4-H Extension Educator Amy Sands recognized for her 24-year career with Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County at her retirement party on Sunday, March 1, 2020 at the Gouverneur Community Center. Pictured from left: CCE Executive Director Patrick Ames, Amy Sands, 4-H Youth and Family Leader/Health and Nutrition Issue Leader/SNAP-Ed Program Manager Cassondra Caswell. (Rachel Hunter photo)
by Rachel Hunter
St. Lawrence County 4-H Extension Educator Amy Sands was feted on Sunday, March 1 at the Gouverneur Community Center for encouraging countless youth “to make the best better” throughout her 24-year career with Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County.
Former and current 4-H members and leaders were invited to a retirement party held in Amy Sands’ honor from 1 to 3 p.m., and the dozens flocked to the Gouverneur Community Center to join the celebration.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County Executive Director Patrick Ames welcomed all in attendance, and brought the guest of honor centerstage, as the throng gave applause.
“Twenty-four years is a remarkable commitment to Extension, and Amy’s retirement is pretty significant to the organization but I think it is pretty significant to the staff that you see here in this room, the 4-H volunteers that have joined us here, and the 4-H’ers,” he said. “Her impact is very significant. But it is more than that. It is personal too. As a director, I try to refrain from using the word family when I describe staff but the reality is you can’t work alongside someone like Amy Sands for 20-plus years and not be like family. She’s been there to celebrate the birth of my kids and has had an impact on my kids. We’ve watched her grandkids grow up through 4-H. We’ve shared hard times together. She’s always been there. It’s been remarkable. So, this is much more than losing a really good 4-H educator. But it is losing a family to us.
“As a team leader… Those of you who don’t know my history, I worked in 4-H alongside Amy for years and then had the privilege of being a team leader and we worked together and I’ve got to tell you… being a 4-H educator is not an easy job. It’s a lot of long hours, long days. They can be stressful. They are always rewarding. But they are fatiguing, nonetheless. When I think back to our days at the county fair, I could always count on the fact that at the end of the week… Amy would have lost her voice. And often immediately, somehow miraculously, after the fair ended she would come down with the cold or be sick. She would always blame it on the fair dust. It was always the show ring dust that was causing it. But the reality was she put in countless, tireless hours leading up to the fair, getting ready for it, getting kids ready for it, and at the fair I don’t think there was a single program or contest that she wasn’t a part of, or didn’t have her hands on. She simply just left everything on the court, and I think her body knew at the end it had to give in… and then somehow within a week or two she was getting kids ready for the state fair and taking them down, and visiting our 4-H’ers at the state fair with livestock...
“When I think about Extension, that’s how she handled her job not only at the fair but when I think about our Maple Program at the Farm or the Spring Ag Awareness or the Farm Day Camp. She was involved in absolutely every program we had to offer, day in and day out and it was really remarkable to be part of that.
“As the director, I have to tell you that Amy is a team player and I would say that she is always put the needs of Extension over her own needs and that is a rare trait today. I’m going to think back to a specific year. It was 2016. It was a pretty tough year for us. We had created all these programs at the Extension Farm, and they were taking off like mad, and then suddenly it was one of those years where we had a whole bunch of turnover, vacancies, and I really didn’t know how we were going to get everything done. I remember commiserating with Art Hurlbut, who was on the Board of Directors at the time. I said, “I don’t really know how we are going to pull this off.” And he used a phrase I never heard before, he said, “Patrick, if you want something done, give it to someone who is already busy.” That really described Amy and her work ethic and her drive with Extension. That year, she stepped in as our After-School Director for North Wind After-School and then she stepped in as our Farm Day Camp Director and still held down everything else that was still on her plate. She did two other people’s jobs. So that year it was my privilege to give her the Director’s Award for the employee who most exemplified the spirit and ideals of Extension. It was a privilege. So, that was Amy, but that wasn’t just Amy in 2016, that was Amy every year that she worked for us.
“A lot of you don’t know this, but she was instrumental in BOCES Even Start program for years and then when we started the Advantage After School Program in Ogdensburg we assigned that to her and then for years she worked in four different school districts keeping that program afloat. She was a great liaison between Extension and that after-school program. She brought 4-H to after-school over there. She created the Farm Day Camp with me. She was there at the ground level, building that program, and now that reaches over 350 kids every summer and growing.
“But there is something about Amy that nobody knows but me… We worked together a long time and whenever we had a new educator struggling in a after-school program, I would talk to Amy and quietly assign Amy to that educator as a mentor and she would shadow them for sometimes 8-12 weeks, whatever it took and go with them to their program. She saved a couple partnerships by going into these schools and modeling positive youth development and modeling relationship building. We saw educators turn around with her guidance. It has been a wonderful resource to have and it is going to be tough to replace that too.
