COLLEGE STATION – Sherri Halsell, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service family and consumer sciences agent for Clay County, has been awarded that agency’s Superior Service Award in the county Extension agent category.
The award, presented Jan. 8 during the annual Texas A&M AgriLife Conference in College Station, is given to those who demonstrate outstanding performance or who provide exceptional service to AgriLife Extension, an educational outreach agency of the Texas A&M University System.
In her award nomination, Halsell was described as “an effective communicator” and “gifted at getting volunteers involved in the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service programs in a county of less than 11,000.”
One of the major programming efforts that demonstrate Halsell’s effectiveness is her cancer prevention programming, the nomination stated. After reviewing county identified issues and statistics from the Texas Department of State Health Services showing that 39 (1.8 percent) women had been diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer and 32 (1.5 percent) men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in the past four years, Halsell and the Clay County Family and Consumer Sciences Program Area Committee decided to form a Cancer Prevention Task Force.
The goal was to increase the number of women 40 years and older and the men 50 years and older to be up-to-date on their breast, cervical and prostate cancer screening using American Cancer Society guidelines and to increase the knowledge of youth about skin cancer.
Some programs offered as a result of these efforts were the Friend to Friend: Staying Well Together program, a Prostate Cancer Prevention program and a Skin Cancer Prevention program.
“Sherri has a passion for providing education related to cancer prevention,” wrote Cheryl Brewer of Amarillo, AgriLife Extension cancer prevention specialist for the North Region, in her letter of support. “She has stepped outside of her comfort zone to provide a program on prostate cancer for men in her county. This is a tough audience to reach, but she was successful in getting men to participate.
“Sherri has taken a real leadership role in cancer prevention in District 3 (the Rolling Plains). Through personal research, she has been able to identify regional cancer-related resources and she has built relationships with key leaders in the area of cancer treatment and prevention,” Brewer continued.
“Her programming efforts have results and make a difference in Clay County and in the North Region.”
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