Reaching youth to teach life skills is the cornerstone of 4-H programs!  Youth participate in 4-H programs through schools, community and project clubs, day camps/workshops, and residential camps/conferences.  These are your traditional avenues for youth participation, but there are exceptions and youth audiences we tend to not think of.

The Purchase Youth Village (PYV) is a Level II Juvenile Psychiatric Treatment Facility located in Marshall County.  The facility offers psychiatric, behavioral, and substance abuse treatment services to young males (ages 6-12) and female (ages 12-17) residents.  Partnership with Marshall County School System provides education to the residents during their time at the facility.  Reaching out to the community for programming opens further opportunities for learning.  Those opportunities were put on hold in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  It has only been just this past Fall PYV has been able to welcome outside programming again.

Prior to the pandemic, the Marshall County 4-H Youth Development and State 4-H Specialist for Science Engineering Technology introduced a variety of science programs to the PYV youth.  It was great to be back with the PYV residents to provide a variety of science programming.  Topics included aerospace; 4-H National Youth Science Day; Google; electricity; and robotics.  The audience make-up varied for each program, but the youth represented a mix of ages, grades, racial & socio-economic backgrounds, and various facets of Kentucky.   One of the main things all youth had in common was excitement to do something new…Sometimes mixed with a little nervousness that is not uncommon when tackling something in the realm of science.

Due to confidentiality, photographs are limited to the project and/or just hands.  What we are not able to do photos of are residents’ smiles, teamwork, and social interaction happening during the 4-H programs.  The main Marshall County teacher provided the following observations to help document a lot of them (the residents) say:  

1. I have never had an opportunity like this before. 
2. This is so cool! 
3. We’ve done that in school, now we get to see and experience it.

Other observations shared:

1. Some students are discovering the like science when they haven’t been interested in learning before.  
2. Opening career options they never thought possible because they enjoy it so much.
3. First time experiences for students that have limited traditional school experiences.  When they are in (traditional) school they are typically in an alternative classroom environment and do not get to partake in these type experiences.
4. Sharing the experiences with others and talking about the activities they come across in curriculum and they light up because they know what to  expect and have an experience to connect it with.

Best quote from the teacher was her noting “The amazement on their (students) faces is priceless.”  Could not agree more with her quote.  The greatest impact however may have been on the Marshall County 4-H Youth Development Agent and 4-H Specialist for STEM.  Being able to work with the PYV youth.  Witnessing at risk youth with varied backgrounds be provided the opportunity to be successful is not only a very important component of positive youth development, but very rewarding as well.