By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
After 36 years with the K-State Research and Extension Districts and almost 19 years of service in Ellis County, agent Susan Schlichting is set to retire in January.
"It's gone fast," Schlichting said of her time.
But during those years she said she has seen changes big and small.
"As far as his during my time here in Ellis County, probably the change into being a district has probably been the biggest change," Schlichting said. "Just merging with another county trying to get everyone on the same page and heading in the same direction. When we came into being a district, they told us it would be like a marriage."
"You can think about it as a marriage of the two people as challenging, sometimes a marriage with nine [agents] is even more so."
Technological development, she said also has changed operations in a tremendous way.
"Back then you didn't have those you had personal computers at your desks, you didn't have a fax machine, you didn't have the capabilities of emailing, and all of those things. The internet wasn't really the thing that you accessed either," Schlichting said. "And so you had all these things that you did manually. You'd mail something. You'd sit down, and you'd work with a co-worker from another county on a project, and you would put it in the mail, then make the changes, put it in the mail to them."
The development of office tools has also made the job easier.
"The other thing that I think about way back when was doing newsletters and how you had to type those out on a special template, and then you had this mimeograph machine and your dirtiest oldest clothes on those days because you got greasy, dirty, with all this black ink stuff that you had to mimeograph things to produce a newsletter," Schlichting said.
"Nowadays with the computer, you can just tweak it and change it up. You can public pop it up onto the web, and it's a slick process. But back in those days, it was pretty cumbersome. You had little clipart books that you had to draw outlines of things if you wanted to add some pictures to it, and you had to try and be a little bit artistic and creative. And so it's been a great change, I think in that respect."
Although the adoption of technology has made many aspects of working of the extension district easier, she said the quicker pace of the work creates other challenges.
"Today, it's more like, we want it yesterday kind of a thing," Schlichting said. "And we're always on that kind of a mode. (Before) we had time to stop and think and really kind of plot and plan something more efficiently."
Now as she reflects on her time with the district, she said countless memories of working with youth as the 4-H Youth Development agent will go with her into retirement.
"Every year there are new and special memories and, (I) worked with so many kids and families over the years that were fabulous to work with."
But camping trips, she said, were especially memorable.
"One of my very favorite things to do in my job has always been camp," Schlichting said. "I started out as a teenager who was a camp counselor way back when and embraced camp at that point."
"And, and so taking kids to camp at Rock Springs or doing day camps here locally, that always was a highlight for me."
While she will take those memories with her as she transitions into retirement, she has already found projects to occupy her time.
"My father passed away in April, and he had this dream of a greenhouse on the farm," Schlichting said. "And so soon after his passing, my mother and brother bought a greenhouse. So we are trying to figure out how to establish that in a good way on our farm, and so I'll be back moving back to Nebraska to help with that process."
"And so, there won't be a lot of time probably initially for just relaxing and taking time and enjoying retirement. It will be really focused on that whole process and making that happen in a good way for our family."
But no matter what projects arise, she said she will miss working with the 4-H families.
"Working with kids has been a great fun thing," Schlichting said. "And I've thoroughly enjoyed it, especially getting to watch kids grow through time. Now being here for 18 plus years, I've seen kids grow through the program. Now I've been working with their kids who are now in the program. So you know, second generation, and it's just it's really awesome to watch that and to see kids' confidence build."
"Their ability to go out and take the tools they've gained through their 4-H experience and put them to work out in the communities and in various roles. It's a proud thing to be able to say I have a little tiny piece of helping them get to that place."