Editor's Note:

At this time of year, Senior 4-H'ers are graduating out of high school and into their next step in life. As parents, we celebrate our children's accomplishments and are proud to share them widely! As our 4-H'ers graduate to their next adventure, we want to acknowledge all the parents, family members, and 4-H volunteers who have served as leaders and mentors to help our youth grow their skills for the future.

This post was written by Toni Dowdell. She is the mother of Eve Dowdell, our 4-H Communications Intern in the State Office. It was originally published in the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau News in October 2023 (p.22).

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4-H Member to 4-H Alumna to 4-H Intern

Eve with Hornet Cup and 1st Place awards

Aging out of 4-H is that sort of rite of passage at a time when young adult 4-H'ers are easing their way into full-on adulthood. These youth members continue in 4-H until they reach the age of nineteen and can no longer participate in 4-H as a youth member. While some move onto other paths, most go on to give back to 4-H in one way or another. Discovering a way to do both has become a delight for Eve Dowdell, a 2022 4-H alumna. She completed her 4-H youth career and is embarking on the road to 4-H adult volunteering and state internship.

Eve Dowdell was pinned “4-H Alumna” at the State Leadership Conference. During the ceremony, Eve was announced as a recipient of both the Golden Clover Award and the Diamond Clover, the highest achievement for which a 4-H member is recognized. As well, 4-H members, leaders, and representatives from all over California bid her farewell on her 2021-2022 term as State Ambassador. Eve is the first State Ambassador from Stanislaus County in five years; that's since Gabriella Germann, a Stanislaus County native, served on the 2016-2017 State Ambassador team.

Eve's notable 4-H skills and accomplishments enabled her to shine as State Ambassador. She and her team developed a campaign centered on encouraging youth to begin living their legacy now. While her team was responsible for implementing CA 4-H Youth Development Programs, creating educational workshops for County 4-H Ambassadors, and facilitating educational programs for other States' Ambassadors, Eve had the availability and specialized skillset to represent her team at Ag Day at the Capitol and on various State 4-H committees. She was invited to present informational sessions for the State 4-H staff towards advancing the CA 4-H social media platform. Using her talent for publicizing wacky Tiktok's to classy Instagram stories, Eve designed and shared content to boost the presence of the CA 4-H brand, the State Ambassador's platform, and CA 4-H Ag.

Eve's passion for 4-H, communication, and pink showed through in all of her social media promotions. With little effort, anyone could see how 4-H is an avenue to cultivate her sparks and share them with her community. She seized every opportunity to mention her favorite things and how they relate to her 4-H experience. Her videos supporting upcoming 4-H events or honoring heroes, National American Sign Language (ASL) Day, and National Pink Day were her way of connecting with her fellow members in her own unique way.

Among her role as State Ambassador, Eve has had many successes in 4-H that led to significant contributions during her 4-H years. Her service as County President of Hi 4-H (yes, the ones who make the delicious milkshakes at the county fair!), President of Shooting Stars 4-H (her home club of eleven years), and Staff/Counselor on the County Camp Committee are just a few of them. She served her third term on the State 4-H Advisory Committee and helped run the first State Camping Conference since the pandemic. Eve thrives on communicating with 4-H'ers across the state and supporting them in their endeavors. Whether through club work, county programs, or national opportunities, her caring and influencing attitude promotes a sense of belonging and gives 4-H members the prompting they need to believe they can achieve their goals, master skills, and positively impact their communities. She says seeing young 4-H'ers taking advantage of all that 4-H has to offer reminds her of her own early 4-H years, when her eyes dazzled at the sight of older 4-H'ers in the spotlight.

State Ambassador Eve at Ag Day at the Capitol with California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross, also a 4-H Alumna!

Over the years, Eve has been an outstanding role model who has connected to and affected the lives of many. With great compassion, competency, and character, Eve has shown that she embodies the essence of a true leader. Her influence has mostly been recognized in her commitment to 4-H project leadership. Particularly, projects such as ASL, Dance, Communications, and Embroidery, where she embraced her sparks, are her favorite projects to lead. Through all her project roles, her magnetic personality inspires others, adults and youth members alike, to succeed in facing life's challenges with integrity, determination, and a smile. Eve continues to serve 4-H members as an officer advisor for Shooting Stars 4-H club, county co-advisor for the Stanislaus Hi 4-H Committee, and assistant to County Ambassador teams. Most recently, she started as a student intern in Marketing and Communications for the UC ANR State 4-H Youth Development Program. In Eve's effort to give back through her internship, she creates and maintains marketing communications that showcase the best of CA 4-H members, and continues to promote State 4-H programs.

