Success Stories By MajorProgram FY2025Jul 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2025
Spike Prime
Author: Casey Townsend
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
McClean County and Carlisle, Kentucky are both rural populations with a large farming community. With them being agricultural areas computer science is not a priority in preparing for future careers. 4-H Agents Nolan Petit and Cole Bell assessed the needs for clubs outside of the traditional model to start STEM clubs in their respective counties. The results were overwhelming with the clubs becoming full. Due to the high interest in STEM clubs, the 4-H agents requested a SPIKE
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CYFAR (Children, Youth, and Families at Risk) Grant Supports Imagination Science Discovery Field Trip for Youth in Hardin County-Sept. 2024
Author: Chandra DeRamus
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Title: CYFAR (Children, Youth, and Families at Risk) Grant Supports Field Trip for Youth in Hardin County-Sept. 2024Name: Chandra DeRamus, FCS Extension AgentPlanning Unit: Hardin County CESMajor Program: 4-H-Science, & TechnologyDate: 9/30/24 Within certain communities within Kentucky, families are faced with different challenges. Among those challenges are rent increases, food increases, and the rising cost of utilities. When the cost of goods increases, that
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4-H SET Club
Author: Kindra Jones
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Many families with school age children are seeking opportunities for their youth to have hands on science learning experiences. 4-H offers a wide variety of activities that can provide these experiences for the youth; from computer and digital sciences to physical sciences and more, there are experiences that pertain to all interest levels. Parent volunteers in Grayson County recently approached the agent about a 4-H SET Club, led by them and assisted by the agent as needed. The Club began in th
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"Find Your Yes Day" – The Ultimate Field Trip for Franklin County Youth
Author: MacKenzie Preece
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
"Find Your Yes Day" – The Ultimate Field Trip for Franklin County YouthDescribe the Issue or Situation: Franklin County youth face a growing need for healthy, positive engagement during out-of-school hours. Many students are unaware of the wide variety of extracurricular activities available to them locally, which could help them build skills, connect with peers, and stay out of trouble. Ensuring students have access to enriching opportunities and the support of caring adults is
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Creative Technology at William Wells Brown Elementary
Author: Genaea Sarantakos
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Fayette County 4-H established a relationship with William Wells Brown Elementary in 2023 with 4th grade instructors and the 21st Century Coordinator. For the past year we have been providing hands-on learning experiences in STEM to target this Title I school and community’s needs.Title I is a federal program that supports schools in FCPS that are above 50% free/reduced lunch status. The funds help increase family engagement and provide extra instructional services and
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Transportation Industry Professionals to Develop Cross Training Programs for Youth
Author: Casey Townsend
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has a high percentage of an aging workforce for skilled positions. According to the 2022 Semi-Annual Report on Female and Minority Employment, 95.14% of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Personnel was a white verses 4.86% being minority. As a pre-requisite to prepare more minorities for careers in the transportation industry, a 2-week residential camp is funded annually by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Federal Highway Administration to enco
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STEAM After-School Clubs
Author: Rebecca Hayes
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Describe the Issue or Situation.The Carter County Community Schools Initiative addressed that there are not enough direct after-school programs at school and there isn’t enough community involvement in the development of young people at school. Three of the top 15 priority issues highlighted in the Extension Community Assessment are youth life skills training opportunities, strengthening youth workforce readiness, and strengthening youth-adult or mentorship relationships.Describe the Outre
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4-H Programming Spreads to All County Schools
Author: Melissa Schenck
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Expanding the reach of the 4-H program across all area schools in Washington County, Kentucky, provides an excellent opportunity to engage a diverse group of students and foster essential life skills. Washington County is home to 4 public schools, including Washington County High School, North Washington Elementary, and Washington County Elementary, and Washington County Middle, as well as a private K-8th school. These systems serve a student population of over 1,600. By extending the 4-H progra
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Inspiring Young Scientists Through Hands-On STEM Exploration
Author: Lisa Jones
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
For six weeks, elementary-aged youth engaged in an exciting series of STEM activities designed to foster curiosity and hands-on learning. Using CLOVER, curriculum from a 4-H Learning Platform, we conducted a series of experiments on a variety of topics. Through engaging experiments, they explored concepts such as electric circuits using fruit, Play-Doh, and lights, the science behind butter-making by separating fat in heavy cream, density through household liquids, chemical reactions by creating
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Science in the Kitchen—Where Chemistry Meets Cooking
Author: Chanda Hall
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Number and Description of Participants / Target Audience:This school year, Jefferson County 4-H collaborated with Carter Elementary to bring Science in the Kitchen to all 4th and 5th grade students, reaching over 150 youth. The program targeted students who traditionally struggle with math and science, aiming to improve their understanding of STEM concepts through an interactive, hands-on approach that merged science and cooking.Program Description:Delivered over five weeks, Science in the
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Hydroponics Lessons
Author: Bethany Kirby
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
While traditional gardening is well known, there is a rise in popularity of forms of non-traditional gardening, such as hydroponics. Many youths in this area lack the knowledge and understanding required to partake in non-traditional forms of agriculture. Many are never exposed to anything other than traditional gardening, which limits the amount of youth that may potentially partake in agricultural experiences.On March 26, 2025, Wolfe County 4-H was able to partner with Ms. Hatton, the 7th grad
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McCracken County 4-H Rocket Club (2025)
Author: Rachael Wong
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
We introduced the American Rocketry Challenge to McCracken County High Schoolers in 2024 due to the request for an aerospace engineering-related club. In 2024, we had a total of 20 students from homeschool, public school, and private schools join us in this adventure. They broke up into four teams, and one team qualified to go to the National Finals in The Plains, Virginia. We continued the adventure this year (2025) with a trial run of a middle school team.We had a total of 15 students from hom
