Amy Thompson; County Extension Director and Extension Educator; Purdue Extension - Monroe County, Indiana

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Interviewee: Amy Thompson

County Extension Director and Extension Educator

Purdue Extension - Monroe County, Indiana

Interviewer: David Corsar, NWF

David Corsar: What is your role with Extension and why did you choose to work there?
Amy Thompson: I am the Monroe County Extension Director which is mostly administrative, budget, facilities, etc. But I am also the Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator for Monroe County. In that role I do quite a bit of programming on a wide variety of things - I coordinate the master gardener program, serve on the local planning commission, where I get to provide input on protecting watersheds, landscaping with native plants, setbacks and buffers. I also serve on the board of the county parks department; we manage about 530 acres of parkland in the county.
I participate in some efforts to promote native landscaping and water quality management, such as the master naturalists program, natural resources education, and urban forestry education. I work with a number of other county agencies and also representatives from a local community college and a large university here.
I serve on a stormwater team called SWEET (Storm Water Environmental Education Team); we promote low input lawn care, storm drain marking, etc. and try to help people understand what kind of impacts people may have on water quality and correspondingly, on their own quality of life.
I work with small farmers. We have a large farmers market, and I’m involved in some on farm research projects with small farmers and act as a resource when they consider new products and crops.
My background is in forest management and forest ecology, but now I am very much a generalist. I answer all kinds of questions, such as “what kind of bug is this?” “What’s wrong with my cucumbers?” “What resources are available to implement a new farming practice?” “What is the process for renting pasture?”
Through my Peace Corps service, I was in some water resource limited areas and lived through a drought in Dominican Republic, so water quality and access which were always interests of mine were elevated on my radar, and I am interested in promoting clean water locally.
I work with a lot of volunteers; I do quite a bit of volunteer training and management, answering questions about specific policies. I connect a lot with local officials through my service on the boards that I’m on, and I’m always trying to build relationships with officials - making them aware of how we are impacting our local communities.

DC: What difference can graduates expect to make by going into careers with Extension?
AT: So for example, today somebody brought in a cucumber and explained a problem they were having. I always try to give people alternatives to chemical applications. I’m not anti-chemical, but I try to encourage folks to examine all the resources available to them and find the best one to address the issue. If they do go with a higher impact resource, then I can at least help them have a better idea on how to apply it so that they have a smaller environmental impact. I feel like I am making an impact in those one-on-one interactions.
Through the programming we do around agriculture promoting local foods we are helping lower transportation impacts. We also do programming around water quality. One initiative is encouraging and facilitating building rain gardens, so that if you have runoff from your yard with fertilizers in it, it will just go into your own garden.
My job is a continual learning process. I learn something new basically on a daily basis. No two days have been the same in my almost 15 years of work with Extension.

DC: What would you say to students and young professionals interested in going to work for Extension? What should students study? And are there particular credentials of relevance to employers?
AT: Communication skills are definitely important. If you’re not talking to the public, you’re talking to the media or local officials. Both verbal and written skills are important, specifically when communicating with the media. People coming out of schools today should be comfortable with both TV and radio as well as the whole social media world.
I’d also suggest a background in nonprofit management. Although we aren’t a nonprofit organization, the human resources skills that come along with that background would be very applicable, especially if people want to make this a longer career. Any Extension employee will likely manage volunteers, if not office staff as well, so some kind of human resources background would be helpful.
As far as technical skills, you tend to become a jack-of-all-trades in my position, though there are some positions for specialists. I personally don’t use my forestry degrees as much as I thought I would – they provided the necessary qualifications, but people are generally impressed by your overall breadth of knowledge. I came in with a completely technical background, but having more exposure to nonprofit management could have been helpful.

DC: How might certification as NWF EcoLeaders make a difference to employers?
Any kind of work where you’ve successfully made connections within the community, whether that is research, marketing, or just general outreach, would be very applicable. Because at Extension, you’re connecting to the community in so many ways all the time.

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