Crawford County native comes home with degree to lead extension office
Kendra Stahl's office is so new that her permanent desk hasn't even been delivered just yet.
"I so far like the building," she said.
Stahl is the new Ohio State University Extension agent for Crawford County. Her first day was June 5, just a couple weeks after the extension office moved to the new, $1.6 million multipurpose building at the county fairgrounds.
"I think it's going to be good for the fair," Stahl said.
'I grew up in the northern part of the county'
The new building's opening and Stahl's hiring came unusually close to one another, especially considering she was a longtime 4-H and FFA exhibitor at the fair before the building's construction was planned.
"I grew up in the northern part of the county on my parents' farm," Stahl explained. "I went to Buckeye Central High School, so technically New Washington is where I'm from."
When she was little, the family stuck with hay and crops and even did custom farming for nearby farms. When she got older, they started raising dairy beef feeders.
She's been learning about growing crops and raising animals her entire life. At the fair, her animals included dairy beef feeders, broilers and goats.
When she was still a junior in high school, she said her soil-judging team "did really well," which made her change how she viewed agriculture as a career.
"That kind of gave me the idea to go into agronomy and soil," Stahl said.
'I'm super fortunate to be here'
The young farmer opted to attend Wilmington College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in agronomy and got a minor in chemistry. She then chose to head west to get a master's in agronomy from Kansas State.
"The faculty were so nice and the other grad students were really welcoming," Stahl said. "As hard it was to move 13 hours away from your family with no friends or contacts out there, I'm almost sad to go away. It's great to start a new thing, but also sad that I'm leaving behind all those friends that I did make."
She's back home, though, and that's why she applied for the job after Jason Hartschuh, the county's former extension agent, became the university's field specialist for dairy management and precision livestock.
"It's my home county, so I had to apply when I saw it," Stahl said. "I'm super-fortunate to be here and that they chose me to fill this position."
'Things work out the way they're supposed to'
The Crawford County Fairgrounds have changed in the half-dozen years Stahl was away, and she's impressed with what's happened while she was earning her degrees.
She's moved to Willard, just a few minutes from her family's farm.
"It's not very much to stop over and help out when they need a hand," Stahl said. "Or to go say hi for supper or something."
Had Hartschuh never moved on to a new role himself, Stahl thinks she never would have thought to apply to any other positions in her home county. She likely would be several states away by now.
"I believe things work out the way they're supposed to," she said.
Although her permanent desk still hasn't arrived, she's not waiting to dive in and help the county's hundreds of farmers.
"There's definitely a big demand for knowledge in this county," Stahl said. "It's still super early for me, but I really just want to understand the community and what their needs are and then atone to those and work with the surrounding agents and get to know them and and what they can do for us as well. That's my main goal."
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Kendra Stahl takes lead at Crawford County Extension Office
