AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Ala. — Will Burgess is your typical American teenager. He attends school, enjoys extracurriculars, hangs out with friends, likes to crack a few jokes and loves his family. However, his journey to being a typical American teenager is anything but typical.

Will and his twin brother, Cooper, were born happy and healthy babies. However, in 2013, Will’s parents, James and Amy Burgess, heard the words that no parent ever wants to hear: Your 4 year old has a brain tumor.

“He started experiencing some issues with his balance and not being able to sleep well,” Amy Burgess said. “We took him to the doctor and found out that he had a tumor around his brain stem.”

The Burgesses took their son to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, where he went through nine rounds of chemotherapy and 12 brain surgeries in a short time. More than a year after his diagnosis, the tumor was gone, but Will was faced with more challenges. The many surgeries left him blind, and he also had to relearn basic motor functions, such as walking and talking. Since that time, Will has undergone three more brain surgeries

“Throughout all of that, even as a 4 year old, he came out with a tremendous attitude,” Burgess said. “He was always inquisitive about what was happening to him and always had just the greatest outlook.”

4-H: A Family Tradition

The Burgess family from left: Amy, Abby, Cooper, Will and James

Today, Will still carries that great attitude and inquisitive mind as a thriving 16 year old. He attends the Alabama School for the Blind, where he is an extremely active Alabama 4-H member. The mission of the School for the Blind is to provide students who are blind or visually impaired a comprehensive education that develops each student’s maximum potential to become an independent, productive member of society. From speaking competitions and serving as a State 4-H Ambassador to raising chickens and captaining a state-winning Dairy Quiz Bowl team, Will embodies the school’s mission and has found his place in Alabama 4-H.

“My favorite thing about 4-H is definitely the meritocracy of it and how you can put in work directly and get results pretty immediately,” Will said. “It’s really easy to find your success and end up doing things on the state and national levels, and it’s a lot of fun.”

4-H was a part of Will’s life before attending the School for the Blind. For the Burgesses, 4-H is a family tradition. James and Amy were both 4-H members and naturally wanted their children to follow in those footsteps. After their older sister, Abby, started in 4-H, it wasn’t too long before Will and Cooper joined her. Knowing their son faced challenges that not every child has to face, James and Amy never once doubted that Will could be an active member of the organization that they both love.

“Our focus has always been that he could do anything that he wanted to do and that we just might have to do it a little differently,” Amy Burgess said. “It’s especially been rewarding for us as parents being able to see that he’s found his people and that he belongs in an organization that really values what makes him unique.”

4-H at the Alabama School for the Blind

The 4-H club at the Alabama School for the Blind started in 2018. After pausing activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the club started to make a resurgence in 2022. Kim Good, an Alabama Extension 4-H agent, worked with Kalie Mitchell, the school’s agriscience teacher, to get the members active in 4-H programs and competitions.

“One of our big mottos is 4-H is for everyone, and I’m a firm believer in that,” Good said. “I’ve never once been concerned about working with the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind for 4-H programming because we can make it work. We can adapt it. Anything you imagine can fit into 4-H.”

And make it fit, she did. One of the first competitions the members participated in was the 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl contest, which is where Good encountered one of the first hurdles. While preparing for the contest, the students were having trouble understanding the parts of a cow and how they all fit together.

“Theo, one of our members, said, ‘Ms. Kim, we’ve been studying about udders, and I don’t understand what an udder is,’’’ Good said. “I got to thinking about how they could study the parts of a cow safely and remembered the animal science guys’ dystocia model.”

A dystocia model is a life-sized and anatomically correct cow simulator. Often used in veterinary and animal science trainings, Good jokingly admits that her call to Extension Agent Josh Elmore asking to borrow the model probably seemed a little odd and out of place. Understandably, Elmore had a few questions about the request, and those were met with slightly humorous but true answers.

“He asked why I needed the dystocia model and what I was doing with it,” Good said. “I told him that we’re trying to get kids who are visually impaired to understand the parts of a cow and how they fit together without getting them killed.”

Will and Amy Burgess

That model was the right tool and jumpstart the 4-H members needed, with the school’s teams now winning the state 4-H contest back-to-back years in 2023 and 2024. Will is a member of the 2024 team and is preparing to compete at the national competition in November.

“It’s really fulfilling to be a part of the program,” Will said. “Meeting new people, making connections and having experiences is a really great opportunity that I’ve been afforded to have in my 4-H journey.”

Through 4-H, young people are given opportunities and experiences that not every child has. As a 4-H leader, Will has met many state leaders, such as Gov. Kay Ivey, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey.

“Because of my 4-H involvement, the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind took me to Legislative Day, and I got to lead the Pledge of Allegiance in both chambers of the State Legislature,” Will said. “4-H really opens up a lot of doors and helps you have a lot of really amazing experiences. I’m really grateful for that.”

Everyone is Welcome

Thanks to the dedication of Good and Annie Eaton, Talladega County 4-H agent assistant, the sky’s the limit for the 4-H members at the School for the Blind. The students’ involvement in the organization is a testament that young people everywhere — no matter their region, background or physical ability — can be a 4-H member.

“I have passion for kids, or I obviously would not have been doing this job for 25 years, but these kids have pulled at my heartstrings,” Good said. “Honestly, I have learned as much from these kids as they have learned from me.”

Amy Burgess has a unique perspective on Alabama 4-H. While she is a 4-H alumna and Will’s mom, she has also worked with 4-H as an Alabama Extension employee for more than 25 years. She has seen both sides of the coin when it comes to making programs more accessible. She knows that people’s hearts have always been in the right place, but the knowledge of how to make 4-H more accessible to young people has been a learning journey for the organization.

“As an Extension employee and 4-H agent, I don’t think any of us ever go into it trying to not include somebody,” Burgess said. “As a parent, it became very clear to me that it’s not that we didn’t want to help everybody, we just didn’t always know how to do it. Watching the evolution of Extension and Alabama 4-H becoming more inclusive when it comes to kids with all types of disabilities has been very rewarding.”

Looking to the Future

The future of 4-H is bright, especially in Talladega County. Because of the success at the Alabama School for the Blind, Good and Eaton are working to start a 4-H club just a few blocks away at the Alabama School for the Deaf.

It would have been extremely easy for Amy Burgess to put limitations on Will. However, she wants other parents to see Will’s 4-H journey as all the more reason to let their children become independent leaders and involved in the organization.

“You as a family get as much out of 4-H as you put into it,” Amy Burgess said. “So, when your children come home saying they want to enroll in 4-H, I just want to tell parents to have a very open mind about what all their children are capable of doing.”

Through the many challenges that Will has faced, he has never let his blindness hold him back. As he puts it, “everyone is disabled in some way.” However, no matter the situation, Will wants his 4-H story to be a beacon of hope and inspiration for everyone.

“Whatever your limitations may be, there is going to be a niche that you can hollow out for yourself,” Will said. “You just have to find your niche, know about it and build up a good system to allow yourself to succeed.”

Extension Does That!

Alabama 4-H is just one of the many Extension programs that influences the lives of people across Alabama. To discover even more about what Extension does, visit aces.edu/discover.