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Sparking Scientific Curiosity in Kentucky's 4th Grade
Author: Gary Druin
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
The Challenge: Across Kentucky, concern about science performance continues to grow. As Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher stated, “We need to see improvement in our science scores across all grade levels.” Kentucky Academic Standards for Science Focus Standard: 4-PS3-4 – Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another. At local elementary schools, teachers observed a key issue: while 4th grade stude
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School Programming with Grayson County 4-H
Author: Kindra Jones
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Increased school programming keeps the Grayson County 4-H Agent busy throughout each month, but with that the youth impact is great. With a direct reach of 850+ elementary students through hands on lessons the youth will remember for many years to come. Teachers request to remain on the lesson schedule of the agent for the next school year and maintain contact throughout the summer to plan dates and times, knowing how valuable the lesson time is in the classroom. Working with all four Grays
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STEM Camp
Author: Heather Coleman
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Recent research suggests that learning science requires fluency in multiple aspects of conceptual understanding, practices of science, and identification with the scientific community. With this in mind, Floyd County 4-H hosted our first ever two-day STEM Camp with 17 youth ages 9-12 attending. Floyd County youth were able to learn how to program Pro Bots for coding, create and shoot their own straw rockets, build Snap Circuits, bristle bots, and more. As a result of STEM camp 86% of the y
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Building Life Skills Through LEGO Club
Author: Julia Wilson
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
In Hart County, many youth have limited access to structured enrichment programs that [promote team work, problem-solving, and critical thinking unless they participate in sports. The LEGO Club was created to meet these needs by offering a space for youth to explore STEM, design, and leadership through hands-on, collaborative learningThe Hart County 4-H Agent partnered with two new volunteers and the public library to launch a LEGO Club and Cloverbud LEGO Club for the 2024- 2025 program ye
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Science In the Classroom
Author: Joyce Doyle
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
The second grade teachers at Cartmell Elementary want all of their monthly programs in the 4-H area of SET. Meeting monthly, I have the opportunity to teach different areas of science. Chemical reactions, magnetism, habitats, bristlebots, density, weather, geodes and their ending lesson where they make their own paper rocket and we launch them.It is interesting to hear the stories month after month where they take their paper home on how to do the experiment and they will show their parents at h
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Using a Classroom Aquaponics Project to Improve Urban (city) Students' Perception of STEM Disciplines and Career Pathways
Author: Ken Thompson
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
There is a need for secondary schools to provide more hands-on experiences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and specifically, more contextualized project-based investigation (PBI) environments in the classroom that manifest the next generation science standards. This study investigated how, and to what extent, a 10-week contextualized aquaponics project-based investigation (APBI) affected urban (city) high school students’ attitudes toward STEM, aquaculture and
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Layne Elementary Third Graders Explore Robotics with Ozobots
Author: Von Barnes
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
Third-grade students at Layne Elementary are discovering the world of robotics and coding through an innovative program led by 4-H Agent Louis Milligan, with support from Urban Agriculture Agent Von Barnes. Using Ozobots, small color-coding robots, students are learning fundamental programming concepts in an engaging, hands-on way.The program introduces students to coding by teaching them how to create color-coded paths for their Ozobots to follow. Students begin by drawing detailed maps with sp
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Lego Robotics
Author: Rachael Wong
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
This year, McCracken County’s LEGO Robotics teams embarked on an extraordinary journey through RCX’s Mission Horizon: Headed to the Moon challenge. Sponsored by Robo Challenge Xtreme, this space-themed event tasked students with designing, building, and programming LEGO Spike Prime robots to complete precise, angle-based missions, emphasizing loops, rotations, and using “suitcases” in their code to handle repeated measurement commands.From Backyards to Battlegrounds of In
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Clover Quest
Author: Trever Cole
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
One Night, Three Counties, Countless Memories – CloverQuest Camp 2025 Bracken, Mason, and Robertson Counties Team Up for Youth Adventure This summer, youth from Mason County, Bracken County, and Robertson County came together for an unforgettable experience at CloverQuest Camp—a one-night camp that proved big impact can happen in just a short time.Hosted with the goal of introducing young people to the world of 4-H camping, CloverQuest offered a fun-filled schedule packed with h
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Kentucky 4-H Aerospace Project is reaching new heights
Author: Torey Earle
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
With the Aerospace Industry leading the way in exports in the Commonwealth, interest in 4-H Aerospace has expanded in the past few years. Aerospace products and parts remained Kentucky’s top export in 2024. The industry shipped more than $18.9 billion in products out of the United States, representing a nearly 41.8% increase over the previous year. (https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=GovernorBeshear&prId=2397#:~:text=Other%20top%20trade%20partners%20included,categori
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Preparing Kentucky 4-H Members for the Future
Author: Torey Earle
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
The following is taken from Elementary and Secondary STEM Education, National Science Board Science and Engineering Indicators:“Elementary and secondary education in mathematics and science is the foundation for student entry into postsecondary STEM majors and a wide variety of STEM-related occupations. Given the foundational nature of elementary and secondary STEM education, it is critical to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected student learning. The COVID-19 pandemic led to
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4-H Science, Engineering and Technology Programming: Program Year 2025
Author: Rachel Guidugli
Major Program: Science, Engineering, and Technology
The University of Kentucky’s 4-H Youth Development Program in Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) is helping young Kentuckians build the skills, confidence, and curiosity needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Through a statewide network of educators, volunteers, and community partners, the program delivers high-quality, hands-on STEM education that is both practical and engaging.At its core, the 4-H SET program promotes scientific literacy, critical thinking, and problem-so
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