Development Direction

Honoring Impact Scholarship recognizes influence of longtime 4-H volunteer

Story by Susan Collins-Smith • Photo by Kevin Hudson

Extension was a key part of Bobbie Seal’s life—over the years in her native Neshoba County, she was a client, volunteer, and employee of the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Bobbie participated in her county’s Mississippi Homemaker Volunteer club, took part in various Extension educational programs, and was a devoted 4-H volunteer leader for many years as her children were growing up. She later spent 17 years—from 1982 to 1999—as a 4-H program associate.

“Extension was like a thread that ran through her entire life,” says her daughter, Dr. Susan Seal, who is the dean of the MSU College of Professional and Continuing Studies. “It was part of our family. Extension is in our blood.”

Both Susan and her brother, Sid Seal, were 4-H members and benefited from their mother’s leadership in the organization.

“A lot of people think that 4-H is only about livestock, and it’s not,” Sid points out. “Our activities were centered around leadership skills in other areas. Those are the things our mom wanted us to learn. She wanted us to be able to talk to people, present ourselves professionally, and build relationships.”

She believed those skills were important for all the young people she mentored through 4-H.

“She helped so many of her 4-H’ers with those building blocks,” says Sid, a pharmacist and compliance agent for the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy. “Our mom loved people, and she loved giving back to her community. That’s who she was.”

After her death in 2023, Susan and Sid wanted a lasting way to recognize their mother and her impacts on the community. They created the Bobbie J. Seal Memorial 4-H Endowed Scholarship and the Bobbie J. Seal Memorial 4-H Annual Scholarship.

“It was a way to honor her by doing something that was important to her,” Susan explains. “She loved young people and wanted to see them succeed. Through this scholarship, she is still able to help people, especially the people of Neshoba County.”

Susan and Sid both understand the value of 4-H.

“We were in 4-H from the time we could join at 9 years old until we were 18,” explains Susan. “We were very involved. It was a wonderful experience.”

Sid adds, “We had opportunities we would have never had if it had not been for 4-H.”