[Image: Leadership Globe]Do you want to become more involved in community service projects, learn about working in groups and develop some leadership skills? Then the St. Tammany Parish 4-H Junior Leadership Club may be the program for you.
The Junior Leader Club is designed to teach teens leadership skills, the skills needed to be productive and the skills for working as a member of a group. The club consists of 4-H members from 7th to 12th grades and meets monthly with a set of officers and monthly agenda.
Junior leaders are encouraged to develop community service-learning programs for their communities. Junior leaders have an opportunity to make a difference in their communities and work as partners with community leaders. They also become mentors for younger 4-H members and gain important leadership skills that they will use and continually develop throughout their lives.
Through the partnerships they form, members are able to achieve more working than they ever could alone. Building a relationship with community leaders often begins with building trust. In addition to trusting others, junior leaders must be trustworthy and exhibit essential character traits. Leadership is the ability of being able to influence the thinking and actions of people. Junior leaders often work with diverse organizations, which also allows them to experience various career options.
As mentors for younger 4-H members, junior leaders provide direction for younger members as they develop life skills through the 4-H program. Mentoring does not depend upon the amount of talent you have, but upon what you do with your abilities and how you get along with other people. You can be a mentor if you have the desire, the willpower and the urge to develop the qualities and characteristics that make a leader. Consider a quote by John D. Rockefeller III, “Individuals make the decision to become involved. If they don’t; they miss their most important chance to feel inner power and to become whole human beings.” Opportunities to assist youth members in learning and developing leadership skills are endless. By serving as mentors to younger members, junior leaders are able to serve as positive role models by providing support, advice, encouragement and even friendship. Mentoring also allows a chance to sharpen their social, communication and leadership skills.
Junior Leaders gain important leadership skills that they will us[Image: Mentoring]e and continually develop throughout their lives. They learn several important leadership skills through the club program. Those include understanding self and developing a positive attitude, communicating, getting along with others, learning to learn, making decisions, managing and working with groups. As they learn more about themselves, junior leaders are better able to recognize and appreciate the strengths of others. Leaders have to make important decisions all the time. Some decisions are straightforward, and others are more complex, but when given the opportunity to develop decision-making skills junior leaders are able to become productive members of their communities.
Junior Leadership Club members also participate in several service-learning projects throughout the year. Some previous projects include adopting families during Thanksgiving and Christmas, volunteering at assisted living facilities and coastal restoration projects. Members are given the opportunity to serve on four 4-H state leadership boards including the Executive Committee, Fashion Board, Food and Fitness Board and Science, Engineering and Technology Board. Junior leaders also are eligible to attend Junior Leadership Conference, 4-H University on the LSU Baton Rouge campus and 4-H Camp as camp counselors.
If you want to become more involved in community service projects, learn about working in groups and de[Image: Community Service]velop some leadership skills, the St. Tammany Parish 4-H Junior Leadership Club definitely is the program for you. Contacts and friends are also established for a lifetime through participation in the 4-H Junior Leader Club program. You never outgrow learning about leadership skills. As teens do more in groups and learn more about people and themselves, they need additional skills that will enable them to contribute to groups. The Junior Leadership Club teaches teens how to be effective members of a group and improve their leadership skills. If you are interested in learning more about the St. Tammany Parish Junior Leadership Club program, contact the LSU AgCenter's St. Tammany Parish office at (985) 875-2635.