HIGH POINT – Dr. Zoe Draelos, a High Point physician who specializes in dermatology, is an unabashed champion of 4-H.
“I can honestly say 4-H has been the biggest influence of my life and one of the reasons I went into medicine,” she said.
Draelos, who is from Arizona, began 4-H activities when she was 8 years old and decided she wanted to learn to sew. She continued with 4-H and went to college at the University of Arizona on a 4-H cooking scholarship.
While in college, she was a 4-H leader and won national and state awards. She also represented 4-H at a national conference in Washington, D.C., where she met congressmen and spoke of how important 4-H is to young people, with the aim of maintaining funding by the federal government.
Draelos only stopped participating in 4-H when she entered medical school at the University of Arizona and simply didn’t have time for much else.
Since she began practicing medicine in High Point, Draelos also has become a consultant for several national skin care, skin care drugs and food companies. She conducts tests on new products and aids in product design.
The root of her consulting work also is in 4-H, she said. As a young member, she launched cooking, sewing and personal hygiene projects in which she learned to keep accurate records and to complete and organize a project, skills that have served her well as a consultant.
As a young 4-Her, she completed a project for young women scientists, and through that she received a grant through the National Science Foundation designed to interest women in research.
Draelos is a third-generation 4-H member, and her mother also went to school on a 4-H scholarship.
Draelos’ sons, Mark, 19, and Matthew, 17, long have participated in 4-H, and the three started a club for children in the Boys and Girls Club. The club ended because children in the impoverished neighborhoods could not afford fees, but Draelos said now that her sons are in college and she has more time, she may try to form another club.
Draelos attributes her sons’ success partially to their involvement in 4-H. Mark is an electrical engineering major attending N.C. State University on a Parks Scholarship. Matthew attends The Early College at Guilford and is interested in chemistry.
“Both my boys have been driven by 4-H into the sciences,” she said. “I think 4-H teaches you a lot of life skills and brings tremendous opportunities for young people to meet other young people from all over the United States and inspire each other.
“It provides a lot of very healthy after-school activities that encourage young people to use their time wisely. 4-H has huge opportunities for leadership. I saw all those things with my own kids.
“Even now, 4-H is my life, and I’ve been trying to help out nationally.”
vknopfler@hpe.com | 888-3601
Post a Comment
