Nanette Hanshaw, Chief of Animal Health for the Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services
What is your current role with PDA?
I oversee animal health programs and maintain our emergency response plans, including our plans for avian influenza.
How long were you in the 4-H Program and what was your focus?
I was in 4-H with my older sisters from about 9-years-old until my early teens. We were horse crazy, so we spent as much time as possible on a horse or pony. I had a dapple-gray pony waiting for me when I got home from the hospital after I was just born. I then received the hand-me-down horses that my sisters outgrew. We had some wonderful, patient horses to put up with us!
What was your favorite part of 4-H?
I liked riding with others on the trails and in parades.
What’s the most important lesson you learned from it?
I learned how to ride as part of a team.
Did 4-H help to prepare you for the job you have today? If so, how?
Yes, it encouraged me to help other kids with their horses’ health issues and with training. I also trained horses for other kids while I was in 4-H. It also taught me that I had to consider the opinions of others, before doing something that affected them. And, that to be a part of a team (usually with older kids), I had to sometimes do things that I didn't really want to do. Since I was the youngest, I ended up cleaning a lot of stalls!