Virtual Multi County Teen Leader Certification

Summary

In a collaboration effort to build camaraderie in youth in the midst of a global pandemic, Peach and Houston 4-H Agents invited 4-H’ers from Southwest and Northwest Districts to participate in a virtual Teen Leader Certification course preparing youth for leadership opportunities in the 2020-2021 program year. Fifteen 4-H members from six counties attended a three-day virtual training held on the Zoom platform.

Situation

In a study done by the National Youth Employment Coalition, they stated: “Leading is the area of development that centers on positive skills, attitudes, and behaviors around civic involvement and personal goal setting (Ferber, Pittman, & Marshall, 2002). Youth who are civically engaged in a positive manner, willing to participate in public activity, and able to navigate the civic arena are likely to become adults who participate in civic upkeep.” The mission of Georgia 4-H is to assist youth in acquiring knowledge, developing life skills, and forming attitudes that will enable them to become self-directing, productive and contributing members of society. As a response to our mission, Georgia 4-H has developed a Teen Leader Training that youth in 7th-12th grade can participate in and complete. Teen leaders are often part of county, district and state 4-H activities. 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. Traditionally , this training happens in person, utilizing many hands-on activities, role playing, and team building. The proper training for these youth is a vital component to their success as a leader. Because of COVID-19, 4-H agents would need to take the in-person curriculum to a virtual platform that would continue to be just as beneficial to all the youth.

Response

The Georgia 4-H Teen Leader Training Program is a curriculum created to assist County 4-H programs with the proper and consistent training for 4-H'ers to serve as a teen leader. In June, the Peach and Houston 4-H Agent, took to the zoom platform and created an interactive training that youth from six counties could participate in. During Certified Teen Leader Training, youth participated in lessons that included physical, intellectual, social, and emotional characteristics of younger 4-H’ers, qualities of a strong leader, communication skills, conflict management, roles of a leader, and ways to keep younger youth engaged. Agents from Houston, Peach, Pulaski, Dougherty, and Worth Counties divided the curriculum up to team teach the curriculum, sections and coordinate activities. The youth that participated in the virtual training were given a packet prior to the start of training which included paper resources youth could use to follow along and a link to participate in the personality style quiz. Over the course of the three-day training, youth would log into zoom, utilize the break out rooms for team building, participate in “super chats”, use the annotate feature in zoom, and record responses through Mentimeter. Youth were very comfortable with opening their microphones and talking with each other to work through the various activities.

Impact

Through the collaborative efforts of the six counties, fifteen 4-H'ers completed their Teen Leader Certification and are now active teen leaders in their county programs. The program was a success with all of the counties youth showing an increase in understanding of the 4-H teen leader role, how to understand and assist younger 4-H'ers as well as feel more confident in what they are doing. Following the completion of the training, all 4-H'ers were required to complete a Qualtrics evaluation form to receive credit for the course. On the evaluation, when asked what one activity did they learn the most from, one 4-H'er stated, “when we took the quiz to find our communication styles; before this activity I didn’t know what my strong places in communication was.” All participants marked an increase in their level of understanding and their confidence in their leadership skills. 4-H’ers were also asked what is one thing that they will remember as a result of the training. 4-H’ers answered “one thing I will remember is that it is to ask for an adults help with many situations.” Another said “It is always okay to ask an adult for help” and “Anything is possible, if you try.” These 4-H'ers are now Certified Teen Leaders and confident enough to better serve other 4-H'ers because they have the skills to do so.

State Issue

Youth & Family Development

Details

• Year: 2020
• Geographic Scope: Multi-County
• County: Houston
• Location: College Station, Athens
• Program Areas:
  • 4-H Youth