“A place to be a Kid”, well how about “A place to be a teen”.  Southern Region Teen Leadership Conference is just the right place!  Five Teens from Morgan County had the opportunity of a life time in September of 2019.

The Southern Region Teen Leadership Conference is a first-of-its-kind, multi-state 4-H conference created to bring together 4-H teens and adults to empower & inspire them to make a positive change across the southern region through youth-adult partnerships.  Even though this conference started in 2005, Morgan County teens have only been able to attend one time prior to 2019 due to scheduling.  This conference was designed by 4-H members at the National 4-H Conference in order to strengthen the leadership abilities and create ties of friendship and partnership between youth in the southern United States.  Today, this conference brings together over 400 youth annually who share information about their state, their 4-H programs and who work to improve their leadership and learn effective methods of developing youth-adult partnerships. 

When teens were asked to share what they thought about the conference they all had something to say and wanted to share.  

*Each said they wanted to go back next year because they had met so many new people and felt like they had made lifetime friendships.

*Each felted connected to another teen from another state.

*Each felt as if they had more freedom to be a teen while at the conference.

*Each felt like they had made a difference and contributed at the service learning opportunity.

Parents of the teens shared how much their kids had enjoyed the SRTLC and couldn’t wait for them to go back.  They noted how after a their teen has been on a trip they can barely get two words out of them but after SRTLC they haven’t stopped telling stories and sharing their experience.