Hometown girl loves where she lives

Published by admin on Wed, 11/20/2024 - 7:00pm

A 2022 Weiser High School graduate, Emily Pope, left, is pictured at her new position in the UI Extension office alongside Extension Agent Tyler O’Donnell. O’Donnell and Pope dropped by the Washington County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12, her first day on the job, to introduce her to the county board. Photo by Nancy Grindstaff
By: 
Nancy Grindstaff
Bringing her 4-H and FFA experiences to the table, along with being just a few classes away from a ranch management associate’s degree at Treasure Valley Community College (TVCC), Emily Pope started a new career last week as the UI Extension Service office administrative assistant and customer service administrator.
 A 2022 Weiser High School graduate and with deep Weiser area roots, Pope is completely content to stay in her hometown and has already taken on leadership roles in both the county’s 4-H program and on the board of the Weiser Valley Roundup.
 “This has always been my hometown,” Pope told the Signal American. “It would be hard to part from it, especially with how supportive the community is throughout everything. I really like to be involved.”
 Pope said she first got into 4-H when she was in middle school. Even though her family had always lived in town, both of her grandmas, Peggy Gray Williams (Nana) and Ruby Pope (Grandma), lived out of town.
 “I first got into horse 4-H when I was in seventh grade,” she said. “When I was little I grew up around horses, but they had gone away with some of my family members. But, I bugged, and bugged, and bugged my parents until I got one and I kept her at Nana’s.”
 Pope’s great-grandmother was Irene Goins, a longtime public servant as Washington County’s treasurer, and who only recently passed.
 “Grandma Irene lived there, and the day I brought my horse, Sparrow, home she was the first person who got to see her,” Pope said. “I have pictures of her getting to pet her.”
 By the time she was in eighth grade, Pope added market goats to her 4-H project list. As a member of the Wranglers 4-H Club, it was a natural progression, as her leader Terri Watts.was “100 percent goats,” she said. She ended up taking home four goats, one an African Boer Goat Association registered doe, and the rest market wethers.
 “Right after that year I had a market wether that got grand champion market goat at the fair, which definitely surprised me,” Pope said. “Then, I got more involved with Terri, going to ABGA shows and becoming a better showman, taking criticism, and making me become a better showman. I just kind of found who I was in 4-H.”
 She was also active in FFA all through high school, getting more involved as a chapter delegate to State Leadership Conference, attending the annual state convention, and attending events at the University of Idaho. She became a 4-H leader right after the 2022 Washington County Fair.
 Along with that, and while attending TVCC, Pope has worked at Weiser Tractor and Feed, advising 4-H and FFA members on their feeding programs.
 “I’ve built a bunch of relationships with people who I wouldn’t even know,” she said. I helped a bunch of people figure out their feeding plan for their pigs, goats, whatever. I would help them with that, then go up to fair and they would see me and say, ‘you helped us at the feed store.’”
 She said she just joined the Weiser Valley Roundup board this past summer and has taken on the roles of membership director and rodeo queen coordinator.
 As she’s starting in her position at the Extension Office, she told the Signal American a family had enrolled a couple of their kids for the 2025 4-H year that morning.
 “We’re in a sparse period right now, but it will pick up as we get closer to deadline dates,” she said. “I know that I will have quite a bit to do here in the office, greeting people, invoicing, keeping up with documents, filing, and I’ll be at all the weigh-ins and at the fair. 
 “I will be at all of the functions,” she smiled. “I’m really excited to work with Tyler (O’Donnell) and Jessi (Moser). A lot of things have changed for me, and all very good. I’m sticking right here.”
 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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