But lastly, I want to mention Amy’s dedication to children and to our 4-H’ers. Studies have shown that the number one factor in a child having a positive, successful youth development outcome, if you will, is that one mentor that they know will do anything for them at any cost. Amy has been that mentor for many, many 4-H’ers over the years. I wish there was some way to give you a statistic and pull a number together and say, “These are the number of lives that Amy Sands has touched.” It would be a remarkable number. It would be staggering… Working alongside of you, Amy, has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. I really appreciate everything you have done for Extension.”
Youth and Family Lead Cassondra Caswell then said the following: “4-H does have the power to change lives, as I am sure many of you as 4-H families or 4-H employees can attest to… Patrick nailed it on the head. We all have mentors. We all have people that we look up to, whether it be our club leader, our project leaders, maybe staff at Cooperative Extension and for me Amy Sands was my mentor… I know for certain my career path would not be the same if it wasn’t for (Amy). I was a quiet 17-year-old in the 4-H program and all I wanted to be was a fly on the wall. I was pretty sure I was invisible, but it was at a clothing revue event that Amy came up to me and my mom and said, “What would you think of working at our Summer Day Camp program?” I didn’t really know who this lady was at that point in my life other than she was there at 4-H events and for me, I wasn’t invisible. This lady saw me. I hope it was the potential she saw in me. From that first summer experience, I knew that 4-H was really something that I wanted to have a career in. I grew up in 4-H. I knew I loved the program, but to really see the impact that a 4-H educator has on the lives of so many people was just empowering to me. And Amy, you helped me and mentored me to learn what it meant to work with and empower youth, especially those that maybe need a little bit extra help and a little bit more love. Through my 4-H career and working at Cooperative Extension, I am very fortunate to have gotten to share 12 of your 24 years at Cooperative Extension – and I will personally never forget the impact that Amy has had on my life.”
Youth and Family Lead Caswell then told stories of Amy Sands’ trips down to the New York State Fair, teaching youth to sew, putting on the annual Dairy Camp, instructing outdoor survival skills at the Extension Learning Farm, and much more.
“Truly I want to say thank you for all your years of enrichment for not only myself, but for all these people here today that you have made an impact on and, as you are well aware, the hundreds more that are not in this room and the 4-H and Cooperative Extension staff,” Miss Caswell said. “We thank you so much for everything you have dedicated in your 24 years.”
Then it was time for the presentation of gifts. “You have left your mark on our lives and now we are leaving ours with you,” Miss Caswell said, sharing the theme of the retirement party.
Amy Sands was presented with a chicken-shaped wooden cutting board and a memory lap quilt with blocks from former extension educators, families, clubs as well as neighboring 4-H counties to extend gratitude for her 24 years of service. Miss Caswell also said the following: “We are actually trying to do something with the Maple Program. We have cut a cookie out of a tree and we are planning on making a table out of that as well. The tree did not dry in time for us to make something with it. But you will have a bit of Cooperative Extension somewhere in your home.” A memory book was also available for all those present to share treasured moments and thoughts with Amy Sands during the occasion.
Executive Director Ames also gave the floor to anyone who wanted speak to impact Amy Sands made on their lives and the crowd gathered heard from Extension staff, 4-H volunteers, 4-H leaders, 4-H parents and more for several moments. At the conclusion, all those who were impacted by her dedication through her 24-year career at Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County were invited to stand to show visibly her impact.
Amy Sands then was given the floor to address the crowd before her: “I want to thank everyone for coming, and I want to thank all the adults for sharing their children’s lives with me,” she said. ‘There is nothing more precious than a child. It’s true. I tell my own kids that. The most precious thing you ever have is your children. To be able to share somebody else’s child is great.”
The crowd enjoyed refreshments during the two-hour fete, and a decorated cake that also recognized Amy Sands’ 24 years to Extension and youth in St. Lawrence County.
A Gouverneur native, Amy (Kapfer) Sands, is a 1968 graduate of Gouverneur High School and Clinton Community College in Plattsburgh. She married John Sands, a 1967 Indian River Central School graduate, in 1972. At the retirement party, Amy was proud to introduce to the crowd her family, son Christopher and Kristie Sands, son Andrew and Jennifer Sands (children Owen, Jorja), son Rob and Jen Sands (children Tracker, Ledger, Lana, Colter). She also introduced her sister Ann (Kapfer) LaRock and Tony and Jennie Kapfer (child Jordan) and brother-in-law Jeff Sands.