VALDOSTA — A Valdosta woman has influenced the lives of about 8,000 to 10,000 students directly or indirectly since she began working with the Lowndes County Extension 4-H program 12 years ago — and that doesn’t even count the parents. Through 4-H, she has helped students discover their interests and talents, but, more importantly, discover a place to belong, to fit in.

As she looked at a corkboard filled with newspaper clippings of the 4-H’ers’ achievements, Melinda Miller said, “It’s not about me. It’s about them.”

One of the clippings was about Kids Dig It, a fun-filled family event open to the public where youth and adults can get up close and even ride bulldozers, wheel loaders and an excavator. When asked if 4-H would do that program again, she said, “Yes, on Sept. 15,” and broke into tears when she realized she wouldn’t be here then to help with it.

Melinda began her duties Aug. 1 as the new Southwest District 4-H program development coordinator for 41 counties ... her sphere of influence ever widening. She is headquartered in the Tifton office, although she will continue to live here.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to serve 4-H in an even greater capacity by mentoring and training the faculty and staff who implement 4-H in Southwest Georgia,” she said.

“4-H is the youth-development organization of the University of Georgia. Our mission is to assist youth in acquiring knowledge, developing life skills and forming attitudes that will enable them to become self-directing, productive, and contributing citizens.”

4-H offers more than 60 projects from computers to performing arts to “any animal you can think of,” she said.

Melinda was a 4-H’er herself starting at Clyattville Elementary at the age of 10 in 1983, and continuing for eight years. She raised a pig on her daddy’s farm for a 4-H project one year, but that didn’t last.

“I realized I was going to have to sell ‘Honey’ and she would be bacon, and I couldn’t do that anymore,” she said.

After her mom, Hazel Downing, got to know Sally Black, who was formerly in charge of the 4-H program, Hazel became an active part of the 4-H Volunteers Association.

“(My mom) was always encouraging me to do my best,” Miller said. “She saw the same values of hard work in 4-H that my parents instilled in me on the farm. She traveled with me everywhere to 4-H competitions and listened for hours as I prepared my speeches for competition.”

For many years, a Miss Lowndes 4-H Pageant was held, teaching the 4-H’ers poise and self-confidence. Melinda was crowned Miss Lowndes 4-H in 1989.

Born Dec. 18, 1972, in Quitman, Melinda moved to Lowndes County with her family when she was 3 years old. She has a brother, Kevin Downing of Valdosta.

A graduate of Lowndes High School, she attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Valdosta State University where she earned an associate and bachelor’s in mass communications and a master’s in sociology.

“I had worked in radio out of college as well as marketing for a local firm when a unique position came up at Moody Air Force Base with UGA Extension and 4-H,” she said.

Melinda was selected to be one of the first Youth Collaboration Project coordinators in the Air Force.

“I worked with the staff at the Youth Center on base to implement 4-H projects that are particularly designed to reach youth and families experiencing deployment. It was during the Global War on Terrorism.”

Melinda was there until the County Extension 4-H position came open in 2001.

In 2008, her duties increased as she became the first woman County Extension coordinator, responsible for all of the staff in the County Extension office as well as the finances and overseeing the total agricultural program.

Melinda has watched the growth of 4-H during her tenure.

“Early in my career, we had a 4-H enrollment of about 600. That has risen to over 1,100 annually,” she said.

“Truly, the greatest challenge is finding creative ways to fund the diverse programs that we offer in our county. We have 51 different clubs, and it’s our responsibility to raise the money that provides registration for events, camps, conferences and supplies to conduct our educational programs.

“We also work hard to provide need-based scholarships for youth who otherwise wouldn’t be able to participate.”

4-H partners with science and language arts teachers to do in-school programs during the day. But there’s also County Council leadership, judging and evaluation teams and other specialty clubs that meet outside the school. Those include a dog club, a horse club, an archery and a rifle team, and Cloverbuds for first through fourth graders.

“We do a lot of community service involvement such as 4-H Cans Hunger food drive and beach clean-up at Jekyll,” she said. “We have worked with Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful for years on their Rivers Alive project which gathers debris from rivers where people do illegal dumping.”

But it’s not the projects which make Melinda most proud. It’s the 4-H’ers themselves who have achieved, learning skills, leadership and confidence which have helped them to accomplish their life goals.

She points to Natasha Thomas, one of the head chefs at the Hilton Garden Inn here. In high school, Natasha had just walked into a meeting of Sigma Lambda Chi, a 4-H club focusing on service, leadership and citizenship, and when later asked what attracted her, she replied, “I heard 4-H could help me with my future.”

And indeed they could. Melinda learned Natasha’s interest was in working with food.

“We placed her in the Food Fare 4-H project and coached her on how to build her portfolio of her food-project experiences, and those things entailed everything from nutrition to food safety and proper technique in the kitchen.

“She went to District Project Achievement at Rock Eagle and State Congress in Atlanta for four years and became a Master 4-H’er her senior year. She had the top 4-H portfolio. Rather than giving a speech, she had 1 1/2 hours to prepare a dish, and the judges watched and tasted. That year she was a state winner.

“We helped her apply for a scholarship which she won,” Melinda said. “I think that’s when she realized her dreams were more attainable. She went on to culinary school in Pennsylvania, and after a couple of years, she graduated and came back to South Georgia. I’m so proud of her.”

Melinda said she learns from 4-H’ers.

“I think they keep me grounded in what’s really important, and that’s that they develop independence, mastery, belonging and generosity. Those are the essential components of 4-H ... It’s not about the first-place ribbon or having the greatest poster, but that they’ve learned skills, that they are confident in their abilities and reach their goals.”

Melinda’s work with 4-H’ers has not gone unrecognized. In 2008, she received the highest recognition bestowed on a 4-H agent when she was selected the state winner of the William H. Booth Award, presented by Georgia Electric Membership Corporation.

Melinda’s family shares her passion for 4-H. She and her husband, Tony, power plant manager for Archer Daniels Midland, have been married for 16 years.

“Tony was never a 4-H’er,” she said. “He grew up in Tennessee and played football, but he got to know me and came to 4-H activities and was asked to volunteer. He fell in love with all that 4-H stands for.”

Their children, Janey, 7, and Jon Jon, 5, participated in their first 4-H projects this year. Janey did a presentation on the mythical creature, the unicorn, which are mentioned in the Bible several times in reference to the one-horn rhino. Jon Jon did an experiment making a lemon juice rocket from the chemical reaction between lemon juice, baking soda and vinegar.

The Millers are members of Redland Baptist Church, where Melinda enjoys singing solos and participating in the choir.

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