Joan Hughes Odom

Joan Odom’s 52 year 4-H track record includes club membership in grades 4-12 and college, supporter, speaker, judge, and Foundation member and leader.  Project areas have included clothing, foods and nutrition, home improvement, health, safety, gardening, public speaking, and entomology.  In high school, she was a three-term president of one of Alabama’s largest 4-H Clubs, and went on to become the entomology state winner in 1959.  This nominee says 4-H and the Cooperative Extension Service laid a sound educational foundation that prepared her to graduate from Auburn University in Home Economics and to assume a leadership position in the Miami-Dade County community for the past 41 years, as an educator, 4-H sponsor (20 years), and Foundation member (15 years).  In 1991, she was named the National Home Economics Teacher of the Year. Continuing to “Make the Best Better,” she recently earned National Board Professional Teaching Standards Certification.

Community service includes county level 4-H involvement as a friend of 4-H, past secretary of the 4-H Foundation, volunteer foods/nutrition teacher at the After School House, Florida Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, District J Program of Works officer, Deering Estate Museum Holiday Greening Committee, 22 year sponsor of the Honor H’ers 4-H Club, and supporter of the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair and Exposition. This nominee has been a member and chair of her school’s advisory council. She has bridged a partnership with the University of Florida/Miami-Dade Cooperative Extension Service in bringing an annual Science Field day to her school.

Joan Odom has been an educator for the past 30 years.  She is employed by Miami-Dade County Schools as a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at J.R.E. Lee Opportunity School for the past 22 years.  Additional teaching experiences include Deerborne School, Miami International Fine Arts College, and Miami Christian School. Business experience includes Howard Johnson Restaurants where she was a consultant/supervisor and free-lance work in quality control and consumer affairs. Further, this nominee had held several state and district offices in numerous organizations, including United Teachers of Dade, and has served on various advisory committees in the school district.

Joan Odom credits her success to the 52 year “love affair” with the 4-H Club, the Houston, Alabama, and Miami-Dade County Cooperative Extension Services, and her parents.  She came from a hard working farm family who encouraged her to go to college.  As a youngster, 4-H participation exposed her to high expectations and stiff competitions that helped develop the perseverance required for excellence. Her 4-H leaders, county agents, and parents always provided the support she needed to become a leader. 4-H has been a win-win situation for Joan because this organization encompasses her personal value system and work ethic philosophy.