Hopkins County 4-H participated in a multi-county 4-H Leadership Teen Ski Trip to Paoli Peaks, Indiana.  Those involved was Christian, Livingston, and Muhlenberg County with 36 youth, and eight adults participating.  During transportation to and from the event, some vehicles contained youth from more than one county which allowed for the youth to forge new relationships with youth from outside their home county.  Within this adventurous trip, some activities that were planned were Ice Breakers, Team Building Tower, and Follow My Lead.  Each of the activities were meant to build the teens together, incorporate communication and leadership skills, and give each a chance to meet a new friend.   

            The teens also got to experience skiing or snowboarding which was over half of the youth’s first time.   Skiing allowed them to challenge themselves and build their self-confidence.  This activity was a challenge by choice and the youth were able to discover if skiing was an activity that they would want to do again.   After skiing, there was cabin time and the youth were involved in helping fix dinner to learn skills in the kitchen to take back home.  

            Some different comments we heard from the youth was, “This is my first time out of Kentucky,” “I had fun trying different things like skiing and then snowboarding,” “This was my first 4-H event and I plan to keep involve,” and “I was nervous about not making any friends, but I made tons. I’m glad I came.”  Each of those quotes were successes when it comes to planning a leadership trip and having many different youth participating and challenging themselves in ways such as skiing or communicating with others.