Hillary Long is the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service Family and Community Health Educator for Bastrop County, Texas. She is passionate about improving overall health and wellness of individuals and families living in often marginalized rural communities and is currently focusing her work in Bastrop County, Texas. She is fascinated by the complexities of the social determinants of health and how rural health program interventions could be utilized to enhance quality of life for people living in areas where there is low health literacy, a shortage of health care providers, a high rate of uninsured people, and transportation barriers to healthcare and affordable, nutritious food. The old saying “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” perfectly describes the framework that Hillary embraces whole heartedly as the means to solving large community health issues that no single agency could solve on its own. Through participation in a county-wide partnership of public, private, faith-based, and non-profit organizations Hillary has been able to positively impact more lives than she ever thought possible. Hillary will earn her M.S. in Health Education from Texas A&M University in May and plans to pursue a doctorate in Public Health.