An extension agent returns to school and brings the benefits back to his community.
Anthony Reardon has always wanted to be outside. He has managed turf on golf courses, served as a city horticulturist in western Kansas and worked as an extension agent helping gardeners with their horticulture needs. But when a position opened in Johnson County focused on local food systems, something clicked.
"I had a passion for growing food at that point in time," he said, "However, since I've taken on this role, it's just completely multiplied."
Now the horticulture - small farms agent for Johnson County K-State Extension, Reardon is working toward his Master of Science in Horticulture at Kansas State University Olathe with a focus on urban food systems.
A career rooted in the outdoors
Reardon's path to extension started exactly where you might expect – outside. As a teenager, he landed a job on a golf course and never looked back.
"I really liked being outdoors and working with nature," he said.
That love of the land took him through K-State's undergraduate horticulture program, then into a six-year run as the city horticulturist in Garden City, a role that sharpened his skills in everything from ornamental plants to urban green spaces. Eventually, the pull toward education won out and he transitioned into extension work in western Kansas before making the leap to the Kansas City metro.
The shift was a significant one. He went from serving about 43,000 constituents to more than 600,000.
"It is definitely a different world," he said with a laugh. "But there are so many more opportunities out here. Really, so many opportunities it's hard to turn them down."
Why urban food systems? Why now?
Reardon's decision to pursue a graduate degree was not something he had always planned. It evolved naturally as extension became his career and he realized how much more impact he could have with deeper knowledge behind him.
"As I became ingrained in extension and realized this is probably what I want to continue doing as a career, I realized it's going to be more and more beneficial to pursue a master's," he said.
The urban food systems focus was a natural fit.
"There are so many intricate facets with food being grown in an urban setting specifically that you don't necessarily think about," he said. "It's a great hands-on learning opportunity right in the thick of it."
Classroom knowledge meets real world impact
One of the things that stands out about Reardon's experience is how immediately applicable his coursework has been. He is not waiting until graduation to put what he is learning to use.
"A lot of the coursework I've done so far has directly correlated to either programs I'm putting on, articles going to local newspapers or news bulletins going out on our social media," he said. "The information we glean has been immediately useful."
That reach extends beyond content creation. Through his coursework, Reardon has been connecting with people who work alongside the organizations he already partners with professionally, an unexpected but welcome side effect of going back to school.
"I've met tons and tons of people through this program specifically who work with the various entities that I partner with professionally," he said. "It's been a great crossover to help me build my network."
A word of advice
For anyone on the fence about going back to school, Reardon keeps it simple: do it.
"It’s going to be a little bit of a demand on your time, but as long as you can prioritize it, fitting it in somewhere between your daily routine, you can make it work," he said.
For Reardon, that time investment is inseparable from his larger purpose. Whether he is helping a backyard gardener troubleshoot their tomatoes, supporting a small-scale produce farmer or teaching a room full of 4-H kids about bugs, the through line is always the same, deeper knowledge means better service to the people who depend on him.
Going back to school, it turns out, was never really about the degree. It was about the community waiting on the other side of it.
