Hello, my name is Maura Sparrevohn, and I was a California 4-H State Ambassador for the 2018-2019 program year. This last April, I was selected to attend the National 4-H Conference in Washington D.C. If it wasn't for the scholarship from Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, I might never have been able to attend this conference, or connect with 4-H youth from outside of California. As someone who had never before been outside of California's borders, having the opportunity to experience a whole new place—brimming with people I never would have met otherwise—was an amazing experience.

National 4-H Conference: Roundtable on Adolescent Mental Health

During this near week-long conference, I had the opportunity to collaborate with 4-H youth from across the country on a roundtable group focusing on the mental health of adolescence in the United States. We were then able to present to the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) under the National Organization for Health and Human Services. Through this presentation, our team of diverse youth was able to voice our own concerns regarding the state of mental health in our peers. We were also able to provide the OAH with our own suggestions to combat the issue of stigma surrounding mental illness among American youth.

Invited to Collaborate on Social Media and Mental Health

Early this summer, and because of my involvement with the HHS, I was invited back to D.C., where I shared my perspective on how social media affects the mental health of my peers. I was one of 6 youth respondents selected from the U.S. to participate in this meeting organized by the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs.

Through this once in a lifetime opportunity, I collaborated alongside Candice Odgers and Jean Twenge, both top researchers in their respective fields of psychology, to compare their findings to my own experiences with social media usage and how it relates to my own mental health as well as that of other youth who use social media. I was able to share my perspective on how the state of your mental health can be reflected through your personal social media usage. By practicing intentional social media usage and mindful habits, you can make positive impacts on yourself and others while connecting to your individuality. I also see it as a creative outlet that can connect individuals and provide all sorts of resources to provide connectedness, education, and opportunities to promote positive change for anything you may be passionate about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Co-hosting a live Twitter Chat

Following my engagement in this meeting, the group of youth was asked to collaborate even further to propose a way to share what we had learned with others in our communities. We decided that the best way to share our knowledge of intentional social media use was taking to social media in a live and interactive way. On August 14th, we partnered with #ICanHelp and youth.gov to host a live Twitter Chat. Questions and tips were posted while Twitter users engaged and shared their perspective. Participants were able to interact with one another while sharing knowledge on how to be more mindful and intentional with how they use social media! For anyone interested in the postings, or reading what participants had to say, check out #mindfulsocialchat on Twitter!

 

Take the leap!

The skills I have gained and the connections I have made after initially going to National Conference have impacted my life in such a positive way. I was someone who was very nervous about flying all the way to the other side of the country, but I am so glad I did. I encourage other 4-Hers who may feel the same way to take the leap and apply for National Conference 2020. The experience is one that I know I will continue to positively reflect on, and I hope the same for all of you!

 

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Apply by November 5, 2019

National 4-H Conference 2020
March 28- April 4, 2020

Review the Conference details, application and team requirements (PDF). 

See the National 4-H Conference event page for more information and to apply.

 

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To celebrate the National Youth Science Day (NYSD) challenge in October, the 4-H Youth Development Program in Santa Clara County offered two peer teaching NYSD events, where teens taught younger youth physical activities and puzzles from Game Changers, a computational thinking curriculum created by Google and the West Virginia Extension Service. In education, computational thinking refers to problem solving processes involved in expressing solutions as a sequence of steps that can be carried out by a computer.

October 4th: NYSD at Escuela Popular

The first event was held on October 4th at Escuela Popular Dual Language Learning Academy in San Jose, California, thanks to a grant from National 4-H Council in partnership with Lockheed Martin.

In preparation for their event, 4^th graders learned from Spanish-speaking teens, Hack Your Harvest, a puzzle where children learned the concepts of optimal efficiency to figure out the fastest way to take a tractor to the barn. The first few puzzles are relatively easy; they grow in complexity as obstacles are added, and children need to pick up lettuce as well. For the NYSD event, the 4^th graders created their own puzzles to teach 5^th graders. Concurrently, 5^th graders learned Program Your Playground, a physical activity where children learn the use of conditional statements while developing multiple games of “tag” that also grew in complexity. The 5^th graders created their own games to teach to the 4^th graders.

On the day of the event, 71 fourth and fifth grade students engaged in peer teaching. They learned the intersection of technology with agriculture, and how computer science and computational thinking play an important role in linking the two. These students were mentored by 13 Teen Teachers.

While all activities were taught in Spanish, during implementation the Teen Teachers coached youth in two languages.

Through observation, participating students increased their science literacy and gained valuable skills in leadership, communication, and positive peer interaction. In the near future, Teen Teachers, or Maestros Jovenes will continue to expand youth's computational thinking concepts to cultivate their problem solving skills, and interest and skills in computer science.

We hope we can inspire youth to reach beyond what they thought they were capable of, and get to witness the amazing things they achieve when they do.

October 20th: NYSD at Google Complex

The second event was held on October 20^th at the Google Complex in Sunnyvale, thanks to a grant from National 4-H in partnership with Google. To prepare for this event, four teens met weekly to plan the event. Each teen was in charge of teaching one of the NYSD activities. This event was open to the public. More than 50% of the participants were not already enrolled in 4-H.

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If you've held an NYSD event in your club or county, add it to our map! Send your story and photos to Suzanne Morikawa so we can share it on the California 4-H Grown blog.

