Forty Jr. Leader club members attended a tri-parish retreat at Camp Grant Walker in Pollock, LA on January 11-12, 2008. The retreat was designed to allow Jr. Leaders from Natchitoches, Grant and Winn parishes to meet new friends, find a sense of belonging within the organization, develop skills needed to be a successful Jr. Leader club member and most importantly to have fun.
Natchitoches parish brought 14 club members, two adult volunteers and one 4-H agent with them to the retreat. Those attending were as follows: Katherine Bowen-Goldonna; Michaela Burns-NCHS; MicKayla Burns-Cloutierville; Adam Dalme-Goldonna; Zack Gibson-NCHS; Joleen Llorence-NCHS; Sylvia Martin-Goldonna; Gabby McDaniel-NSU Middle Lab; Julia McManus-East Natchitoches; Zach Page-Goldonna; Michael Rachal-East Natchitoches; Samantha Taylor-Cloutierville; Brittney Wells-NCHS; Cady White-NCHS; Belinda Page-parent volunteer from Goldonna; Fredda Burns-parent volunteer from Cloutierville and Laura Brumbaugh-4-H Agent.
The opening of the retreat included a camp fire, teambuilding activities and a movie/board game night. The Jr. Leaders roasted hot dogs and made smoores around the campfire, some doing it for the first time. Teambuilding activities were led by the new 4-H Camp Director, Kim Landry. The members had to first learn how to pick up one another while having arms linked. The next teambuilding challenge was to line themselves up by age without talking and walking on a ledge. Finally, the Jr. Leaders had to pass a hoola hoop around themselves being looped at the elbows. All of these teambuilding activities taught the members that communication is very important when working on a problem.
On Saturday, January 12th the members took part in three different educational sessions. Finding the leader in You! allowed participants to discover what personality color they were by taking the Personality Color test entitled, True Colors. After they learned about the different personalities, they were asked to break into groups and build a tower using all supplies given and make it a structure that represents 4-H. At the end of the workshop each group had to give a commercial explaining their 4-H structure and was scored by a panel of “American 4-H” judges. This session was taught by Laura Brumbaugh, Cady White and Zack Gibson.
Another session was entitled, What Not to Wear-making the right choices. This session focused on making the right choices in clothing as well as general etiquette. It was geared especially toward the 4-H summer activity, 4-H University. Participants were asked to look at pictures and identify what was wrong in each picture. They were also given general etiquette practices, especially when giving a demonstration or competing in a contest. This session was taught by Laurie Lafollette, 4-H Agent, Grant Parish.
The third session taught was entitled, 4-H University-What’s It All About. This session introduced members to Louisiana 4-H’s biggest state-wide activity for 13-19 year old 4-H members. 4-H U is held in the summer on LSU’s campus. During this session participants were given a balloon with a contest in it. The object was to pop the balloon and match the contest in their balloon to the description on a board. After they popped balloons, 4-H’ers were introduced to different contests and the clover college sessions of 4-H U. They were then given the opportunity to ask questions. This session was taught by Beck Kelley, 4-H Agent, Winn Parish.
After the sessions participants went on a tour of the campgrounds and enjoyed free time where they played kick ball, volleyball or enjoyed music.
Cady White, Natchitoches Parish Jr. Leader president said, “I knew this retreat would allow us to meet new people, but what I did not really expect was to grow closer with the Jr. Leaders from Natchitoches. It really let me get to know them and now I believe we can accomplish more as a team since we know one another better.”
An anonymous survey was given. Some of the results given by the youth attending were:
- Did you feel a sense of belonging? 74.4% reported Almost always
- Did you like attending the retreat? 86% reported Almost always
- Would you recommend the Jr. Leader retreat to other 4-H’ers? 89.7% reported Almost always.
When asked to tell us why they came to the retreat?
Grant parish 4-H’er replied, “Because I wanted to learn how to be more of a leader than a follower and to keep myself out of trouble.”
When asked what was your favorite part of the retreat?
Natchitoches parish 4-H’er replied, “Being with friends and getting to be part of a group.”
When asked how to improve the retreat?
Winn parish 4-H’er replied, “I wish the retreat was longer, and we had a dance.”
Laura Brumbaugh, Natchitoches parish 4-H agent, “This retreat over-exceeded our expectations of what we would accomplish with these youth. It was only two days, but by the end you could really observe that these teens truly felt a sense of belonging with one another. I look forward to seeing the results of this retreat at the parish level.”
[Image: Group Picture]
[Image: Gabby McDaniel, Katherine Bowen, Joleen Llorence and Samantha Taylor complete their 4-H University structure during the educational session entitled, Finding the Leader in You!]
| [Image: Adam Dalme works on his groups’ “Bob the tractor” 4-H structure in the educational session Finding the Leader in You!]
[Image: Michaela Burns, MicKayla Burns and Joleen Llorence work on the evaluation for the Jr. Leader retreat. The evaluation was used to see what their favorite part of the retreat was and to measure their sense of belonging during the retreat.]
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