On March 7, 2019, four Bracken County youth and I departed for our first EVER 4-H Teen Summit. We all were a little nervous on what to expect. However, after our time at Summit we are all ready to go back. The youth are ready to attend next year. And the one young man that is graduating 8^th grade is showing interest in attending Teen Conference. In Bracken County, historically, youth tend to fade out of 4-H programs after 7^th grade. This is due to a number of things but being in a small school system the youth are involved in many other activities and 4-H has seemed to taken a back seat to those. However, by taking these kids to Summit and having them come back to share their experience I have seen an increase in 6^th through 8^th grade involvement in programs.

Through 4-H Summit programming, middle schoolers had the opportunity to create friendships with their peers and mentorships with older 4-Hers who served as their team leaders and taught their classes. Of those surveyed 97% of the middle schoolers reported feeling accepted by their team. 87% reported that they made a connection with their 4-H State Teen Council team leader.

As a result of participating in 4-H Summit, middle schoolers reported that they increased their communication, leadership, and teambuilding skills. 88% of youth felt they improved their communication skills, 88% felt they improved their leadership skills, 91% felt they improved their teambuilding skills, and 93% felt they were able to give back through the community service activity.

A major benefit of 4-H Summit is the confidence instilled in middle schoolers to go back to their community and find ways to become a leader and share their new skills with others. Youth were surveyed on their confidence in taking what they learned at 4-H Summit and applying it in activities at 4-H, school, church, or other organizations in their community. 86% reported they would be comfortable facilitating a leadership activity, 87% felt they could lead a communication activity, and 87% felt they could lead a group discussion