Rowan County 4H partnered with four other counties to put on a retreat for Middle Schoolers within the participating counties. This was done in tandem with the Area Teen Council, in which the council teens aided in the planning of the retreat, as well as helping to put on some of the team building exercises. The main focus of this retreat centered around mental health and accomplishing a service project with the middle school group. Rowan set up a "Warm Fuzzies" area in which students could write notes to each other that provided encouragement and compliments throughout the two days. 

The second day of the retreat focused on the service project. It was decided on that the students would volunteer at one of the homeless shelters in Ashland called "The Neighborhood". This shelter functioned as a sort of city in its own right. Students were split into groups and taken to different areas within the warehouse. Students were performing tasks such as cleaning windows, sort food for food boxes, and even sorting clothes that had been donated to the shelter. From the moment that the students were assigned their task, they immediately jumped in got to work. They poured themselves into each task and were very proud of what they had accomplished. Upon departure, the students were asked to provide a reflection on their service project and a few examples of those reflections are as follows: "I hope in the future, I can do things like this more. Definitely something everyone should try at least once, you neve know, you might be in their shoes in the future", "I would 100% love to go and take time to help people who don't have much. I think this was a great opportunity for me and fellow 4H students.", "I learned that kindness goes a long way and can make a big impact on peoples' lives." 

These students had the opportunity to learn about issues that many have never had to face head on. Even then, they spoke about wanting to continue to help people in these kinds of situations. The Rowan County students spoke in depth on the trip back to the county on how much they enjoyed the experience and hope to have the opportunity to participate in more retreats and 4H activities.