4-H Youth Leadership Opportunities

County Ambassadors

The Ambassador program is available to all 4-H youth in grades 9-12. Ambassadors are very active in the County and State. They meet approximately nine times a year, with a focus on community service and leadership. To apply, youth must complete an application form, turn it into the Extension office in the fall, and interview with the selection committee and the Extension agent.

Junior Leaders

Junior leaders have an opportunity to develop leadership skills by sharing responsibility with the adult leader. In general, their job is to guide and help the younger members to have experiences in 4-H which will make them feel good about themselves.

Junior leaders must be in the 7th grade or above and have completed one year of satisfactory 4-H work or equivalent experience. To be a junior leader requires the approval of the 4-H adult leader.

Some examples of leadership activities for junior leaders are as follows:

• help officers with their duties
• teach members how to fill out records
• teach some of the project work
• teach members how to "show and tell"

Teen Leaders

Teen leaders have an opportunity to organize and serve as a leader of a 4-H club and teach others what they have learned. The teen leader works with an adult advisor who will be available for advice and counsel, but not necessarily attend all the club meetings unless invited.

Teen leaders are in grades 10-12, who may or may not have had previous 4-H experience. They must be approved for teen leadership by the County Extension agent.

4-H Camp Counselor

The Columbia County 4-H camp counselor program offers personal growth and leadership opportunities for 9-12 grade youth.

All who apply are asked to participate in at least 2 or 3 training sessions. The program is designed in such a way that the 4-H'ers have an in-depth, well rounded experience whether they are selected to be a counselor or not.

Those selected to be counselors will arrive at the camp one day before camp begins. Camp counselors usually have responsibility for 7-10 campers in the 4-7 grade age groups and are under the supervision of the resident adult staff.

Livestock Mentoring

There is a strong interest to increase the skill level and knowledge base of those showing large livestock, especially those showing at the State Fair. With this interest comes a new and developing program. The program will train older members (mentors) in specific areas with the intent that they will then share the information and skills with younger members (mentee).

Qualifications: The volunteers need to be 9-12 grade youth, who have shown in their project area for three years or more. After the members are trained, they will be asked to work with 3 or 4 younger youth as mentees.

The design of the program is to allow older members to have more opportunity to show and increase their own skill level and then teach and share that with younger members. The results will be that older members are more competitive at their shows and that the younger members enter the state fair with a lower learning curve.

If you meet the mentor qualifications and would like to participate please contact Woody at the office.