H. Thomas Davis

As a 4-Her my most memorable projects were dairy, gardening, woodworking and rocketry.  As a teen I valued our council and district teen events.  In college internships gave me a foundation for my career as a 4-H educator.  I was fortunate to work in Orange County, NY for 33 years where I was encouraged to grow professionally by staff, volunteers and members.  Together we built one of the largest 4-H programs in the Northeast. Our focus was on long term youth development via 4-H clubs by looking for the best ways (sometimes new…. sometimes old) to recruit leaders, train volunteers and maintain youth involvement.  We also had a terrific school program primarily dedicated to incubation and embryology.  NAE4HYDP gave me a venue to explore new ideas, make life-long friends and to become a better educator.  Leadership roles on a district, state and national level was a way to give back to the profession. When the national conference was in Rochester, NY in 2009 I was asked to co-chair a meeting that had educators in leadership roles from all over the northeast. For 7 years in retirement, I was a coordinator for New York 4-H at our State Fair.  Also, after I retired, I was elected as a regional director for our national association. I continue to stay involved in county, district, state and national    4-H with one of the most exciting things being the planning, construction, fund raising and use of our new county 4-H Park and Education Center.