It could be a new forward-thinking way to be efficient, staffing an office with people with specialized skills for just a few hours a week. That's the workplace model of Middle Tennessee University of Tennessee Extension offices using, all to increase services and community outreach. Here's more on the unique experience these mini employees can share. Hello, I'm Charles Denny.
This is Agcast, brought to you by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. Alright, yeah. Ready? Yeah.
Just use. Just roll with it. Toy size, but when light hits it, this little guy does a drag race across the parking lot. This tiny land rover gets its go juice from the sun, solar powered, quick, and expertly designed.
Jeff Duncan is a former engineer with DuPont and Louisiana Pacific. Now several hours a week, he teaches 4-H youth in Williamson County, STEM lessons, science, technology, engineering, and math, including how to build these vehicles, a program called Junior Solar Sprint. I think it is great to have somebody that's previously been an industry to actually practice the skills that you're teaching. We don't, particularly most of us don't particularly have a lot of teaching skills, so that's not a strong suit.
But from the technology standpoint, you won't get anything past this, you won't sample a story off of the technology side. So it comes from the training we've had, also the experiences we've had. But I think just being kind of a model or an example of what a career in that area can mean to the students is really powerful. Because they can not only ask you questions about the technology, but ask you questions about the job and about the careers.
And STEM is a great career. I mean, it's tremendous demand. It's a career that you can stick with. You're not going to get laid off too often.
I mean, in some areas, the pace is good. It's an easy sell, and a lot of the students that are in there might have a feeling that they like math and science, but they're not real sure what that means, where they can go with it in the career, and we try to feel that out for them. A mini-vehicle engineered by a mini-employee. Jeff is one of 16 people from the Franklin area, who work a handful of hours at the Williamson County UTSU Extension Office.
Some are in STEM instruction and other areas of outreach. Director Matt Horsman says he's able to call on a diverse group of talented local people. They vary in all walks of life between five hours and 20 hours per week. And every realm of background and knowledge that they'll be able to walk in.
One of the important things that we really look for is we don't identify the need. We identify the instructor, and then we have them help us identify the need. Because we always try to be looking for new ways to be involved in our community, because Extension serves the community that you are in. So it may not look the same all across the state.
So what we decided was we have to find some way to serve our community. There's this huge need sitting out there. We can't serve it the way we're currently constructed. And so we're very fortunate.
We cross paths with a lot of people on a daily basis. And a lot of people, they're very passionate about teaching. They may not have teaching experience, but they're very passionate people. You know, here's some people that really want to teach.
We're not going to, you know, outbid the private market to be able to bring them in. But is there a model that we can get them in here for a few hours a day to teach a very, very specific thing that's all they're here to do? And then we can be able to maybe actually address the needs of our community. So it started with one.
And more were added programs and people like federal attorney Jennifer Hartsell-Stock-Bale. The former foreacher now teaches a STEM CSI class to young people. Crime scene investigation, what she calls the intersection of law and science. During that class, we focus on things like fingerprinting, DNA, blood topping, blood spatter, gunpowder residue, the kind of things that the kids get really excited about.
We do hands-on labs so they learn the science. And then we apply that science to how prosecutors and defense attorneys use that scientific evidence. Williamson is the only county office in Tennessee with this employee plan. This is one of the state's fastest growing urban areas.
But extension leaders believe this model could work well anywhere. Ashley Stokes is dean of UT Extension. She recently visited Williamson County and learned about this staffing plan. She'd like to see other counties try this.
So when we think about what's important in our urban communities, suburban, rural areas, those community members, the work that they do, it's so relevant in those communities. And even if it's small amounts of time, their ability to share that is just tremendous. It's such an innovative way of thinking about how we connect with our learners. If we think about all of these skill sets that our community members have for them to be able to work with us, even if it's short, it's a time they get to really share those skill sets and those talents with us.
They can interact with our youth. They can interact with other aspects of how we connect with community. Maybe it's around being able to diagnose different plant problems that people might encounter or teaching our youth how to approach things in such a creative way that maybe they haven't thought of before. So it just draws on those skill sets and those talents of our community members.
And I think it's a wonderful way to add diversity into what we're able to offer. UT Extension and Williamson County also employs several people with skills and horticulture a few hours a week to teach classes. Then Williamson County Extension meets someone they'd like to employ, they find a program to fit the person. And what better way to efficiently serve a community and run an office, finding a skill set to meet a need.
Thanks for listening, I'm Charles Denny. For more real life solutions provided by the UT Institute of Agriculture, go to our website at ag.tenacy.edu.