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Valerie Prax - Valerie Prax

Valerie Prax recently retired after nearly 35 years with University of Minnesota Extension. She served as an Educator and Professor for 27 years in the Minnesota 4-H Youth Development Program. In that role, she led large 4-H programs, trained adult volunteers, taught youth and managed large local and state-wide programs. Her strengths are in peer teacher training - teaching teens to teach children and supervising them in numerous teaching experiences, plus leadership development in teens and adults. Her subject expertise is in the animal sciences (livestock) programs and environmental education.

The last years of her career were spent in environmental education and water quality. She spent 5 years helping small rural Minnesota communities solve wastewater issues by leading the community through complete problem assessment, decision making, and installation of onsite and cluster septic systems. In addition, she taught septic system homeowner classes to over 5,000 residents, and wrote articles published in hundreds of local weekly newspapers, lake association and other group newsletters, was on radio interview programs many times, and prepared articles for the program web site. Prax developed numerous tools and resources to help communities understand wastewater treatment and to work through the process. She has designed, edited and written many articles for a newsletter that was distributed quarterly to over 20,000 county residents.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics Extension with a minor in Animal Sciences, and a Master's Degree in Adult Education from the University of Minnesota. She has completed about 3/4 of a second Master's Degree in Environmental Education.

Retirement gives Prax more time for number one on her list - grandchild number 8 will arrive soon. Some of the grandkids are now old enough to learn cooking and sewing, so Grandma time is coveted by all. With their children scattered across the country, there is also more time to visit, although hubby has not yet retired. Next on her list of favorite activities is her passion for gardening, particularly perennials. She is known as the "flower lady" in their rural Minnesota area. Other hobbies include cross-stitch, sewing and exploring the computer. She remains an active 4-H Volunteer, helping young 4-H'ers learn about their livestock, wildlife and other projects. She has continued as the chair of the Annual Kanabec County Clean Up Day, a huge environmental effort in their small county, plus being very active in their church.

Writing has always been a passion, inherited probably from a mother with a journalism degree who still is an editor at age 80. Retirement gives her the opportunity to pursue writing in more depth. As such, she is available for editing, preparing newsletters, writing articles and press releases and more. She is skilled in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Word, PowerPoint and Publisher, and is learning InDesign and PhotoShop.