The U.K., Cooperative Extension Service and a former Kenton County 4-H member who is a current middle school teacher planned and executed educational programs for middle school health students in Kenton County.  The Kenton County Extension Council, the 4-H Council, and the 2023 Expansion and Review committee surveys identified health among youth as an important life skill and the 4-H program should continue to provide educational opportunities.  

The U.K. CES 4-H agent (Kelley) cooperated with local a volunteer, and the local FYRSC coordinator to provide educational programming for youth involved in 4-H health lessons and a garden project at a local middle school.  Multiple middle school 4-H members were involved as 4-H’ers as well as student participants.  Example lessons included – germs, banana surgery, commonalities among youth, how to measure, planting, transplanting, and the importance of clean water.  CES provided educational materials, guidelines, speaker contact information, equipment and materials purchased with the pollinator grant from the 4-H AgTag program.  7 hours of educational opportunities were provided each semester.  The FYRSC coordinator shared the same lessons and materials with her special needs and mentoring group participants.  These opportunities conveyed information and increased youth participation, parental awareness of 4-H in school programs and included reaching special needs youth.   The garden was maintained at the school through the summer by the FYRSC coordinator and produce was harvested in August and September.

57 youth participated in programs.  Input from teachers and administrators are allowing for additional programming during the 2024-2025 school year.

Youth discussion consistently reflected their preference for interactive experiences with presenters.    Youth follow up questions reflected practicing social skills such as speaking to a classmate, who is not in their “friend” group and considering the impact of their words before saying something unkind were the most impactful.  Youth also affirmed in written assignments that they “had to figure something out for myself” directly reflecting common measures evaluations.

Describe the Issue or Situation.

Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable).

Provide the Number and Description(s) of Participants/Target Audience.

Provide a Statement of Outcomes or Program Impact. Please note that the outcomes statement must use evaluation data to describe the change(s) that occurred in individuals, groups, families, businesses, or in the community because of the program/outreach.