Randall discovered she naturally enjoyed taking initiative. She grasped, too, that leaders learn through service, a theme which would repeat through her young life.

By: Cynthia Adams | Photos By: Nancy Evelyn

Nekeisha Lynne Randall is a real-life Georgia peach—as a tyke, she became Little Miss Patty Peach for her hometown’s annual peach festival. In high school she placed in the top three at the Miss Peach County High School Pageant.

Whenever Randall sees fruit from Peach County in Athens grocery stores, or Blue Bird buses from Fort Valley, pride surges. “I get so excited and will tell any bystander, ‘That’s from my hometown!” Her Fort Valley neighbors “supported and cheered for me since I was a little girl,” says the UGA doctoral student with an outsized purpose and a positive outlook.

Randall has another consuming passion: 4-H.

By fifth grade, the youngster was making good on her 4-H commitments, having joined the Clover Sprouts as a preschooler. Randall recites the 4-H Pledge, along with the gestures indicating head, heart, hands and health.

“I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service and my Health to better living for my club, my community, my country, and my world.”

Countering Fears

Randall tackled the 4-H pledge by confronting her fears. One fear, she chortles, was bovine. “I lived in the country and our neighbors had cows,” Randall says, her eyes swimming with tears of laughter. The cows seemingly stared as she steeled herself to walk past them to the bus stop. “I was terrified!” It was a big step in a youngster’s self-mastery.

She found a strong example and teacher in her mother, Linda Randall, a retired educator who inspired her children to excel. “She sacrificed her time, money and dreams to ensure we had everything we needed. She is strong and resilient. A woman of class, faith and excellence. My foundation,” says Randall. Her mother “never met a stranger” and exemplified character.

Randall discovered she naturally enjoyed taking initiative. She grasped, too, that leaders learn through service, a theme which would repeat through her
young life.

With her mother’s encouragement, Randall entered the usual programs open to rural children: church, school and community activities including Scouting and the popular youth organization, 4-H. The 4-H became central in Randall’s life by fifth grade.

Bo Ryles is a senior director of the National 4-H Council who works with Land Grant Universities and teaches part-time at UGA. Through 4-H, he came to know Randall.

“I first met Nekeisha when she was in middle
school,” says Ryles, who combines 4-H work with teaching.  “When Nekeisha smiles (and she always smiles), the room lights up.”

As a 4-H faithful, Randall eventually became the first youth in Georgia to serve on the National 4-H Council board of trustees.

“I was elected to serve as Georgia 4-H president on the board of directors after having been on the junior board, senior board, and then ultimately at the National 4-H Council.”

She was also drawn to public speaking, a 4-H project focus. Randall sometimes struggled to reach the podium’s microphone, but step up and speak she did.

“I used to stand on milk cartons when I gave speeches at Rock Eagle 4-H Center and, when I spoke at the State Capitol, my state 4-H leader and role model, Dr. Bo Ryles carried around something similar so I could see over the podium when I spoke in both congressional chambers during State 4-H Day at the Capitol!”

Randall even shared a stage with former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, now U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Stepping Up

Randall relished competing at the district and state levels of Girls State and other youth leadership groups. “Horse Club, Horse Quiz Bowl, horse judging, and Cotton Boll and Consumer Jamboree in 4-H! We traveled the state and went to out-of-state competitions.”

She muses, “I had such a great upbringing.”

Randall’s two brothers were similarly active. “We were in Scouts, karate, gymnastics. My brother and I were on 13 WMAZ news as ‘Matt’s Medalists’ winners. We were chosen for this during one of our karate (Taekwondo) competitions!” She recently found a 1997 newspaper with a picture of her demonstrating a karate kick.

Meanwhile, the Randall siblings became involved in Fort Valley State University summer youth programs and music. They joined the Peach County High School marching, concert, and jazz bands. “This was in addition to Future Business Leaders of America, high school honor societies, and sports,” says Randall.

In high school, Randall became a Georgia Girls State participant and counselor. She was named a Georgia Super Teen in her senior year by Next Step Magazine. When she graduated from Peach County High School she was president of her class.

Coming Into Her Own

Today, Randall hasn’t changed. She sustains a level of compact energy that calls to mind the usual comparison: TNT.

