The Clark County 4-H Teen Leadership club heavily focuses on leadership and community service.  The club officers begin with a strong foundation by attending a 4-H Leadership Officer training that delivers clearly defined expectations including how to lead by example and exercising servant leadership. The officer training includes guest from State 4-H Officer team who helps teach.

For 2 consecutive years, the club has included 4-H Social Ambassador and Public Relations Officers in addition to the President, Vice President, and Secretary.  The Social Ambassador’s main responsibility is to lead the icebreaker at the start of each meeting.  When done effectively, this fosters a more comfortable atmosphere and club members are more willing to openly and actively participate in discussion during the meeting.  The Public Relations officer is the officer that is called upon to do radio shows, news articles, etc.  This past year, 2 of these officers worked with agent Shannon Farrell to attend and facilitate the orientation of Leadership Winchester.

In the 2018-19 year end evaluation, 100 percent of the 16 completed forms marked yes to the question, “I became more involved in my community this past year doing service or fundraising opportunities that were prompted through 4-H over what I would have been if I were not a member of 4-H Leadership Club”.  14 of the 16 responded yes that “Being involved in 4-H Leadership Club allowed me to have a leadership role of some sort. (This could have been as an officer, committee chair, spokesperson, group leader, etc.).”  All but one responded yes to the question “4-H Leadership Club has helped improve my communication skills. (This could be through public speaking (in front of a large group or radio), writing, etc.).”  Qualitative responses, to the question, “Why do you love leadership?” included “literally everything, learning life skills, the amount of fun there is, the opportunities that I get, getting out of my comfort zone, how dedicated everyone is, meeting new people and helping the community.”

At the 2019-20 kickoff meeting, “why I joined survey”, the 2 most marked options was: to become more involved in the community and to do service projects, which was marked by 77% of those surveyed. Also frequently marked were: was a member last year, to gain more communication skills, for leadership opportunities, and to socialize with friends.  Those results clearly show that servant leadership is the driving factor behind majority of the participants; over self-gain.

This strong leadership program that offers many opportunities has developed into a thriving club that fuels itself.  In the previous program year teen club members participated in the following ways (excluding monthly club meetings) served as judge for speech contest, taught younger club members, assisted 4-H club leaders, manned stations at Dollars and Sense and It’s Your Reality, led clubs as junior leaders, promoted 4-H Camp in classrooms, served on state 4-H boards and state conference committees, organized service projects, wrote promotional articles, wrote a grant, created promotional video, and served as camp counselors.

Teen leadership is a driving factor behind Clark County’s well-rounded and thriving 4-H program. Teens eagerly become involved in leadership opportunities within the community and 4-H clubs and activities.