National 4-H Salute to Excellence names Micki Earp Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer

Micki Earp of Taylorsville has been named the National 4-H Salute to Excellence Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer for her commitment to 4-H and her community. She will receive her national award at the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents Conference in Minnesota in October.

Earp, a North Carolina 4-H volunteer for nearly 40 years, was also named 2014 Southern Region 4‑H Salute to Excellence Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer for her exceptional contributions as a 4-H volunteer and leader in the Southern Region 4-H program. She will be recognized in October at the Volunteer Conference of Southern States at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, Ga.

As organizational leader of several 4‑H clubs, Earp creates learning events for 4-H members that are fun, educational and entertaining. In addition to her local volunteer activities, she has been instrumental in recruiting and training other leaders through the state’s 4-H Master Volunteer Achievement in Continuing Education program.

Earp’s commitment to 4-H is exemplified in her continued efforts to bring 4-H programs to more and more young people every year, said Harriett Edwards, North Carolina Cooperative Extension volunteer specialist.

“She helps these kids turn their interests into learning and exploration, even as she helps other adult volunteers gain skills and confidence to help foster the kids’ interests,” Edwards said.

Among Earp’s accomplishments, she has been inducted into the North Carolina 4-H Hall of Fame and the N.C. 4-H Volunteer Leaders Hall of Leadership Achievement. She also is a trainer in the 4-H Master Volunteer program. She has led numerous clubs during her years of service as a 4-H leader, including service with the Emeralds 4-H Club, Busy Been Needle and Thread 4-H Club and the Sign Language Performance 4-H Club. 

Earp has held numerous offices in the North Carolina 4-H Volunteer Leaders’ Association and has served on the Alexander County Extension Advisory Council and the North Carolina Extension State Advisory Council. She is a dedicated 4-H volunteer who gives many hours to the organization every week.

She is retired from Alexander County Public Schools, having served 18 years at Alexander Central High School in the Home Economics Department Child Development Lab Center and 11 years at Scotts Elementary School teaching 2^nd through 5^th-grade students. She continues to serve as a substitute teacher in Alexander and teaches part-time at Catawba Valley Community College.

4-H is a community of 6 million young people across America learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills. The 4-H programs are implemented by the 111 land-grant universities and the Cooperative Extension system through their 3,100 local Extension offices across the country.