Dynamite became one of her nicknames as a UGA undergraduate.

Randall, 4’9″, is unfazed about height. She learned to field questions about her size with aplomb. “Mommy is 4’10”,” she notes. “I think God created me for the wow factor!”

She enjoys having kids guess her age.

One of the funniest responses Randall received was while teaching science to kindergarteners through a UGA CAES program called Project Focus.

“A little boy asked if I was an adult and I said yes. He said, ‘No, you’re a kid adult.’” Randall smiles. “And they guess I’m everything from 25-6 years old,” she says.

Randall’s achievements made her tower. She says,
“I’ve been very blessed, and handed a lot of opportunities.”

4-H created many such opportunities.

Randall at Rock Eagle 4-H Center. She has spent much of her young adulthood involved as a 4-H leader. She became the first Georgia youth to join the National 4-H Council as a trustee.

Ryles remains a mentor. “He’s one of my role models and has known me since I was a young 4-H’er,” says Randall. “He continues to be a role model for me. His view on life always inspires me.”

Ryles, who travels extensively, writes, “I’ve had the privilege of working with thousands of young people, and this lady stands out. Not only is she intelligent, articulate, confident, and talented—she is eternally positive. Nekeisha shows love, respect, compassion, and empathy for all those around her. Just thinking about Nekeisha Randall makes me smile. I feel particularly blessed that she has been part of my life.”

4-H, and another popular rural program, FFA, Future Farmers of America, offered entry into service-oriented leadership. Both have retained their agricultural focus.

“Ironic to be afraid of the cows when I was a little girl,” jokes Randall, who joined FFA, and of necessity was around livestock. Nonetheless she preferred a stage and microphone to the cattle yard.

“I made it to the State FFA competition in the prepared public speaking competition,” she says. “I competed at the Classic Center right here in Athens!”

Like 4-H, FFA was also born in the early 1900s. Originally created to support youth in agriculture, FFA encouraged them to stay on the farm. Also, like 4-H, the organization has evolved, supporting STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and other careers beyond agriculture.

Randall became a two-time program assistant for the Citizenship Washington Focus youth leadership program for the National 4-H Council in the Chevy Chase, Md. and Washington, D.C. area.

She also won a scholarship via the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. “I was introduced to the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation when I received a college scholarship from them my senior year.” (She continues to serve as a regional interviewer and coaches first-year scholars.)

Other, smaller colleges were briefly on Randall’s radar. After making the final decision to attend Georgia, it became a full circle experience because she had been on the campus throughout her life for youth programs and workshops.

Randall entered UGA, studying agricultural communications in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Ryles remains an advisor.

Why UGA?

Randall wanted to attend a university providing study abroad programs. In addition, she wanted to meet new people, seek new experiences and activities while obtaining the best education possible.

“UGA provided all of this and more,” she says.

“Although Athens is bigger than my hometown, it still has that small town feel and flair that I cherish. I’m so grateful for my experiences at UGA. My steps were directed to this place. I have grown as a student and as a person and UGA will forever have a special place in my heart. I bleed red and black!”

Her undergraduate years netted multiple honors. Randall became a “Top 12” UGA student and a winner of a Rotaract Service Award by Rotaract UGA and the Athens Rotary Club.

There were nearly 10 scholarships from prestigious groups like the Coca-Cola Foundation.

Randall received the Ted & Gerrye Jenkins 4-H Scholarship. She was amused to encounter a life-sized image of herself on display during a UGA Extension Centennial Celebration Exhibit. “They travelled with the image, using it at events.” She laughs, “I think it was actually a little taller than me!”

By her senior year at UGA, Randall became a Georgia 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees Member.

4-H AND LEADERSHIP  In the early days, the 4-H organization had a different mission. It was begun in Ohio in 1902, just as Agri Sciences were emerging. The organization helped smooth the gap between rural farmers’ agricultural approaches and university research, fostering progressive ideas in agriculture and in homemaking. It was also an organization with self-development at its core, introducing youth to concepts of leadership and science as well as service. Today, 4-H has relationships with 110 universities and 6,000,000 participants.
http://www.spaldingcounty.com

She wrote later: “the youth development organization of 4-H gave me the opportunity to refine my stage presence, realize my public speaking skills, and go from being individualistic to team-minded.”

