As technology continues to advance, the easier it is for youth to communicate non-verbally using text, email and social media rather than verbally. In their future, this will present a challenge when it is time to interview for scholarships, careers, and even talking with others. Seeing communication being a strong need in the community for youth, the Franklin County 4-H Program conducted a Communications Lesson to over 400 4^th and 5^th grade students.

The Communications Lesson consisted of two sessions: the first session introduced the students to Communications 101, discussing the importance of communication and the basic parts of preparing a speech, as well as how to present a speech. Then the students participated in a couple of communication activities to make them more comfortable about talking in front of others. At the conclusion of the first session, the students were given an assignment to prepare a one minute speech to present in front of their class for the second session.  The second session consisted of the students presenting the speeches they wrote.  With the teacher’s support, each student received an academic grade on how well prepared they were for their speech and how they present.  

                At the conclusion of the program, the Extension Agent for 4-H Youth Development conducted a verbal evaluation asking the students about their experience and what they had learned the most. Before presenting the program, the students were asked, “How many have ever given a speech?”  “Do they know what a speech is?” Afterward, the students were asked post-questions, such as, “Did you have fun presenting your speech?” “Did you learn how to properly prepare and present a speech?” The short outcome showed majority of the students expressed having fun while presenting their speech and admitted it was not near as bad as they thought it would be. An intermediate outcome showed an increase in participation during Franklin County 4-H Communications Night! 

Testimonies:

“This was a blast!”

“Shew, this was so hard, but fun too!”

“Speeches aren’t bad!”