 

 

State Field Day was held at the University of California Davis in Davis, California the first weekend of June. It was a ton of fun and everyone should go at least once. There was so much to see and do there. I qualified to go to State Field Day because I won two gold medals at the San Diego County Art & Design Day for Fashion Revue. For State Fashion Revue, I chose to enter my retro outfit. Did you know that you can qualify to go to state if you receive a gold for presentations too?

My family drove the seven-and-a-half hours each way, but we stopped for snacks and got breakfast on the way. I didn't know how many farms there were between here and Davis. After we got to our hotel the day before, we went sightseeing. We went to one of the art museums, the California Raptor Center, and some of the gardens on campus. I loved going to the Raptor Center because we not only got to see the owls, red tailed hawks, Harris's hawks, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, and other raptors, but different types of bird's eggs, skeletons, and we found out so much about them. I wanted to go to the Underground Museum Tour in Sacramento, but we didn't have time.

On State Field Day

On the morning of State Field Day, I checked in and then went to orientation. There were two orientations for State Fashion Revue—one for families and one for the participants. I then attended four different workshops and activities while I waited for my turn to be judged: a poise workshop with pageant winners, a sewing skillathon, a Maker workshop, and a dog toy community service project. The Maker workshop was my favorite because it let me express my creativity.

Before I could be judged I had to get dressed in the outfit I made, do my hair, and put my makeup on. Then I had to line up with the other 4-H'ers in my group and head upstairs. Our families stayed downstairs while we went to judging. When we entered, the judges had us model our clothes, tell them about our outfit, and then they asked a few questions. Afterwards, I got to head over to the rest of the Field Day activities before the State Fashion Revue modeling and awards.

There were so many activities going on at Field Day. There was a welding workshop, 3-D printing booth, a fire safety booth, UC California Naturalists booth, a film festival, an entomology knowledge bowl, police dog demonstration, logo contest, food trucks, and so much more. At the fire safety booth, they taught you how to use a real fire extinguisher to extinguish a fire. You used the fire extinguisher to spray water onto a special screen that had a fake fire on it; The fake fire would get smaller as you sprayed it correctly. You could try it several times until you got it right. I really liked it because it was fun and you learned a good life skill to have in an emergency.

Time for the runway!

After I checked out all the activities I had to model on the runway for State Fashion Revue. The runway was in the middle of the quad where everyone could see me and I admit, I was a little nervous because I thought that I would mess up but in the end I did well and got a blue ribbon. Next year I am going to try for gold!

I was able to go to Davis for the State Field Day because I received a scholarship from the San Diego County volunteer management board. To earn a scholarship, you need to help out at county fundraisers (so there is money to help kids go to events), fill out a form, make a request at a board meeting (I was really sick when the board met so my mom took my paperwork, speech, and notes and the board let her present it), and give a presentation when you get back. It's really easy!

I am going to work hard and try to go back to Davis for State Field Day and I hope to see more 4-H'ers from San Diego next year.

 

 

Editor's note:

UC ANR Risk Services hosted the popular Fire Safety booth. The date for State Field Day 2020 has not been announced yet, but it will be held at UC Davis on a Saturday in late May/early June. The State Fashion Revue event page lists the 2020 service projects and categories, as well as qualification information to participate.

 

 

On Tuesday October 1st, 4-H Member Belle, Tuolumne County 4-H Ambassador, and Rosemary Giannini, 4-H Community Education Specialist, made a presentation to the Tuolumne Board of Supervisors requesting October 5-12 be proclaimed 4-H Week in Tuolumne County.

 

Rosemary began by citing the research which show 4-H members are four times more likely to make contributions to their communities, two times more likely to participate in science programs during out-of-school time, and nearly two times more likely to make healthy choices.

 

Then Belle came to podium to talk about her involvement in 4-H and the impact it has had on her life. The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors have historically been a vocal advocate for our program and this time was no different. The four members in attendance that day all had special comments to share about 4-H.

 

 

Supervisor Sherri Brennan, District 1, was wearing a 4-H pin on her lapel. She was the first to speak:

“The program is a success because of the committed volunteers that support it. We need to acknowledge and thank them!” ~Supervisor Sherri Brennan, District 1

 

“I was a judge at a 4-H event this year. To see 6, 10, & 16 year-olds that are more intelligent & better spoken than I am and I was there to judge them. I thought, "I'm not qualified to judge this!” A bit of humor, a bit of truth by Supervisor Ryan Campbell, District 2, “Thank you to the organizers of 4-H. You're building the leaders that will be taking the reins in our community down the road.”

 

“You want my chair?” Board Chair, Supervisor Karl Rodefer, District 5 joked in response to Belle's account of how 4-H has helped her grow as a leader. They were pretty impressed with her public speaking skills.

When Supervisor Daniel Anaiah Kirk, District 3 asked Belle what she wanted to be when she grew up (answer-nursing) he said: “Well you're on the track to do whatever you want because you're very well spoken. 4-H prepares young people for success.”

Supervisor Kirk also shared how he was in 4-H as a youth and has good memories of his experience. He is looking forward to enrolling his kids in 4-H "because of the life skills that it will give to them."

 

“You're really a class act. If you're the poster person for 4-H, I think 4-H is very well represented.” Board Chair, Supervisor Karl Rodefer, District 5.

 

"4-H develops the next generation of leaders for this county, this state, and this nation.”

~Board Chair, Supervisor Karl Rodefer, District 5

 

The measure to proclaim October 5 - 12 as National 4-H Week in Tuolumne County passed unanimously.