Allen Jones was recently awarded the Paulding County Master Gardener Extension Volunteers 2023 Scholarship. Allen will attend Kennesaw State University in the fall working towards a degree in Biology. Allen is a 2023 North Paulding High School graduate and a Paulding County 4-H’er. Allen has demonstrated exceptional academic performance and community engagement as Paulding County 4-H’er and North Paulding FFA member. He has been a member of the Paulding 4-H Forestry Judging Team for 8 years. Paulding County Master Gardeners are proud to recognize Allen’s hard work and to assist him with his continued educational endeavors.
Pictured: Master Gardener Extension Volunteers at their annual plant sale that funds the Master Gardener Scholarship, pictured with 2023 Scholarship recipient (Left to Right) John Shipley, Denise Rusch, Allen Jones, Bruce Deppen, Christen Thomas, Amy Rhoads, and Mary Carol Sheffield.
This is the 15th year that the Paulding County Master Gardener Extension Volunteers have awarded the scholarship, made available with proceeds from their annual plant sale. The scholarship is open to any student who is a resident of Paulding County and is enrolled at a Georgia College or Technical School studying, horticulture, botany, forestry, agriculture, or biology-related field. Applications are available in January of each year and scholarship is awarded in the spring. You can learn more about the scholarship at www.ugaextension.org/paulding.
Mary Carol Sheffield works with University of Georgia Cooperative Extension in Paulding County. She is a Senior Public Service Assistant, serving as an off-campus faculty member of the University of Georgia with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Mary Carol’s work focuses on increasing agricultural and environmental literacy and improving soil and water conservation practices in Paulding and Northwest Georgia through research-based education and outreach. In addition to her role as an Extension Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources, she is also the County Extension Coordinator, providing leadership, mentorship and administration to an office of 7 staff members and more than 100 volunteers.
She works with other agencies and businesses to provide outreach to address environmental literacy and soil and water conservation by providing gardening education for youth, Master Gardener Extension Volunteers, and homeowners as well as professional education for urban agriculture and farmers.
Mary Carol has been an active member of the International Society of Arboriculture, National Association of County Agricultural Agents, Epsilon Sigma Phi, and the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals. She holds a BA in Biology from Agnes Scott College and an MS degree in Forest Biology from Auburn University.
