The Kentucky Extension Community Assessment Report for Kenton County was conducted in 2018 and data published in 2019.  The Kenton County summary highlighted five top priority issues identified by community respondents and there were 3 top priorities in each issue category quantified by the respondents and data analysts.  Referencing the minutes and reports among 4-H volunteers, the County 4-H Council, County Extension Council, and the Expansion and Review committee; the 4-H livestock volunteers sought to improve youth vocational and communication skills reflected in local recordbook scores.  The educational lessons planned and executed by the volunteers in conjunction with the 4-H agent responsible for livestock programs (Kelley) directly reflected the results the community assessment ranked Very Important & Important – “Youth life skills training” - money management as well as life decision making; and the importance of “Jobs in our community” - including “Better employee training”  - ‘soft skills’, including communications and teamwork.

The 4-H volunteers and 4-H agent contacted community partners including veterinarians, business owners, and professionals to share their expertise and reinforce the employment opportunities available in our community with 4-H youth participating in livestock projects.  

New educational activities were created using CES livestock materials and educational games were adapted using livestock terms and vernacular.  The types of educational experiences were varied and offered during several educational programs.  Written and verbal, techniques were used as well as the opportunity to read and summarize.  Activities related to adjectives used when writing a livestock record book story were shared with youth, and teens served as the leaders of the activities.  4-H livestock record books were also discussed by specie with example sentences used for discussion and taped into a record book form.   The specie groups also discussed the outcomes of his/her story and provided a safe space for individuals to share with their specie team.  Relays games were also created allowing teens and younger youth to collaborate using knowledge and skill to reinforce teamwork as well as participation and success.  Completed participant evaluations (3 years) ranked the opportunity to approach a local business owner and discuss their livestock project as one of the most important activities – while youth comments affirm the process is challenging – youth also validate that the practice is important to them and they request the practice opportunity be continued.

The combination of educational programs directly improves each 4-H members ability to combine their current understanding with prior knowledge.  The opportunity to link comprehension skills - identifying words and facts presented indicates literal comprehension, connecting a statement to questions and situations indicates inferential comprehension, and making judgments about content shows evaluative comprehension, all are necessary skill for employees.  According to the International Reading Association (Moore et al., 1999, p. 3): Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st century will read and write more than at any other time in human history. They will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens, and conduct their personal lives.

4-H recordbooks are a requirement for participation in the Kenton 4-H livestock program.  The importance of record books is reflected by the 4-H Council and the Kenton County Fair Board livestock committee supports the requirement.  The record books were used as the tool to measure the some of the educational programs offered.  

The success of a 4-H project is often reflected by the color of a ribbon and for the 4-H livestock members seeking to improve their scores on record books this was certainly the result in the past two years.  Recorded results of ribbon color by individuals including senior 4-H members verify the increase was significant because the ribbon changes from red to blue. Fifty percent of the 4-H members participating improved from a red ribbon to blue ribbon.  Fifty percent remained in the blue ribbon category.  The rubric for evaluation remained the same.  The volunteers evaluating the livestock record books may have changed by year, but several judges are returning evaluators, most are college graduates, several have teaching or educational experience.  

4-H Livestock volunteers recently shared the following thoughts linking the planning process to the outcomes achieved:   “…importance of record books is to illustrate to youth the complexity of a project, whether it's to instill a sense of responsibility for completing a job, or to make aware financial aspects of activities or to learn the importance of good organization skills to help them reach goals..”

“Record books provide youth with an opportunity to showcase what they have learned while also synthesizing the information and methods they used during the process. It is a chance for them to practice their articulation and accuracy through writing which are vocational skills that will be used for years to come.”

“…record books are helpful so the 4-H’er can see on paper what was invested in the beginning, helps them to keep track of expenses all along in the project so at the end they know if there was a loss or gain.  It teaches record keeping for business purposes.”

Referring to the community assessment report and the County Plan of Work - job skills including knowledge of money, communication skills, and decision-making life skills were all achieved by the series of educational opportunities.   

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