Johnson County
New county agent looks forward to 4-H, fashion
A new family and consumer sciences agent has joined the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Johnson County, and even though she’s still adjusting to the position, she looks forward to honing her skills while sharing information through the service’s slew of programs.
Born and raised in Sulphur Springs, Tarren Oswald graduated high school there and then attended Baylor University in Waco. Her major encompassed several topics, but she said she enjoys a few the most.
“Since it was a general major, I studied all the majors within the family and consumer sciences department, which was fashion design, fashion merchandising, nutrition, child and family studies and interior design,” she said. “I would say I’m more interested in fashion merchandising and interior design and child and family studies.”
After she earned her bachelor’s degree in general family and consumer sciences, Oswald’s stepgrandfather, who was an AgriLife Extension agent in Van Zandt County, told her to look into the service, where she could use her skills.
“So, I did a lot of researching and called a few people from that county. I talked to the family and consumer science agent and was really interested in it,” she said. “They put me in contact with the regional family and consumer sciences director, Dr. Susan Ballabina, in Dallas. That’s where I really learned a lot.”
Extension’s mission is “improving the lives of people, businesses, and communities across Texas and beyond through high quality, relevant education.”
Agriculture and natural resources, community economic development, family and consumer sciences, 4-H and youth development are areas the programs cover.
Before coming to work in Johnson County, Oswald said she underwent training with other agents for a month in Erath County.
“It’s called First Step, and it’s for four weeks. Basically, I just followed their family and consumer sciences agent around, and we did nutritional programs at schools. I went with an agriculture guy for a while and did some agriculture expos,” she said. “Then I went with the 4-H agent, and he did lamb and goat validation just to give me kind of a taste of what this service is all about, every part of it.”
After her training, Oswald arrived in Cleburne on Nov. 16 and began familiarizing herself to the various programs. She meets with the regional director on Dec. 16 to make sure she has the basics down.
She loves fashion and decorating and hopes to become more specialized in one area in a few years, maybe fashion merchandising or design or even child and family studies, she said.
“I’m really looking forward to working with the 4-H kids, and all their contests they have coming up are going to be really exciting,” Oswald said. “It will be fun just to get all the kids together and work on fashion boards or the food show.”
- Johnson County
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