4-H lessons live on for program alum

Courtney Luskin is a Rensselaer County native and agricultural lender for Community Bank in Geneva. She credits the youth development programs supported by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County with preparing her to meet the demands of her career.

The 4-H program is perhaps the best-known Cooperative Extension activity and one that dates back to the organization’s inception. The youth development group began as a way to combat a post- Civil War food shortage by educating children about new food-growing and storage techniques they could teach to their parents.

Today’s program is designed for youth ages 5-19, with each club consisting of five or more schoolage members guided by one or more approved adult volunteers. The goal is long-term youth development, encouraging participants to learn lifelong skills that will help them grow into healthy and productive citizens.

Luskin is a 2013 Hoosick Valley High School graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and management from SUNY Morrisville. After college, she said she found agricultural financing to be a good marriage of interests, and she now helps farmers secure mortgages and lines of credit to help fund their operations.

“I’ve always loved the agricultural industry,” she said. “I grew up on a dairy farm … I couldn’t imagine doing anything but agriculture and farming. I like numbers and analytical thinking, so this was a way to combine the numbers aspect and farming aspect.”

The youngest of three children, Luskin joined 4-H as a Cloverbud at age 5 and helped to show cows, rabbits and a dog.

“When I was old enough to become an actual 4-H member, I showed those animals, along with a horse,” she said. “As I got older, my areas of 4-H were equine, dairy and Teen Exchange. I did every opportunity possible.”

She recalled competing in an activity in which she had to research an equine- elated topic

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