Knowles earns recognition for reaching kids, adults

For the second year in a row, Sampson’s own Sydney Knowles has been recognized for her Cooperative Extension work educating youth on healthy living, an effort that’s once again earned her North Carolina’s Top Volume Educator for the Steps to Health program for SNAP-Ed.

“We are thrilled to celebrate Sydney Knowles,” a N.C. Cooperative social media post noted. “Sydney’s dedication to educating and empowering individuals to lead healthier lives is truly inspiring. Her exceptional teaching and commitment to making a difference have earned her this well-deserved recognition.

“Thank you, Sydney, for your hard work and for making such a positive impact in our community. We are so proud of you and all you have accomplished!”

Steps to Health, according to ncstepstohealth.ces.ncsu.edu, is N.C. State University’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) program. Its mission is to empower individuals and communities through evidence-based nutrition programs, encouraging healthy eating behaviors and addressing barriers to food resource management.

Knowles said she was happy to receive the recognition but stressed, modestly, that she felt the magnitude of the honor wasn’t major fanfare.

“It’s not really like an award,” she pointed out. “Basically they (N.C. Cooperative Extension) said I reached the most children in North Carolina for the second straight year. I did the same last year and I reached the most children this year, but it’s not as big a deal as Brad (Hardison, Sampson Extension Director) was making it. While I feel it’s not a big deal, it is great to be recognized.

“I have served a lot of kids and, obviously, been able to help educate a lot of children in Sampson County, teaching them how to lead healthier lives, which is kind of our focus in Steps to Health,” she added.

While Knowles may view her naming honor as a bit overstated, it doesn’t deny her impact on the youth of Sampson County. Through that dedication, she reached over 300 children in 2024 and over a dozen adults, nothing, others say, to ignore.

“Last year, the reason why I reached so many is I went to LC Kerr school, which of course, the city schools have a ton of kids,” she said. “Then the other largest school district we have in Sampson County is Union. So I served the kindergarten at Kerr and I did the third grade program at Union Intermediate.

“This year, from our health report for fiscal year ‘24, in total, I served 352 children, and then, within that same program, I also did a program with 13 adults as well. With that, what they (N.C. Cooperative Extension) said was for the second year in a row, I was their highest volume educator.”

Knowles noted is was never her intention to become the highest volume educator as her focus remained on simply serving as many as possible. It wasn’t until she got the N.C. Cooperative Extension year-end health report from SNAP-Ed program director Jayne McBurney that she realized what she accomplished.

“Well, I didn’t realize. I have no idea what other counties are doing, so I kind of just do what I can with the time that I am able to,” Knowles remarked. “We get a yea-end report every year and Jayne McBurney is the Steps to Health program coordinator for NC State. She sends us our report at the end of the that fiscal year which for us ended Sept. 30.

“So when she sent me the report this year, she wrote in the email that provides the details for your county and she said — ‘for the second year in a row you were our highest volume educator, so again, I had no idea how many kids or people, in general, some of the other counties were doing. But, I have to compile all the information on programs we did with rosters and all that. So she sent that report early December and that was when I found out.”

Even if Knowles didn’t do all she did for recognition, her passion for serving and helping people reach healthier lives was obvious. Less than a month ago, she was visiting LC Kerr again for Color Me Healthy doing taste tests and teaching students about the many facets of dairy use.

It’s that passion, one aimed at serving as many who are willing to have her, which continues to be her driving force.

“I guess one of the big reasons why I do this and want to reach as many kids as I do is I just feel like it’s not fair to only choose a few classrooms out of a whole entire school system,” she said. “If I can serve everybody, then I’m going to do my best to reach every student that I’m able.”

A goal she noted wouldn’t be possible if not for the support received from those around her.

“I absolutely have to thank my food volunteers who help make that possible,” she stated. “I could not go into as many classrooms in a day as I do if I didn’t have the volunteers that I do to help me. I just feel like it’s one of those things that I’m able to do to help kids learn more about nutrition and help give them hands on experiences. In some programs we do, it’s more like experiments and things of that nature to make the learning fun. So, if I can help to make learning about nutrition fun and helping to make healthier choices more exciting, I’m going to do my best to do that!”