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Without struggles, one would not be able to distinguish the good times from the bad. Everyone’s had a rough day. A rough week. Perhaps a rough month. It’s never fun to dwell on your problems. In fact, it’s always best to share these trying times with a trusted friend, advisor or 4‑H’er.

Yes, that’s right, a 4‑H’er! You attend meetings with this person; you show your animal next to this person; you even have to wear the same uniform as this person. Through the Text, Talk, Act program, you can communicate and bond with this fellow 4‑H’er in a way you may have never imagined.

It’s simple. Pull out a mobile device and gather a group of two to ten friends. Text the code that Creating Community Solutions (contact this organization for instructions before meeting up with your friends) has provided, and let the mental health discussion begin! Do you need to talk to someone about your relationship with your family? Are you struggling with stress in school? Has your mood been taking a turn for the worse lately? If so, the Text, Talk, Act program is a perfect opportunity for you to connect with fellow 4‑H’ers and learn that you are NEVER alone in these situations.

Last November, I led a small group discussion with my 4‑H peers through Text, Talk, Act. I learned that some of my 4‑H friends were wrestling with some difficult issues in their home and personal lives. I took that to heart and made it a point to ask about my friends’ days from then on out. I wanted them to know that I cared and that I was willing to listen. 4‑H is a family! We all bleed green and white, am I right?!

Click here for more information about how to be a part of Text, Talk Act!

As a part of National 4‑H Council’s Legacy Awards celebration, we take a moment to recognize our 4‑H alumni who, through their respective fields, have used their experiences and learning in 4‑H to give back and play an integral role in the communities they serve. From chefs to athletes to educators, these alumni have been vocal about how the 4‑H experiences made them who they are today, earning them the Distinguished 4‑H Alumni Medallion.

During the 2018 4‑H Legacy Awards, we will be honoring Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation and proud Georgia 4‑H alumnus. Zippy currently serves in our founding class of the 4‑H Luminaries and recently was featured in our 4‑H Alumni Day in the Life series. Watch as he pays it forward to Virginia 4‑H’er Abby, allowing her to shadow him for a day! Check out the video, where he pays it forward to a Virginia 4‑H’er.

Learn more about the 2018 4‑H Legacy Awards.

In a decade of 4‑H National Youth Science Day, we’ve encouraged kids to unlock their passion for science, engineering technology and math (STEM), to ask the right questions, to be innovators, and empowered them to find solutions no matter how difficult the problem.

This year’s event was no different, as youth put their engineering skills to the test and got moving for STEM! The 2017 “Incredible Wearables” challenge tasked kids with creating their own fitness tracker and testing their custom wearable tech device.

One thing that changed for this year’s national 4‑H NYSD event was the location. The national celebration was held in Brooklyn, NY, and was hosted by P.S. 21 Crispus Attucks in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

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The event opening ceremony was short and sweet, emceed by 4‑H STEM Youth Ambassador Kyra Lee Harry from New York 4‑H, and 2017 4‑H Youth in Action STEM winner Ava Lonneman from Ohio 4‑H. With an auditorium of 200+ students from schools across the state, youth told their personal STEM stories, national 4‑H NYSD partners HughesNet, U.S. Cellular, and Lockheed Martin partners shared remarks, and 4‑H Grown alumna and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson shared a special video message with the young participants.

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Kyra Lee Harry shares her STEM story.

Esteemed guest Letitia James, New York City Public Advocate, took the stage to share some inspiration with the “scholars” of the room.

“It’s OK to be a geek,” she shared. “It’s OK to be smart. It’s OK to dream and be anything you want to be… It’s ok to soar.”

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Letitia James inspires the room.

After final remarks and instructions, kids and took to their stations and the fun began. Here’s a photo recap of the challenge and bonus STEM activitie:

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While some kids tested their fitness trackers, others explored the Innovation Station!

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4‑H NYSD partners learned a lesson in aquaponics.

Check out additional photos from the national event and be sure to follow the hashtag, #4HNSYD, event photos, videos and more nationwide!

Since 2008, 4‑H National Youth Science Day has engaged millions of youth around the world in exciting and innovative STEM learning and experiences, from wind power to robotics to rocketry. This year, the 4‑H NYSD is celebrating its tenth year, and what better way to commemorate this milestone by taking a look back at the challenges over the years.

Here are the hands-on challenges that helped dub 4‑H NYSD the world’s largest, youth-led science event!

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2014: Rockets to the Rescue

2008: Helpful Hydrogels

In year one of 4‑H National Youth Science Day, youth explored a new superabsorbent polymer – called hydrogels – that can help with water conservation, right in our backyards!

2009: Biofuel Blast

In its sophomore year, 4‑H NYSD explored the production of the biofuel ethanol.

