The problem: Youth taking on leadership roles

The educational program response: 4-H Leadership opportunities

The participants/target audience: youth

Other partners (if applicable)

Program impact or participant response.

Opportunities to Lead

Kentucky 4-H is gaining recognition in our small community for all the amazing opportunities that our youth are taking advantage of. Crittenden County had 15 youth attend Teen Conference this past June and 17 youth attend Summit in the Spring. It’s events like these that have provided so many opportunities for leadership, growth, and confidence and opens youth’s eyes to the leadership opportunities available to them. 

For example, last year Crittenden County had the Kentucky 4-H State President, Maggie Blazina, who says she found her voice in 4-H in middle school. She “was content to fly under the radar” until she found 4-H and gained confidence and realized she could step up and lead. It was then that she wrote in her 6^th grade journal “Goals: to wear the green jacket someday”. In fact, the first time she saw someone in “the green jacket” was at Summit which set her on the pathway to take every advantage of leadership and chose Kentucky 4-H and found her passion.  Not only did Crittenden County have a state officer, but we also had several youth serve on state boards. We had 2 teens serve on State Teen Council, 2 Teens serve on the Performing Arts Troupe, and 2 teens serve on the Healthy Living Board. These opportunities to serve and lead have been nurtured by youth attending Summit and Teen Conference and given encouragement to find their fullest potential. 

But the leadership these youth are showing doesn’t stop there. This past year at Teen Conference Kailyn Stokes was inducted as the 2023-2024 Kentucky 4-H State Reporter. This has been the 3^rd State Officer Crittenden County has produced in the last 4 years!  Kailyn has exemplified the positive benefits that being in 4-H can have on someone. She was a shy 9 year old camper who really wanted to go home, but was encouraged by her teen leaders to stay and the rest is history. She poured herself into every opportunity that was available and even campaigned for youth to “find their voice” just as she did and tell their 4-H story.  Crittenden County also has a great representation on state leadership boards again this year. We will have 3 teens serving on State Teen Council, 1 serving on the Performing Arts Troupe and 2 serving on the SET Board. The SET Board youth have just recently gotten involved in 4-H but are excited that these opportunities are available to them and were able to ensure this is where they wanted to serve and lead by attending Teen Conference.  Unfortunately, the Healthy Living Board is not a state board this year or those 2 youth would be serving there again.  However, they did not let that stop them or discourage them.  These 2 youth are starting a multi-district Healthy Living Board with Trigg County and are excited to lead and see where this opportunity takes them.  One of these youth started the Healthy Living Board as a very shy young lady. Because of the opportunity to serve on the board last year she has truly found her voice and gained immeasurable amounts of confidence. So much so that she was the emcee of the Fashion Revue during Teen Conference this past year. A year ago there would have been no way she would have gotten on stage in front of all these people, but she handled it amazing. She was confident, poised, and secure in what she was doing. This accomplishment alone is a success. Youth are gaining confidence in so many areas of serving Kentucky 4-H and I’m proud to see our youth here in Crittenden County 4-H shining bright and making their best better.