Lincoln County 4-H has a long history of success with club meetings, project achievement, and other fun activities. Back in 2020 with COVID-19 just starting up, Jodi Coon, long-time Lincoln County 4-H program assistant moved on to a new challenge. Over the past two years, Lincoln County Extension has been working with UGA, the Board of Commissioners, and the Board of Education to increase our budget to accommodate a new 4-H staff member. While we were fortunate to have some part-time staff members Joanna Stone and Liberty Wilson in our office during this period, the development of the 2022 budget has finally secured enough funds for us to hire a full-time 4-H Educator. With this exciting news, we’d like to welcome Ms. Rebekah Goble, who started in our office on May 2nd, 2022.
Rebekah has lived in Lincoln County for over 40 years and came through the Lincoln County School District. She was a member of 4-H in middle school but claims she wasn’t very active in the program. After graduation, Rebekah worked in a number of roles, most notably as a special education paraprofessional in the Lincoln County School District from 1997-2003. She then served in a number of office roles in Augusta, returning to school in 2015 to earn her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and social justice from Augusta University. Most recently, Rebekah served as a residency coordinator for the Augusta University Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, where she had been for 11 years. With an 8-year-old daughter currently enrolled in Lincoln County schools, Rebekah was interested in a new challenge that would bring her closer to home. In addition to her professional experience, Rebekah is an active member of Faith Community and has extensive experience in managing church youth events and programming. Her experience as a paraprofessional and managing youth as well as her dedication to Lincoln County made her an excellent choice for Lincoln County 4-H.
As part of her training, Rebekah has been learning all about UGA Extension and 4-H. From our current offerings to our past ones, Rebekah is full of fresh, exciting ideas of how to increase youth participation in 4-H and our community. Of the opportunities we have, she is most excited to develop a summer cooking/baking class and a livestock reading program to be offered this summer. She is eager to connect with students, parents, and volunteers while working to increase participation in Lincoln County 4-H. While club meetings have ended for this 4-H year, Rebekah will be volunteering at Farm Safety Camp on May 26th and will be back in the classroom this September when school starts back. In the meantime, feel free to stop by the Lincoln County Extension office to say hi or contact Rebekah at Rebekah.goble@uga.edu or 706-359-3233.