2010: 4‑H20

From one liquid to the next, 4‑H20 allowed youth to participate in a live demonstration of how carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere while understanding the importance of water quality.

2011: Wired for Wind

The fourth year of 4‑H NYSD brought a change in the elements, youth learned to design, build out and test two different wind turbine models. Designed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska Extension Program, the challenge explored how to engineer renewable energy technologies.

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2015: Motion Commotion

2012: Eco-Bot Challenge

Robots were the main attraction to this challenge, allowing youth to enhance their engineering skills as they learn to think like a robotics engineer with the end-goal of managing an environmental clean-up.

2013: Maps & Apps

In its sixth year, the 4‑H NYSD challenge was a two-part experience! First, youth were tasked with designing and mapped their own community park. Once complete, GIS mapping and layers were used to assess community problems and provide cost-effective solutions.

2014: Rockets to the Rescue

In 2014, 4‑H NYSD took flight in this rocket-powered challenge! Designed by the University of Arizona, youth learn how to develop and test an aerodynamic transportation device that can deliver food to disaster victims.

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2016: Drone Discovery

2015: Motion Commotion

Developed by Oregon State University Cooperative Extension, year eight’s two-part challenge taught youth a lesson in safety. The challenge encouraged youth to investigate physical and human factors of motion, simulating a speeding car collision and distracted driving with toy cars.

2016: Drone Discovery

Drones were the focus of the 2016 challenge, designed by Cornell University Cooperative Extension. Youth learned everything from flight dynamics to safety to flight control.

Click here to learn more about these challenges and how you can relive past 4‑H National Youth Science Day experiences!

Way down south in the Imperial Valley, California (my hometown), it reached a scorching 113°F this summer! That type of heat called for some creative ways to stay cool when we’re outside. Allow me to share with you a fun, family tradition that you can carry into the early fall months that is bound to be a great start to the season!

Invite a few friends over to your 1st annual Luau Party! Or, blast some Jimmy Buffet music, and your neighbors will likely turn up in their favorite Hawaiian shirt. Once you have enough people, kick off the party with Aloha Limbo! Pull apart a few flower leis, tape them together, and have two of your guests hold the string out straight for others to see how low they can go! Those who can’t quite keep up with this back-bending classic can take to the sidelines and provide some encouragement.

The next game you’ll want to set up is Pineapple Bowling! Simply arrange five pineapples as bowling pins and have your guests stand around 15-20 feet away. Have some coconuts on hand to use as bowling balls and watch the fun begin.

Now it’s time to crank some Beach Boys songs and play Musical Towels! Arrange about ten towels on the grass and have guests dance their best hula until the music stops. Remove a towel each time a player is out until there’s one player remaining! I suggest giving a lei to each winner of each of the games played to keep your guests in a festive mood.

Your guests’ stomachs may be growling by now, so carry out two bowls of chopped fruit, spoons, and skewers. Let the Kabob Relay begin! Set the bowls of fruit on the opposite side of the lawn and split your guests into two teams. Give each team a spoon and let them begin running to the other side on the count of three. The first team to use all of their players to successfully carry all of the fruit (one piece at a time by spoon) to the other side wins! The catch? They must assemble the fruit on the skewers provided.

Look up ‘aloha’ on the internet for some more fun luau games, snacks, and decorations to complete this fun activity!

HughesNet is excited to join 4‑H as a national sponsor in celebrating the 10th annual 4‑H National Youth Science Day (NYSD) when it kicks off across the country on October 4, 2017. 4‑H NYSD is an interactive learning experience that gets youth excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and spotlights the many ways millions of youth are engaging in 4‑H Science programs year-round.

With a shared passion for STEM, 4‑H and HughesNet aim to inspire the next generation of scientists by introducing more youth to hands-on, community-based science projects, and 4‑H NYSD does just that! HughesNet is thrilled to play a role in connecting young people from around the world in an exciting, interactive STEM challenge that utilizes engineering principles we integrate into our work every day.

Access to quality science, technology, engineering and math education shouldn’t be determined by where you live. Kids all across the U.S. should have access to hands-on STEM learning. Not only is it important for the development of our youth, but it’s also critical for our country’s future. To help 4‑H reach even more youth, HughesNet sponsored a Raise Your Hand for STEM campaign, giving the ten states with the most votes 100 4‑H NYSD kits. This will allow an additional 10,000 kids across the country to participate in the challenge!

This year’s challenge, Incredible Wearables, designed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, offers youth the opportunity to learn how circuits, sensors and health data can be blended with fashion to create a wearable tech product. During the interactive project, these future engineers will work together to design their very own fitness wearable and test their device in real-time by wearing them during brief exercise activities.

