St. John Parish 4-H Advisory Committee Meeting
July 22, 2009
Members Present:
Luma Linda Michel, Sheela Jambotkar, Michele Stuart, Terry Mitchell, Cynthia Clifton, C.J. Burrhus, Ashley Selig, Susan Boudreaux, Aimee Boudreaux, Katrina Levron, Amanda Boudreaux, Chandra Darville, Robbie Tomeny and Lisa Arcemont
Kelly Perret, St. John Parish 4-H agent, had everyone in attendance introduce themselves and tell a little about their involvement in 4-H in our parish. She began the meeting with some statistics about 4-H activity in our parish from the previous school year. She also discussed some changes in the involvement of students in 4-H over the past five (5) years. A short discussion explained some of the programs and activities that 4-H has to offer the youth in our parish.
Kelly introduced Lisa Arcemont, with the LSU AgCenter. Her reason for being here was to help with getting more involvement in 4-H from both our youth and adult leaders. She explained the break-out activity where each of the future advisory board members would discuss the topic “What problems affects youth today (youth development)?
This activity was designed to help with planning future activities for the youth involved in 4-H. All members were encouraged to come up with some issues that they felt were relative to problems that youth faced today. Each member had some time to explain their issue. We then voted on the topics to determine what issues we felt were most important. Topics/issues that were voted on by the members follows:
· Teen Survival 16 votes
· Importance of Education 14 votes
· Marketing 4-H to Youth and Adults 10 votes
· Home Living 7 votes
· Substance abuse 6 votes
· Tech training 5 votes
We discussed the fact that all children do not learn in the same way. It was noted that learning activities should be geared towards all types of learning (visual vs. hands-on, etc.).
Other ideas like re-introducing the 4-H ambassador program were also discussed. Some members felt that the requirements around 4-H Camp as well as 4-H university should be discussed further.
Kelly talked about the role of the advisory board members. Each member was given a copy of the roles and responsibilities of members on the 4-H Advisory Committee. The meeting was then adjourned.