Released: February 13, 2002

4-Hers Plan Teen Leadership Forum

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kids say they want to be more involved, and Kansas 4-H is doing its best to see that it happens. Ten 4-H members have been elected to serve as the 2002 Kansas 4-H Youth Council. One of their primary tasks will be planning a statewide Youth Leadership Forum.

The just-for-teens conference is scheduled for Nov. 22-24 at Rock Springs State 4-H Conference Center, said Lindy Lindquist, the Kansas State University Research and Extension 4-H youth development specialist who serves as a faculty adviser to the youth council.

Staging a youth conference that is organized largely by youth themselves is an idea Kansas delegates brought back from a 4-H program planning session at the National 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Md., a few years ago, she said.

"More than 130 teens, ages 14 and up, attended the 2001 youth gathering and were enthusiastic about the program content and opportunities for personal growth," said Beth Hinshaw, south central area 4-H specialist based in Hutchinson, Kan., who shares faculty advising responsibilities for the youth council with Lindquist.

"Being a 4-H member is not a prerequisite for attending – the conference is open to students in the 14-and-up age range," she said.

The youth event will be much like a professional development conference. To plan it, council members will meet every other month and e-mail each other weekly.

Youth council members learn to build on each others’ strengths, the advisors said. While the exercise in team building benefits the team itself, it’s also likely to benefit everyone who attends the youth development opportunity.

Members of the Kansas 4-H Youth Council charged with planning the 2002 Youth Leadership Forum are:

Northeast area: Katie Pumphrey (Jewell County) and Jim Ashcraft (Douglas),

Northwest area: Melissa Hillebrand (Norton) and Dale Jessup (Phillips),

Southeast area: Whitney Coen (Franklin) and Adrianne Swinney (Wilson),

Southwest area: L. Karline Jorgensen and Amanda Sullivan (both from Grant),

South Central area: Walinda Arnett (Barber) and Julia Stoskopf (Barton).

Council members have elected Jessup president; Stoskopf, vice-president; and Jorgensen, secretary.

Also serving on the Youth Council will be the state’s National 4-H Conference delegates – Kristen Kay, Franklin County; Josey Heller, Post Rock District, Mitchell County; David McCandless, Shawnee County; Erin Riffey, Pratt County; and Lucas Shivers, Clay County.

Barbara Addison (Finney County) and Jason Stallman (Rooks County) will serve as K-State Research and Extension agent advisers and Joseph Thomas (Franklin County), as volunteer adviser.

For more information on the 2002 Kansas Youth Leadership Forum or any of the more than 30 other educational 4-H programs open to Kansans ages 7 and up, interested persons may contact the local K-State Research and Extension office.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Nancy Peterson, Communications Specialist
npeterso@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News