“2017 will mark the fourth year of 4‑H NYSD sponsorship for HughesNet — a milestone in our ongoing partnership with 4‑H to promote STEM education nationwide,” said Peter Gulla, senior vice president, marketing, Hughes Network Systems. “Since 2013, HughesNet and 4‑H have helped provide hands-on STEM activities to thousands of youth across the country each year. We are proud to witness the exponential growth of 4‑H NYSD into the world’s largest youth-led science challenge.”

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On August 8, Ava Lonneman, our 2017 4‑H Youth in Action STEM pillar winner, hosted a 4‑H National Youth Science Day preview event at Hughes headquarters for local students from Montgomery and Frederick County, Maryland. Ava shared her 4‑H story and helped the young engineering teams design their very own wearable fitness monitor, complete with a programmable Wi-Fi enabled microcontroller and sensors for monitoring data on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Some participants were so excited about optimizing their health monitor that they opted for a wearable glove to better track movement data! You can watch the highlight video here.

Don’t miss the chance to be part of the 2017 4‑H NYSD event! Click here to order a kit for your club today. For more information on HughesNet’s STEM partnership with 4‑H, please visit www.hughesnet.com/4H.

At Citizenship Washington Focus this summer, one team each week was selected by program sponsor, Farm Credit, to receive $500 to implement a plan that addresses community challenges, and to put the plan into action. We’re excited to recognize and congratulate each of these outstanding delegations and the work they’re doing in their communities.

 

Week 1: Kentucky 4‑H

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The Kentucky delegation centered their project around addressing the low literacy rate among citizens in Louisville, Ky. They will partner with local school systems, clubs and organizations to provide programming designed to improve the literacy rates in adults.

 

Week 2: Alabama 4‑H

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The Alabama delegation developed a leadership program consisting of community service, leadership workshops, and fundraising to benefit local communities. The delegation will partner with extension, local high schools and colleges, recreation centers, and community members to develop this program.

 

Week 3: Oklahoma 4‑H

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The delegation of the Northeast District of Oklahoma created a career planning program for youth, ages 15-18, who will soon age out of the foster care system. The group plans to work with a local shelter and local government services in Tulsa, Okla., to establish this program.

 

Week 4: Kansas 4‑H

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The Kansas delegation developed a program to teach community members how to grow their own food, select the right food from a food pantry, and cook healthy meals. The program will also focus on teaching about the agriculture industry. The Kansas delegation also received an additional $500 mini-grant for having the most outstanding overall community action plan.

 

Week 5: South Carolina 4‑H

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The South Carolina delegation will establish a program for elementary and middle school students from low-income families to receive school supplies. The delegation will work with other community partners to promote the program and gather needed supplies.

 

Week 6: Ohio 4‑H

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The Southeast Ohio delegation will create a program to provide resources to the homeless. The delegation will hold a competition between 4‑H Clubs to bring in non-perishable items, clothing and personal hygiene products.

While I may not have grown up in a “military” family, I have always been surrounded by family members who have dedicated a part of their life to serve our country in the U.S. Military. Growing up, I always heard the stories of both of my Granddads’ and my own Dad’s military adventures. Their stories of serving during wartime have always made me proud. However, it wasn’t until I visited a veterans’ hospital with my Dad, who was there for a medical appointment, that I fully began to realize the sacrifices our military men and women make to serve our country. It was there in the halls of the Dublin VA Medical Center that I began to ask myself, “What can I do to give back to them?”

What stood out the most to me in those hallways, were the lonely faces and the lack of smiles. My Mom will tell you that I am one of the most smiley people she knows. So it hurt my heart to see so many faces who had lost a sense of hope and didn’t have much to smile about. One of my favorite quotes by former 4‑H’er Dolly Parton states: “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours!”

It was at that VA hospital I realized that we all love to get cards, and because of my love for art, I felt like this was the perfect way to bring smiles to those hurting men and women. Hearing the stories of my family members who have served our country helped me to understand that military service in and of itself is a sacrifice. However, seeing those men and women in wheelchairs, some with very serious injuries, and many with no family or friends to visit, made me realize that those of us that have benefited from the service of our Veterans can be the difference in bringing a little bit of joy back into their lives.

For the last five years, I have organized teams of volunteers to create handmade cards, pack and deliver care packages to the long-term patients of the VA Hospital in Dublin. Additionally, once a year, 4‑H’ers come to our delivery to provide Music therapy through singing and playing instruments. And because of this, joy is what Operation: Veteran Smiles has brought to more than 4,000 Veterans of the Carl Vinson VA Hospital in Dublin, Georgia since 2012.

Support Operation: Veteran Smiles

Donate a care package to a veteran in need by purchasing a Smile Kit. Each kit will be hand-delivered by a volunteer, providing much-needed positive social interaction and support to isolated veterans. Kits include essential toiletries, a get-well card and a deck of playing cards.