It had also “exposed me to people who saw my potential when I had not given any thought to what my potential was or could become.”

Randall kept the flat-out pace in Athens she had kept in Fort Valley. She somehow managed to volunteer in Athens with two elementary schools, the Boys & Girls Clubs, and helped build a Habitat for Humanity home.

She visited Armenia through CAES. “There have been exciting adventures for this Georgia peach!”

Randall seemed tireless. She became a member of six honor societies. She was a Game Day Host and volunteered for the UGA football recruiting office. Energetic enough to be mistaken for a collegiate athlete, she wore red and black with such earnest regularity “people thought I was a Gym Dawg for UGA!”

Randall worked with diversity issues as well as recruitment and ministry outreach.

“I have had the chance to speak to the Georgia State Legislature, serve on SGA’s Freshman Board, and participate
in UGA’s Center for Leadership and Service Dawg Camp Discovery program for three summers,” she adds.

“My goal is to become a spokesperson and a voice for youth whose voices may not be loud enough or for those organizations that may not have a voice at all,” she wrote as an undergrad.

In 2008 she earned a bachelor’s in agricultural communication with an emphasis in advertising and began graduate studies. She entered UGA’s Agricultural Leadership master’s program (recently re-named Agricultural and Environmental Education) and worked as a graduate resident in Creswell Hall.

That Randall had done so many things in her short life required balance. (Quite literally, this is the case. Randall is also a former gymnast.)

A decade later, Randall found her true, clear voice.

But this was not before briefly hitting a wall.

After earning a master’s degree and a certificate in nonprofit management from UGA’s School of Social Work, Randall spent three months job-seeking. Suddenly the next steps were not entirely clear.

She stayed with family members while applying for jobs and thinking about doctoral programs. “I applied for two out-of-state doctoral programs along with those 50 plus jobs. It was an emotional ride, of hoping an organization, any organization, would want me while also wanting to stay true to my values.”

As things seemed to stall, Randall worked as a church secretary and volunteered in the community. Meanwhile, her godmother urged her to be more intentional in her searching.

Randall did as suggested.

In October of 2010, she was notified that UGA Housing needed a temporary employee in a 1,000-person high rise. Randall accepted. What began as a four-month job turned into a six-year permanent position, with her overseeing five residence halls and thousands of students.

She learned the infrastructure of the organization, one with hundreds of employees. She travelled to conferences and recruited new team members. Randall understands far better than most the concept of “living where you work.” This meant being a full-time mediator, friend, role model, support system and ambassador—surrounded by young men and women adapting to college life.

“I got a better understanding of how to learn from conflict instead of being resistant to it,” Randall says. “It was for the best though and (now) I’m so grateful for the work experience I received during my five-year gap between master’s and doctoral work. If I ever did go back to school, I knew I wanted to do something in leadership.”

In 2015, she entered UGA’s Adult Education program—although the program’s name initially threw her off. Two years later, it was changed to Learning, Leadership and Organization Development.

“This may sound silly, but this blew me away because it was a sign for me that my prayers and interests about pursing a leadership degree were being answered in unexpected and creative ways,” says Randall.

Serving on LEAP-GSA, her department’s graduate student organization, Randall is also a graduate assistant for CAES Cooperative Extension.

A Heart for Compassion

“When something bothers me, I try to figure out what is triggering this, and where is it coming from,” says Randall. “People do things and act in a certain way. I try to figure out why.” She adds, “hurting people hurt people.”

And the converse is true: “I also think that healed people can heal people.”

Randall lost her father, who was largely absent throughout her life, in November of last year soon after she had sought him out. “I was able to have a restored and beautiful relationship with him the last three years of his life, and for that I’m grateful.”

She talks about how to use life events, especially the hurtful ones.

“There is going to be hurt and brokenness in your life, but what you do with that is a choice,” Randall says. “You can be intentional and figure out how to use this and take responsibility for how you view a situation, and how you show up in a situation. I think the Lord has directed my steps. He always works everything out for my good.”

Two Edgar Guest poems, “Don’t Quit,” and “Equipment” offer encouragement.

So, too, does 4-H.

She emails a reminder to this fellow 4-H’er.

“The 4-H motto is: ‘To Make the Best Better.’”