Story in Brief
To build leadership skills for 4-H youth, a multi-county 4-H Certified Teen Leader Training was held to provide a day long extensive leadership training for Junior (7th and 8th grade) and Senior (9th-12th grade) 4-H'ers. Certified Teen Leaders are called upon to teach workshops at 4-H events such as Junior Conference, Fall Forum, and County Day Camps. They also assist county, district and state staff with leading and mentoring others at competitions like Project Achievement. The training consisted of teaching the full Teen Leader Training Program curriculum, team building low ropes class, recreation and evaluation. The Peach County 4-H agent collaborated with the local FFA camp, Camp John Hope, to serve as the host location, serve the meals, and assist in the team building and recreation portions of the training. Agents and program assistants from Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Lee, Macon, Taylor and Tift counties divided the curriculum up to team teach the curriculum sections and coordinate recreation activities. These classes focused on the qualities of a strong leader, conflict management, how to work with younger ages, the roles and responsibilities of a Teen Leader, and ways to engage younger 4-H'ers. The 4-H'ers then participated in a multi-station low ropes course class. Forty-eight 4-H'ers completed their Teen Leader Certification and are now active teen leaders in their county programs.