they learned.
"My goal was to help kids learn about Iowa agriculture and where their food comes from," TeWinkel said. "So many kids in town do not have a clue. Kids would walk into the barns and say, 'Look at the horse,' and it was a cow. They didn't know animals, and they had never touched a lamb."
One year the fair couldn't offer it's Hall of Breeds, and TeWinkel had to organize a makeshift livestock show for the Discovery Program.
"I did chores morning and night," she said.
She said the program is popular with teachers who tell her that it complements what they teach in the classroom.
"We have a waiting list of 500 to 700 students each year," she said.
TeWinkel also coordinated more than 30 farm safety days in cooperation with Progressive Ag over the years.
TeWinkel was on the original design team for Extension's Growing in the Garden curriculum, which was piloted at several Waterloo elementary schools. At one time, 175 teachers in the county were using the curriculum.
"We got that started, and it has really grown," she said. "In Iowa we all have to understand agriculture a little bit. We all have to eat. Kids love to get outdoors and grow things."
TeWinkel started her career as a 4-H youth leader in Butler and Grundy counties before taking the same job in Black Hawk County. When ISU Extension reorganized in the 1990s she became a youth development specialist for four northeast Iowa counties.
She grew up on a dairy farm at Sun Prairie, Wis., and followed in her older sisters' footsteps by joining 4-H. She received a bachelor's degree in home economics education and a master's degree in continuing and vocational education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
TeWinkel is still working part-time with Extension by coordinating the three Iowa Ag Academies that will be held this summer to educate teachers about curriculum and resources.
"After being so busy and working so many nights and weekends, it's nice to slow down a little bit," TeWinkel said. "I've been doing a little cleaning, going through piles, putting pictures in scrap books, and my next task is cleaning the basement."
She hopes to find time for quilting and has agreed to be on the Black Hawk County Pork Producers Board.
"I always went to their meetings because they did so much for 4-H, and I helped them with grilling, and now they asked me to be a board member," TeWinkel said.