National 4‑H Council is proud to announce the recipients of the 2017 4‑H Youth in Action Awards. These four young people exemplify the life skills 4‑H’ers are mastering across the country and the types of lasting impact 4‑H’ers are having in their families and their communities.

It is our honor to formally introduce these True Leaders as they will serve as national ambassadors for the collective 4‑H movement over the next year and showcase what it means when we say, True Leaders aren’t born, they’re grown.

The 2017 4‑H Youth in Action Award pillar winners are:

Agriculture: Samuel Sugarman (Encinitas, California)

Growing up on a farm, Samuel Sugarman realized in his teen years that young people in his San Diego suburb didn’t experience many opportunities to be outdoors. These youth were glued to cell phones, computers and television screens much of the time and had little to no understanding of where their food comes from. A 4‑H’er since the age of 9, Samuel had developed life skills like public speaking and goal setting, while learning from adult mentors who modeled servant leadership. Drawing on these skills he’d developed in 4‑H, Samuel created the free Farm Tour Program to connect youth in his community with animals and nature. Since the program’s inception, Samuel has led hundreds of Farm Tours for scout troops, youth groups and school groups. Through these tours, he taught youth about stewardship, compassion, patience and gratitude. In 2016, Congressman Darrell Issa honored Samuel for his service work with the Congressional Gold Medal for Service.

This award is sponsored by Bayer.

Citizenship: Amelia Day (Fort Valley, Georgia)

When Amelia Day escorted her father to an appointment at a veteran’s hospital in 2012, she didn’t know that the visit would spark an idea for a 4‑H service project that would reach far beyond her hometown. A 4‑H’er since elementary school, Amelia knew first-hand the transformative power of 4‑H; she’d seen the difference 4‑H opportunities made in her life to aid her in overcoming a difficult speech impediment. At age 13, when she sensed a need for encouragement and support for our nation’s veterans, she put the leadership skills she’d learned in 4‑H into action, and Operation: Veteran Smiles was born. This service initiative provides care packages, notes of encouragement and musical therapy to veterans at the Carl Vinson Veteran’s Hospital in Dublin, Georgia. Over the past five years, Operation: Veteran Smiles has impacted more than 4,000 veterans and engaged more than 6,500 volunteers with the help of 4‑H clubs, volunteers and grants.

This award is sponsored by U.S. Cellular.

Healthy Living: Bryanne Sanchez (Imperial, California)

Bryanne Sanchez became an advocate for healthy living in her community as her 4‑H club’s first Healthy Living Officer. Using this platform, Bryanne sought to bring initiatives promoting a healthy lifestyle to her Club and community. As her 4‑H club’s Healthy Living officer, she launched the annual Color Me Green Run in Imperial County. Annually, more than 250 runners participate in this fun, three-mile race that encourages youth and adults to stay active. She was instrumental in implementing the All 4‑Health Fair at the California State Leadership Conference, working to partner with other organizations to provide healthy living activities. Realizing that a healthy lifestyle includes both physical and mental well-being, Bryanne partnered with Creating Community Solutions to organize a Text, Talk, Act forum that provided more than 200 youth with the opportunity to discuss these topics in a healthy environment.

This award is sponsored by Molina Healthcare.

STEM: Ava Lonneman (Mogadore, Ohio)

Ava Lonneman, a 17-year-old 4‑H’er through Ohio State University Cooperative Extension, doesn’t let gender stereotypes get in her way when it comes to pursuing her dreams. Though told in elementary school that STEM “isn’t for girls,” Ava relentlessly pursued STEM herself and sought to bring STEM programming to her peers. As founder of a STEM mentoring program and her school’s 4‑H Maker’s Club, Ava has reached more than 1,600 youth using 4 H curricula such as Junk Drawer Robotics and National Youth Science Day. Ava aims to explore all STEM fields and to set an example for youth to persevere in their interest areas, no matter the challenges they face. When she graduates in 2018, Ava plans to attend college and pursue a career in STEM, with the ultimate goal of becoming a university president.

This award is sponsored by HughesNet.

We would like to thank our 2017 Youth in Action pillar sponsors: Bayer (Agriculture), HughesNet (STEM), Molina Health Care (Healthy Living), and U.S. Cellular (Citizenship).Learn more about the 2017 4‑H Youth in Action Awards.
Raise Your Hand as a 4‑H Alumni and pay it forward to empower the next generation of True Leaders like our 4‑H Youth in Awards winners: www.4‑H.org/RaiseYourHand
From obesity to mental health, today’s teens face multiple challenges that impact their health and wellbeing not just now, but for years to come. 4‑H believes in the power of young people to take action and lead positive health outcomes in their lives and communities. Check out the newly-released infographic on the state of youth health in America, and how today’s True Leaders are taking the lead.

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