COLLEGE STATION — Shea Nebgen, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent for family and consumer sciences in Gillespie County, has received a 2014 Superior Service Award in the county agent category.
Superior Service Awards recognize AgriLife Extension faculty and staff members who provide outstanding performance in AgriLife Extension education or other outstanding service to the organization and to Texans. The award was presented Jan. 6 during the Texas A&M AgriLife Conference in College Station.
According to her nomination, Nebgen has maintained strong county programs in food safety, health and wellness, child safety and childcare education, as well as serving on many district committees as chairman and state committees as a district representative.
Nebgen began the Food Protection Management program in Gillespie County in 2002. In the past five years, she has added a food handler’s program in her community and at the high school level. In 2011, she began teaching a food handler’s course in the spring and fall to nutrition classes at Fredericksburg High School. She also offered English and Spanish-language food handlers’ courses. Since 2010, she and other agents have led 899 retail food workers to obtain or maintain their certification through the course in Gillespie, Kerr and Llano counties.
The nomination also cites Nebgen for her leadership in health programs. It states her “Walk Across Texas program has been extremely successful with the implementation of the program with the community, Fredericksburg and Harper Independent School District employees, Hill Country Memorial Hospital employees and with the Gillespie County and City of Fredericksburg employees.”
It also notes that the Balance Food and Play program, which was offered to area schools to help addresses childhood obesity, increased knowledge and improved behaviors related to more healthful eating and increased physical activity. The Witness the Fitness program at Fredericksburg elementary, middle school and high school campuses was also cited in the nomination.
Nebgen also has been active in the agency’s Passenger Safety Project, which was competitively awarded federal funding through the Texas Department of Transportation. She received her certification in 2001 and in the past five years has inspected child safety seats at various events in her community. These events include events in collaboration with the Texas A&M AgriLife Passenger Safety Team, Texans in Motion, Wal-Mart, Hill Country Memorial Hospital and the First Baptist Church.
In 2014, she served as chairperson of the Hill Country Child Care Providers Conference, a multi-county collaboration with Bandera, Kendall, Kerr, Medina and Uvalde counties, to offer child care credit hours and continuing education units to child care providers to assist them in maintaining their certification. The conference is held once a year at Schreiner University in Kerrville,and committee members rotate leadership of the conference. Over the past five years, the Hill Country Child Care Providers committee has conducted a child care provider training conference and director’s conference for 1,082 child care providers and directors who provide care for 14,858children enrolled in 264centers or family day care homes. A total of 7,574 hours of training were provided to professionals seeking to meet state-mandated training requirements.
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