Wildcat Connection August 2019 | Page 12

y name is Tyler Johnson and I am a new edition to the Kansas State University Research and Extension family. I come from Oregon and have a Masters in International Public Health focusing on nutrition. Prior to coming to Kansas, I was coordinating a Healthy Mobile Food Pantry to help people with chronic conditions access healthier foods. Also, I was facilitating a program helping low-income people learn basic cooking skills and co-chairing a taskforce to look at barriers to healthy eating. All this background, along with my passion for helping people, make me very excited to me here.

Since starting on July 15, I have been working to set up the new office in Pittsburg, familiarize myself with the Wildcat District, introducing myself to some of the key community stakeholder, and get to know my team and the extension team as a whole.

In July, the nutrition assistants in the Wildcat district continued their outreach as they have been doing. One nutrition assistant is starting to work closer with maternal and child health related outreach in Independence. Meanwhile, I have been working on new agent orientation regarding communities in the Wildcat District. There is a lot of learn about this area of Kansas, but I am ready and willing to do what needs to be done. I am looking forward to continuing to extend our outreach to the communities in the Wildcat District.

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