DAFVM Spotlight Employee: Ebony Jones
Ebony Jones
From the moment she started her job as an Extension agent in Tunica County, Ebony Jones has been on the move.
With multiple school, community and special interest clubs, every day is different.
“In livestock season I could be in my office with heels on one day and in a pen with work boots on the next,” Jones said. “I could be working with 4-H’ers to plant a garden and then need to be ready for a meeting. I could be practicing with my drama team and then turn around to do a community-clean up or pack bags at the local food bank. That’s what I love about 4-H -- I can’t get bored.”
Jones appreciates the 4-H program’s flexibility.
“The kids drive the program,” she said. “We’re not restricted. We’re able to offer any type of program the county needs. Computers, dogs, robotics, bugs, sewing -- if a 4-H’er is interested in it, we’ll explore it. It’s very empowering to them.”
Twice a week Jones teaches a public speaking class, and she has seen the powerful impact it has had on young people in her community.
“Some of these kids never knew they had a gift for speaking or felt they had a voice,” she said. “When they find out there is place in this world for the gifts that they have, they’re so excited. No one offered that to them before. They say, ‘I knew my mouth was big for a reason!’ They know that they fit in at 4-H.”
Jones is willing to serve her clients because she appreciates the relationships they are building.
“I had a student who was smart but struggling. She couldn’t pass her state test, and she really wanted to go to college,” Jones said. “We would study together, and when she finally passed that test, I rejoiced with her and her mother.
“It’s the relationships that you gain, the families and the community, that make this job wonderful. You don’t get that in every job,” Jones said.
In addition to her work, Jones enjoys her work in ministry and visiting her family in Lexington.
Editor's note: The Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine Spotlight Employee profiles are provided by the Office of Agricultural Communications at Mississippi State. For more information, please click here.
