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Impact Report

For plan Youth Development (Valencia County)
Date October 29, 2010, 10:18 pm
For Objective Short-term Show short-term objectives
Impact Report Modern Day Princess Modern Day Princess is an eight-week program created by Doreen Hanna, founder of Treasured Celebrations, for middle-school girls to help them improve their self-worth. The eight-week course was conducted at a local Middle School in Valencia County. The school district was looking for a program designed for a group of at-risk girls to help them build a better sense of self-worth so they could make more positive choices in their everyday life. Each week the girls explored their inner personality, discovered their families’ heritage, learned the worth of respecting others and obeying appropriate life and legal rules, and defined the qualities of good relationships with friends, peers and men. They defined the qualities of finding and becoming a true friend and how to make choices based on personal convictions, not just feelings. Part of the program focused on the girls building a better relationship with their mothers. The curriculum involved an exchange of cards between each girl and her mother in which they shared their positive feelings about one another. These exchanges were very powerful. In our busy lives, it’s not common that people take time to write down feelings about each other. The girls learned how proud their mothers were of them. During the class on looking and acting like a princess, the girls visited a local High School, where cosmetology students treated them to a day at the spa. The high school students did the girls’ hair and nails and gave them ideas about ways to enhance their natural beauty. The visit also gave the girls an opportunity to visit the high school they will be attending, and to see a vocational program they can participate in. Welcome to New Mexico 4-H Each year the Valencia County 4-H program receives a large number of new members to the 4-H program. Many of the new members have never been involved in the 4-H program in their past and are unfamiliar with the 4-H program as a whole. Each new member to the Valencia County 4-H program is required to take the “Welcome to New Mexico 4-H” project. For the past two years I have been conducting a Welcome to New Mexico 4-H project training. The training was developed to help educate new 4-H members and their families about the way in which the 4-H program is ran in Valencia County. New members have the ability to develop a better relationship with office staff, learn the differences between the club, county and state levels, develop an awareness of the opportunities they have at the club, county, and state level, and develop lasting relationships with peers who share the same interests. Members are given the opportunity to work with the agents on the Welcome to NM 4-H projects. The projects are then entered at the Valencia County Community Expo and New Mexico State Fair. Valencia County Community Expo 4-H Indoor Exhibits The Valencia County Community Expo provides a showplace for 4-H members to exhibit their work related to the 4-H projects for the current program year. Through out the year members have the opportunity to work with 4-H adult volunteers to master the skills associated with their 4-H projects. The Valencia County Community Expo provides the youth with the opportunity to not only showcase their accomplishments but also to get feedback from the judges on what can be done to improve in their project area. This year the Valencia County Community Expo had 82 more project exhibits then the previous year. The Home Ec Skill-A-Thon contest is one of the largest contest in Valencia County. In 2010 we had approximatly 20 youth participate in the contest. The Home Ec Skill-A-Thon covers material from all sections of home economics—cooking, baking, money management, consumer decision making, food and nutrition, and housing and interior design. By practicing and competing in the Home Ec Skill-A-Thon contest, youth have the opportunity to increase knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors in relation to home economic skills that can be used in all areas of their lives. These skills can be used by young children and then refined as adults. This year the Valencia County Home Ec Skill-A-Thon team took first place at State 4-H Conference and plan to compete at the National contest in January 2011.