For nearly 18 years, Hilton and Shannan Waits have worked as a team at home and in the barns, fields and classrooms of Vermilion Parish.

As the agents leading the parish 4-H youth development program, the Waitses have raised two kids of their own while becoming mentors, teachers and leaders for thousands of other young people who raise animals, compete in contests and attend the 35 school-based clubs in the parish.

Friends and co-workers often “shake their heads and wonder how” the Waitses can keep their relationship healthy between long hours at work and home, Hilton says. Those folks say they could never do it.

“We have our moments, but it does work,” Shannan says, with a smile and a glance at Hilton. “We are strong in different areas, and those different areas where our strengths lie complement each other.”

Both Hilton and Shannan love working with kids. While neither planned to become a 4-H agent, they decided early on to become educators and leaders.

Hilton became a 4-H agent in Vermilion Parish 33 years ago.

“I knew from an early age that I wanted to work with young people,” he says.

He never joined 4-H while in school. He learned about agriculture in high school working at the LSU horse facility where his father was employed, and then working for the LSU College of Agriculture Animal Science Department during college. While he planned to become a history teacher, he found the 4-H agent position after graduation, and he has never left.

Growing up in Gueydan, a small town in Vermilion Parish, Shannan participated in 4-H and Future Homemakers of America, a leadership and citizenship organization known today as Family, Career and Community Leaders of America.

“The experience that I had, that opportunity to travel and meet people, I just valued it a great deal,” she says.

In college at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), she majored in vocational home economics education and planned to follow in the footsteps of her mentors in FHA, but when she graduated there were no teaching positions available in her field. However, there was a 4-H agent position available in Cameron Parish. So, 31 years ago she started her career there.

Shannan eventually transferred to a 4-H agent position in Lafayette Parish and then transferred again to serve as a 4-H agent in Vermilion Parish. There, Hilton and Shannan’s “working relationship turned into a personal relationship,” Shannan says, and they married in 2004.

Their children grew up with 4-H as a part of their everyday lives, raising livestock, competing in 4-H University and becoming officers. Connor, 25, is pursuing a doctorate in physics at the University of Oklahoma. Kinsey, 17, is a senior at North Vermilion High School.

Looking back, Connor saw them mentoring other kids and respected their ability to convey a lesson.

“They’re very adaptable and versatile,” he says.

As she becomes a young adult, Kinsey realizes how gifted her parents are as leaders.

“It’s really mind blowing as I grow up to see just how good they are at their jobs,” she says.

One-on-one time with 4-H’ers

For decades, Hilton and Shannan have lived around the 4-H calendar. Club meetings and animal projects run throughout the school year. Summer is filled with camps, conferences and 4-H University — a week of competitions, educational courses and talent shows along with dances and nightly socials at LSU in Baton Rouge.

In the weeks leading up to 4-H University, when they will chaperone dozens of teens to the university, the Waitses schedule one-on-one meetings with 4-H’ers preparing for tractor operations, sports broadcasting, public speaking, robotics and other contests. This hectic season may be their favorite time of the year, they agreed.

“I like working with that age group, the teenagers,” Shannan says. “I also like the competition aspect of it, and I like the ultimate end result in seeing their growth. … And it’s because I like the connection that I get to make with the young people.”

On a Monday morning in mid-June at the Vermilion Parish office, Shannan sits in a conference room, taking notes and eyeing a timer as Anna Guidry, 14, speaks and clicks through a slide show about agriculture tourism for the summer contest. Anna is preparing for her first year competing at 4-H U, and Shannan has given her daily goals to improve her presentation in the civic engagement illustrated talk contest.

“I feel comfortable around her,” Anna says. “She’s very welcoming. She always has a smile, and she’s very uplifting.”

Behind the office, in the field next to the parish agricultural show barn, Hilton holds a clipboard in the warming sun and moves traffic cones to create a course as Everett Pourciau, 14, practices backing a small trailer hooked to a tractor into a narrow slot.

In his first year at 4-H U, Everett placed second in the tractor operations contest, and he wants to hone his technique. He steps off the tractor and listens while Hilton relays his notes and gives constructive criticism.

“If this were easy, everybody would do it,” Hilton says to Everett with a smile.

Everett listens intently, squinting in the sun. He has worked with Hilton for years in the 4-H horse program, and they go to church together. He trusts Hilton’s advice — not only for the contest, but for life.

“I think he’s someone you could live a life after,” Everett says. “You should probably follow in his steps if you want to be a good, honest man.”

Using their complementary skills

Hilton is the mediator. Shannan is the organizer. He is affable, always there with a quick smile and an easy word of affirmation. Shannan is calming, with a patient air.

Shannan keeps a tight schedule and enjoys completing tasks, organizing newsletters and creating calendars for their dozens of club meetings and the school-based leaders who facilitate them. Hilton is known for joking with 4-H’ers and problem-solving. He also loves helping kids with raising and showing horses, cattle, pigs and other animals.

“I don’t do as well with the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants (thing) or doing things as they bubble up,” Shannan says with a grin. “Hilton’s much better at that, but sometimes he overlaps things on his calendar.”

Both Shannan and Hilton say their careers have been rewarding. Through the 4-H program, the Waitses help kids try new things and expand their worlds, they say.

“It offers every child an opportunity to grow, to explore and to improve,” Hilton says.

After 30 years teaching and leading the youth of southwestern Louisiana, the Waitses know they have more to learn from the 4-H’ers in their lives.

“We think we’re the ones teaching,” Shannan says, “but they’re also the ones teaching us in return.”

Kyle Peveto is the editor of Louisiana Agriculture.

This article appears in the summer 2023 edition of Louisiana Agriculture magazine.

Video by Olivia McClure

Hilton and Shannan Waits have worked as 4-H agents for three decades. They have also been married as co-workers for 18 years. Photo by Olivia McClure

Hilton Waits helps Everett Pourciau while Everett practices for his 4-H University competition that tests tractor driving. Photo by Kyle Peveto

Shannan Waits and a 4-H'er sort through fabrics while preparing for a 4-H University fashion contest. Photo by Kyle Peveto