As Eve is no stranger to achievement, she is making headlines at Modesto Junior College (MJC), where she pursues Communication Studies. Her contributions on campus have put her in the spotlight as ASL Club officer, President of Alpha Kappa chapter of Sigma Chi Eta, and member of the 2022-2023 Intercollegiate Speech & Debate Team. Her time on the Speech & Debate team has earned MJC the Hornet Cup, 1st Place Sweepstakes Award, and the Phi Ro Pi 2023 National Award. Eve began her competition year as Top Novice at the Golden Gate Opener, then took two 1st Placings at the Mustang and the Paul Winters Invitationals for her persuasive speech performance. In her speech, she advocated for the deaf community by calling for ADA accommodations in drive-throughs. She went on to claim 3rd Place at the Northern CA Forensics Association Championship and 1st Places in both Communication Analysis and Persuasive Speech at the Hornet Tournament. These accomplishments are a credit to all her years of learning by doing in 4-H. Eve says she pulls from her experience toolbox, having learned and taught the value of resiliency, civil discourse, motivating others for impactful change, and building connections. Eve is a tremendous source of encouragement and guidance, with a tenacity for working with individuals from various cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, and mindsets. Eve adds

“Whether I am tutoring or facilitating a campus life event, I want to be an approachable light and friend to the students of MJC. I've been privileged with opportunities to employ self-management. Now I want to contribute my skills, insight, and perspective, and give back what I have been so generously given. As I develop my own passions and knowledge, I am only fulfilled knowing that I have also influenced another's growth and sparked their passions. Like 4-H, MJC has a powerful foundation, helping students grow in their field of study. I'm thankful to be a contributor to that growth.”

Eve's greatest passion remains in her faith. She regularly makes time to support youth mentorship and volunteers as a bible study leader and on the prayer team for her church, JC Fans.

Let's celebrate and thank Eve for sharing her time, gifts, and positive attitude for the benefit of our 4-H youth and our community.

The California 4-H Computer Science Pathways team hosted a 5-day virtual code camp, July 27 to 31st. Attendees included 50 youth and 30 volunteers (some from out-of-state and one from Canada!).

The camp consisted of multiple computer science topics including: CS First with Scratch, Virtual Robotics, and Python. We focused on coding and STEM and made it as fun and camp-like as possible.

Each day began with fun icebreakers, such as scavenger hunts and Pictionary. Then the campers were split into their coding sessions with at least two teen leaders and two adult volunteers to teach and facilitate different coding activities.

In the Python track, we used codecademy.com to teach the basics of Python and inspire youth to learn more about computer science. In the Virtual Robotics track, we used roboblockly.com to teach the basics of block coding and then gave each camper a Sphero Mini to program!

To wrap up each day, we led a sharing activity where campers had the ability to share their projects and what they had accomplished or learned. We had a few guest speakers, “Get to Know a Googler,” where Google employees spoke about their job and experiences in computer science.

“We accomplished our goal of spreading computer science and STEM throughout 4-H and the country and we hope to continue to lead virtual projects and camps in the future.”

– Ethan, teen volunteer, 4-H Computer Science Pathway

Virtual Code Camp activity - programming robots to play soccer using robockly.com

The California 4-H Youth Summits are three-day leadership conferences held at four locations throughout the state. They are designed to grow the leadership abilities of intermediate 4-H members (ages 11-13) and give hands-on leadership opportunities to senior 4-H members (ages 14+). Details and registration are on the 4-H Youth Summit event site.

I sat down with Casey and Raedyn, high schoolers on the Bay/Coast Youth Summit planning team, to ask them about the event.

Casey and Raedyn (center) with the Bay/Coast Youth Summit planning team.

Tell me about the Youth Summit. What kinds of things will participants do and learn?

Raedyn: It's an opportunity to learn more about yourself and your passions. Thinking about that now can give you a leg up once you get to high school.

Casey: We'll have hikes, workshops with different guest speakers, sessions to learn leadership skills and ways of finding your passion.

Raedyn: They'll learn about communication, teamwork, the six Cs--

Curtis: --the sixties?

Casey: no, the six C's!

Curtis: ohhh
(The six C's are Competence, Confidence, Character, Caring, Connection, and Contribution.)


The theme for the Youth Summits this year is "ripples of today, waves of tomorrow." Tell me about that.

Raedyn: They'll learn how to advocate for themselves and the things they're passionate about. It'll help kids discover and delve into what they're excited about learning.


What'll they learn about advocacy?

Raedyn: They'll learn about understanding issues in the grand scheme of things but also on a personal level, so they can take it into their communities now or in the future. I know as a middle schooler you feel kinda like, with all these big issues "oh my gosh, well, I have to wait until I'm older to do something about that", but the thing is, they don't really have to wait. They can find ways to do things in their community to help out right now. I think that's important; that's one of the things we talk about in the planning meetings is making sure to keep it Big and Local.

Curtis: how do you keep something both big and local?

