HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – After serving Hill County for three years as an MSU-Extension Agent for Family And Consumer Sciences and 4-H, Jasmine Carbajal will be leaving the position at the end of the month in order to be closer to her family.
Carbajal says she has nothing but gratitude to the people of Hill County for allowing her to serve them, and is proud of the work she accomplished.
“I’ve been able to learn a lot from everybody that I’ve worked with, but I’ve also been so grateful that everybody really was so open to all the programming I was able to do with the extension. I did lots of cooking classes, lots of food preservation classes, we were able to do Youth Aware of Mental Health here in Hill County, mental health first aid. ServSafe has always been such a big need for our food handler classes here, I usually do them on a monthly basis. So I’ve really been able to grow professionally through collaborations, through everything I’ve been able to teach here with the extension in Hill County.”
Carbajal says that Hill County is not currently planning on finding an immediate replacement to fill the vacancy, and that Ag/4-H Extension Agent Tom Allen will be taking over some of the obligations of the role.
“I would love to have left a lot of impact, and I know that I did. But I also hope that that encourages people to call the Commissioners and say, ‘We know that we want a replacement.’ Because we do have two Agents in this office. Budget times are tight, and I understand that. But I think that we each are vital in the roles that we play. So I hope the community sees how big of a role extension plays, and how big of a role my position, specifically, played in this County. So I hope that if they see that difference that I left and those things that I was able to do, that they can fight for filling this position when the time comes.”
In her absence, Carbajal believes the Hill County Extension may see a gap in some programming.
“What I think the community is going to feel until I get replaced is those FCS programs are not going to be in place. So for example, Youth Aware of Mental Health is something I did with the high school. Until we get somebody else trained or we make arrangements, we’re not going to be doing that probably this year. Cooking classes, things like that, food preservation classes. I was just starting to kind of do that. ServSafe is gonna be a big gap, with me gone, we’re not gonna have that for a while until I get replaced.”
Carbajal says she plans on visiting Havre again down the road.
“This isn’t goodbye. My husband is from here. So we’re going to be back visiting and I’ll get to reconnect with everyone on a personal level. I’m looking forward to that, for sure.”
