After more than 17 years, Arlington and Alexandria’s Virginia Cooperative Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources is headed to retirement.
Kudos for Kirsten Conrad, who has many fond memories of her time at the extension, poured in from colleagues at the local, regional and state levels at a March 17 reception honoring her tenure.
“She’s about the energy. She’s about the drive,” said Morris White, the Northeast District director for Virginia Cooperative Extension. “She’s professional, and she loves what she does.”
“Sometimes, when she has an idea, she can get carried away,” acknowledged Aisha Salazar, an associate Extension agent for family and consumer sciences for Arlington and Alexandria.
But, Salazar added, Conrad was a mentor, a confidant and a friend.
“She’s just there for you,” Salazar said.
Virginia Cooperative Extension is a joint initiative of Virginia Tech and Virginia State University in collaboration with local governments. While its most noted program may be 4-H, services range from consumer counseling to Conrad’s work with horticulture and urban agriculture.
Part of her duties have included collaboration with Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia and Arlington Regional Master Naturalists.
Leslie Fillmore, coordinator of the local Master Naturalists program, called Conrad a “sink-or-swim kind of leader” when describing her approach to volunteers.
“She challenges people to do more than they think they can. She asks for the world from them, and she gets it,” Fillmore said.
“She has an extraordinary commitment,” said Deborah Madden, unit coordinator of the Arlington/Alexandria Extension office and coordinator of the 4-H program in both communities.
Adria Bordas, an Extension agent and unit coordinator in Fairfax County, noted that, for their first few months as cross-county colleagues years ago, she and Conrad did not always see eye to eye.
However, professional respect and friendship later blossomed.
“You’ve always been there,” Bordas said. “I will miss your support.”
County Board Chair Takis Karantonis said Conrad’s legacy “will keep giving like a good garden,” and acknowledged that the county government needed to up its resources in support of the programs championed by her.
“We have to put our money where our mouths are, filling in the blanks to make programs happen,” said Karantonis, who called Master Gardeners volunteers “the best people in the world.”
Before coming to the Cooperative Extension office, Conrad worked in landscape design and consulting. She also has represented Virginia through several exchange programs, including journeys to South America in 2017 and earlier this year.
“It’s been a labor of love,” Conrad said. “This is a pretty cool place. No two days are the same — every day is something exciting. That’s what I thrive on: learning something new.”
No successor has yet been named.
