What Does Family & Consumer Sciences Mean?
I’m going to get up on my soap box for a little while, so be prepared! Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service offers a wealth of information, and it’s right here in your community! Often when individuals call our office, they ask for “the County Agent”. If I am the one who happens to answer the phone, my response is, “What is the nature of your question so I will know which agent can best assist you?” What many people don’t realize is that we have more than one “county agent” and that each one has areas of expertise.
I am the Extension agent for Family & Consumer Sciences, and my co-worker (Mario Villarino) is the Extension agent for Ag & Natural Resources. At one time, we also had a 4-H agent, but currently, Mario and I share 4-H responsibilities.
So what does a Family & Consumer Sciences (FCS) Agent do? Glad you asked, because many readers are not aware of the expanse of FCS educational programs. Family & Consumer Sciences (formerly known as Home Economics or Human Sciences) covers a vast domain: parenting, health & wellness, child and adult nutrition, diabetes education, marriage education, sewing instruction, food safety, money/resource management, cooking demonstrations, health fair exhibits, disaster preparedness, stress management, physical activity promotion, and much more. Some of my major areas are:
1) Do Well, Be Well with Diabetes
2) Cooking Well with Diabetes
3) Walk Across Texas (physical fitness series)
4) Twogether in Texas marriage education
5) Better Living for Texans nutrition education for adults & students
6) Sewing workshops
7) FRED (Fathers Reading Every Day)
8) Many program topics concerning nutrition and food safety for all ages
9) Christmas Joys (annual holiday demonstrations & gift-giving ideas)
10) Dinner Tonight (cooking demonstrations)
11) Kids’ Camp: Fun, Food, Fitness (annual 4-week summer camp)
12) 4-H Foods & Nutrition projects
13) 4-H Clothing & Textiles projects
14) 4-H Public Speaking & Educational presentations projects
15) Annual teacher-in-service programs
16) Head Start nutrition programs
The list could go on and on, but you get the idea!
Family & Consumer Sciences components are very important in day-to-day living. Everybody has to eat to survive. Everybody wears clothing. Everybody has a family of some kind (parents, spouse, children, aunts, uncles, or cousins). Everybody needs to learn to manage money & earn a living. Learning to manage those resources is what my job is all about!
Stop by the Extension Office sometime and stay for a while. We’ll be glad to share with you all the upcoming activities and events!
Twogether in Texas Marriage Education Workshop
This is the last call for couples to sign up for the Twogether in Texas marriage education workshop. As of this writing, four couples have signed up, but we have room for more! This is a terrific workshop that focuses on Marriage Expectations, Communication, Conflict Resolution, Money Management, and Goals & Dreams.
The workshop is absolutely free, and engaged couples will receive a certificate at the conclusion of the workshop to save $60 upon applying for a marriage license. The certificate is good for one year. A local eatery will provide lunch and dessert for the couples, and another business has an awesome surprise for each couple. What a great opportunity to prepare for marriage and be treated like royalty!
Twogether in Texas is scheduled for Saturday, August 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Office, 1200 W. Houston, in Sulphur Springs. Although engaged couples have the greatest benefit, married couples are also welcome to attend as a refresher! Call 903-885-3443 to sign up.
The next workshop won’t be offered until November, so if you know of a couple who could benefit from this workshop, please share this information!
Closing Thought
“He who makes no mistakes makes no progress” – Teddy Roosevelt
Johanna Hicks
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Family & Consumer Sciences
1200-B W. Houston
P.O.Box 518
Sulphur springs, TX 75483
903-885-3443 – phone
903-439-4909 – Fax
[email protected]
