(This success story took place while employed as the Franklin County 4-H Agent)

Taking on the Water-Geology program 

An ongoing community concern regarding youth in Franklin County is too much screen time and less time being spent outside; therefore, the Franklin County 4-H program collaborated with Canoe Kentucky to offer a program on the water.  The objectives of this program were to teach 4-H members about the variety of rocks and minerals composed in the Elkhorn Creek, to gain kayaking and canoeing experience, and to learn about stonewall fencing.

The program began at 9:00AM with some history given about the creek and its structure, followed by a safety briefing before getting on the water.  The 4-H members spent some time paddling down the creek before making stops to explore, eat lunch and to conduct activities.  The program concluded at 4:00PM with the participants discussing what they learned, and thought was the most interesting.  From the discussion, 100% of the youth enjoyed being outside the most and 95% of the participants agreed the most interesting activity for the day was learning about the stonewall fence.  From the 16 youth who participated in the program, all 16 enjoyed the program, learned something, and would participate again; four of the youth had never kayaked or canoed; and 14 youth had never seen a stonewall fence until the program.  

All the participants agreed being outdoors and exploring is a lot of fun and the program should be offered each week about different topics. The 4-H members were encouraged to continue their exploring with their families and to create a geology project to enter in the 4-H project showcase.