Raedyn: You talk about the big issue: This is what's going on overall, and these are some things you can do to help.

Curtis: Ah, so saying that you can make a difference without solving the whole problem.


What's the atmosphere at the Youth Summit going to be like?

Casey: It'll be a balance of learning and fun, like camp. There'll be times when you're listening and taking in information and there are times that are more interactive and doing things with others outside.

Raedyn: It's gonna have more variety than other leadership conferences because you'll have choices about which workshops to do. That ties into the fact that they're gonna be finding their passion, so if they find something that interests them they can do that instead of other courses that they might not enjoy as much.


The planning team is mostly 4-H youth. How does that impact what the event will be like?

Raedyn: It's fun planning a whole conference from the ground up. I've never done something that big. That seems pretty cool to me.

Casey: We're working with staff and adults from the Management Board. We get to choose what we focus on. We know what 4-H events are like and what we would want to do at a conference, so we try to keep it fun and learn about the things that are important to us.


I hear there's a session called the Leadership Lab. What's that going to be like?

Raedyn: It's a longer activity, more hands-on. It uses teamwork and gives everyone a chance to practice a leadership skill that's important to them. It's going to be very hands-on and engaging. We're trying to live up to last year, because the surveys were like "we love the leadership lab!" so we've gotta live up to that.


You can also attend the Youth Summit if you are 14 or older. What will their experience be like?

Casey: They're called facilitators, which is a lot like staff at other events. You attend, but you are helping out.

Raedyn: They'll make sure kids are on task, help them with activities. We'll assign some to be cabin heads, have them do head counts and stuff during breakfast, make sure everyone has eaten. We need people to help us execute what we're planning.


If I'm thinking about going but don't know someone else who's attending should I still sign up?

Raedyn: Along with educational sessions we're also gonna have recreation time and time for kids to socialize. They can make important connections by coming because they'll meet kids from all over the area.

Casey: Even if you don't know someone who's going you'll still meet people and make connections.

Raedyn: We're trying our best to make it a welcoming environment for everyone to meet new people.

Register for the 4-H Youth Summits by November 30, 2019.

More information about each summit is on the 4-H Youth Summit Event site.

For the second year in a row, the Computer Science Pathway Team of the University of California Cooperative Extension's (UCCE) 4-H Youth Development Program of Santa Clara County held an event for National Youth Science Day (NYSD). The team's event took place on Sunday, October 20th at Google's campus in Sunnyvale. The event was open to 4-H'ers and the public. Thirty-five youth participated in this NYSD event.

CS Pathway Team, volunteers, Googlers, and youth participants posing in front of a Google sign.

Each youth participated in three sessions, one for each of the Game Changers computer science activities created by Google and West Virginia Extension Service for NYSD. The activities were a mix of unplugged and plugged activities that involved running around playing games, completing puzzles, working with others, sharing your passions, and more. The teens from the Computer Science Pathway team had a big part in organizing the event and taught all sessions. They were assisted by the UCCE Santa Clara County 4-H Youth Development office, adult volunteers, and Google volunteers.

Fiona Reyes (17) and Omar Khan (13) led the session for Hack Your Harvest, an unplugged activity with connections to agriculture that involves learning about efficiency and programming through puzzles.

Ethan Auyeung (16) led the session on an activity called Pitch your Passion that focused on teaching participants how to advocate for their passions with the help of computer science. This was a plugged activity where children experimented with Scratch, an online program where users are introduced to the world of coding.

Megna Nayar (14) led the Program Your Playground activity where youth learned about the computational thinking concept of conditionals, statements that include “if”, “then”, and “else” and are used in real life and in computer programming to answer a question. Next, youth participants worked in teams to create their own versions of conditional tag and learned how computer science can help youth be more active and healthier and be fun.

A teen teacher helping a participant with his Scratch project for Pitch Your Passion.

Youth playing their conditional tag games in Program Your Playground.

Participants received a “raffle ticket” throughout the event for participating or helping. At the end of the event, everyone gathered for raffle prizes and reflection. Many youth participants said that this event helped them realize that computer science wasn't just about sitting behind a computer and that it could be applied to many things. One young girl shared “I learned that computer science is not just typing on a computer.” Youth also expressed an interest in expanding their knowledge on computer science and Scratch. One boy shared “I like to program engineer stuff,” and another young girl stated; “I learned how to use Scratch. It is really fun!” Some youth were even interested in beginning their own projects at their 4-H clubs.

It was great for the Santa Clara County CS Pathway Team to hear all the positive feedback because that was one of the main goals of the event: to give youth exposure to computer science and to show its connections to the real world!

Many youth participants said that this event helped them realize that computer science wasn't just about sitting behind a computer and that it could be applied to many things.

Have you added your NYSD event to our map? Add your event and share your story with us.