“To know me is to know that I love to learn and love to serve.  From early on, I turned to active participation in activities like cub scouts, science fairs, academic competition, and sports, looking for the right opportunities and experiences to fit me.  I remember the great pleasure I felt when tackling annual service projects at school like St. Jude’s Math-a-Thon, Jump Rope for Hearts, Operation Christmas Child, etc.  My spare time was time to get creative and build worlds with Legos or try a recipe or a craft I learned by watching YouTube videos.  Always being a focused self-starter set me apart from other youths.   In fact, the adults in my life called me “the real adult in the room” while my peers reacted negatively to my efforts.  I felt stigmatized for being a male that enjoyed activities stereotypically assigned to females.  It was not until I was introduced to 4-H in 2012 that I found the positive, constructive environment I needed – free from peer pressure - to focus, develop, and expand my skills and interests such as cooking, sewing, quilting, crafting, and crochet.  More importantly, over the last seven years, 4-H has influenced me in such a manner as to allow me to truly grow and thrive as a caring leader and volunteer and feel confident in my abilities and interests.  

Being a 4-H Teen Council member has given me so many opportunities to learn and expand my leadership skills.  I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to serve in various leadership roles – Delegate, Representative, Treasurer, Vice-President, and even President.  The skills I learned from 4-H leadership opportunities transferred to other leadership roles at school and allowed me to find success as a president to various high school clubs, as well as president to my sophomore and junior class.  In one particularly successful effort, the leadership skills I learned in 4-H led me to create the Staying Warm in Winter Collaborative Service-Learning Project, resulting in 31 youth-created 2-Sided Tie Blankets being donated to children in homeless shelters and to emergency abuse centers.

Through Floyd County 4-H Teen Council, I have had many opportunities to serve others in my community.  Through the influence of 4-H, I learned that serving may never have extrinsic rewards like monetary gain but serving will always give me intrinsic rewards.  Nothing is healthier and satisfying than the feeling I get when I know that I have committed my heart to a meaningful purpose, I have used my head when choosing the best way to fulfill that purpose, and I have used my hands to perform work for others in achieving that purpose.  4-H’s commitment to service allowed me to grow as a person and a community member.” Matt T