SHELBY — Kristen Eisenhauer won’t need to ask for directions to the livestock barn, show arenas or even Fairhaven Hall when the 2026 Richland County Fair kicks off in August.
That’s because the new OSU Extension Educator, tasked with working with and growing the 4-H program locally, has been in all of these locations most of her life.
A Shelby native and a SHS graduate, Eisenhauer is returning to the same location where she showed various animals in the Junior Fair program, including beef cattle, boar goats, dairy goats and market hogs.
After graduating as a Whippet in 2015, Eisenhauer became a Buckeye. She earned a bachelor’s degree in agriscience education in 2019 and a master’s degree in extension education in 2023.
She and David Civittolo, interim associate dean and director of OSU Extension, joined Richland County commissioners on Tuesday for an introductory meeting.
Eisenhauer replaces Judy Villard Overocker, who recently retired after 42 years of work.
Eisenhauer just arrived to the Mansfield office this week after working with OSU Extension in Mahoning County for the last several years.
“She’s a veteran already,” Civittolo said. “She has already hit the ground running.”
Suffice to say, farming and education are in Eisenhauer’s blood. Her father was the vo-ag teacher at Shelby High School. Producing Grand Champions at the fair were expected.
“I’m very excited about our partnership with the Richland County Commissioners and the 4-H program,” Civittolo said. “
“I know Kristen, with her years of experience, she’s looking forward to coming back home, and I think she’s looking forward to making an impact on the youth.”
Eisenhauer is anxious to get started with a 4-H program that involves more than 600 young people around the county.
“I guess my goals for Richland County is one to start relearning the program. I grew up in the program, but obviously, things changed throughout the years.
“So relearning the programming, supporting it the best I can, and creating those community relationships so that we can look forward to 2027 and beyond,” Eisenhauer said.
“We want to start making those improvements and making sure that our people have enough time to hear the change in the plan so that everyone can move forward together.”
She is keenly aware how 4-H programming and opportunities has expanded far beyond the traditional offerings.
“So we have over 200 4-H projects through Ohio 4-H. What I was doing in Mahoney County and hopefully something that I can bring here is we were taking those non-livestock projects, such as electricity, geology, and hands-on STEM activities into the schools like Youngstown City.
“The kids could experience 4-H even if they didn’t have the room to have an animal or the means to make it to community club meetings and participate that way,” Eisenhauer said.
“We just want to bring different avenues of 4-H to the kids.”
