Spencer County Schools and Spencer County 4-H partner together to provide Elementary 4-H School Club Programs for all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students.  Communication is the key component to this program.  At every meeting or enrichment, all students are required to communicate with their classmates by participating in the activity where they say their name and something about them self. Throughout the year, it is the goal of the 4-H Agent to make each student more comfortable with public speaking, which is a fear of many adults today.  

Providing youth with the ability to enhance and develop communication skills is of great importance in Kentucky. The development of communication skills is one of the preeminent skills necessary to grow as an individual, a community member and a leader.  Using age appropriate activities selected from the approved Kentucky 4-H Communications and Expressive Arts Curriculum, educators can maximize the ability of youth to develop their writing, reading and personal communication capacities.  This in turn creates a solid foundation for positive youth development.  (Jones, K. R. 2006)  

The Spencer County 4-H Agent, along with the Extension Program Assistant, presented the 4-H Demonstration and Speech Curriculum to 693 youth in the school club/enrichment lessons during the month of January.  They each learned how to present a demonstration or how to prepare a speech.  In collaboration with elementary teachers all 27 classrooms participated in classroom contests which were held for 17 school days in the months of February and March, which multiple classrooms at the same time.  63 community volunteers and Spencer County High School students made this possible for the local youth to gain these experiences.  During the club and enrichment times in April, each student took an evaluation and voted for the “kid’s choice” award winners for their classrooms.  

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students at both Taylorsville Elementary and Spencer County Elementary learned the importance of non-verbal and verbal communication skills through the 4-H program.  93% of the school age students took the evaluation and answered it completely.  85% of the students agreed that they could identify the parts of a speech or demonstration.  83% of the students agreed that they gained knowledge in how to use spoken, written, and visual language.  85% reported that they gained knowledge in public speaking.  Youth even reported that they liked the family support, life skills development, sharing new ideas with others, opportunity to express interests with classmates, and gaining confidence and courage in self as what they truly liked about the 4-H Communications Program. 

The 4-H Communication is a successful program that has survived the test of time in the program in Spencer County. The public school system loves this partnership with Extension and stands strong year after year, especially this year with 4-H being back in the schools post covid.  Public speaking is a life skill that local youth gain through participating not only in the school club/enrichment programs, but through the classroom communication contest.  Therefore this school year 693 youth in Spencer County learned new skills as a result of the 4-H Communications Program.