Youth Development

County Leadership
The purpose of the Rio Arriba County 4-H Council is to give 4-H club leaders and officers and opportunity to assist in planning the county 4-H program by providing a means of leadership trainings and promote 4-H public relations and cooperation with the general public. The County Council also works to promote and establish program guidelines on how to reward clubs and club members for participation in and raising funds for the council. There were six enthusiastic and driven young individuals and four adult volunteer advisors, who lead the County Council Officer Team. The officer team’s responsibilities are but not limited to: representing Rio Arriba County 4-H, organizing and conducting the Annual County Leadership Training, County Fair responsibilities, coordinate the annual County Fundraising event, and planning and conducting the Annual County Awards Program and the Community Service Project.
Goals for the annual 4-H Leadership Training include: providing an opportunity for 4-H members and leaders to interact with others of across the county; provide 4-H members with activity ideas they can incorporate at their club events; uphold the mission and objectives of 4-H by providing opportunities to learn life skills, gain knowledge while having fun, and make contributions in such areas as environmental education, community service, and current youth issues. This year’s event was organized and conducted by the Rio Arriba County 4-H Council officer team and six senior members, who attended the State Senior Leadership Retreat. Topics explored during the training included: effective communication, teamwork, club leadership and positive leadership. A total of 16 youth attended the one day event. 100% of the participants noted a how fun the event was and that they had learned “how important teamwork and communication was”.
The Annual County 4-H fundraising event is the main provider of funds for countywide events such as the Annual Awards program, livestock clinics and youth camps. This year’s fundraiser raised over one-thousand dollars and had over 147 attendees. The event’s activities included: Egg hunts, 5K run/walk, coloring table and pancake breakfast. With great community support and attendance the event was deemed a success.
In hopes to give back to the county and community members, the 2011 Rio Arriba County 4-H Community Service Project was dedicated to giving assistance to those who needed additional assistance during the high cost winter months. Rio Arriba County 4-H clubs donated non-perishable groceries, wood pellets, and winter items to a local community service program, which is structured to provide quality services, public awareness, and integrated community supports for children, adults and families facing social, emotional and/or developmental challenges. A total of 17 gift filled holiday care baskets were donated to the endeavor. Many meaningful relationships were also established with local community service organizations following the project.

4-H Enrollment
In attempt to assess the efforts made by the agent, since she accepted her extension position, past 4-H enrollment statistics were reviewed. The program year prior to the agent joined the New Mexico Cooperative Extension team (2007-2008); Rio Arriba County4-H had a total enrollment of 187 members and 64 adult volunteer leaders. When compared to the current program year (2010-2011), Rio Arriba County seen an increase in both enrollment areas; 4-H member enrollment grow to 214 members and 100 adult volunteer leaders. While the total enrollment increase was thought to be marginal, it is a crucial element of the program’s longevity and effectiveness. The agent has dedicated a great deal of effort to recruiting and welcoming new 4-H members and leaders into the 4-H program. Another key focus of the agent’s was retention of existing members, which included the practice of visiting each traditional 4-H clubs to conduct the enrollment process and introducing a County Program Open House to the event calendar. The agent visited all 17 4-H clubs in the county to conduct the enrollment and seen favorable attendance at the County’s first 4-H Open House with 16 attendees who were interested in joining the County’s 4-H program. A great deal of community support was given to the event. The news release for the Open House was featured in the local newspaper and advertized on the local radio station. Being that the event was very successful, efforts will be made to continue holding annual program Open House to attempt to increase new enrollment and stabilizing the retention of members and leaders.

McKinley County SNAP Education
Obesity is increasing in our youth at an alarming rate and eating habits need to change for their survival. The majority of children eat considerably more calories than required to maintain their ideal weight. Extension staff and nutrition educators provide nutrition education for many of the McKinley County schools public, private and BIE. The students learn healthy eating habits, prepare healthy snacks and participate in nutrition games and exercise. To qualify for SNAP students need one hour of education, Cooking with Kids Tastings are one hour, Cooking with Kids Tasting and Cooking require 2 hours. All the programs are well received and the students especially enjoy the hands-on activities and reinforcements they are given. Teaching kids to eat healthier will help them to control their weight. All programs provided by extension include the New Mexico Performance Standards and Benchmarks adopted August 1196. Approximately 1,827 students grade per-12th completed one or all three of the curriculums during the school year or over the summer. Evaluation was provided by the ICAN staff, administered and collected by the nutrition educators and sent to ICAN specialist for reporting purposes.

Senior Leader Retreat
Senior Leader Retreat is just one event where 4-H youth learn leadership skills from the state leadership team. Members participate in workshops that teach them officer skills, club meeting activities, and team building skills. This year 3 members attended and gained knowledge about leadership and to improve/run a successful club meeting. The social component of the retreat helps members to learn what other counties are doing to keep their member enrollment steady and they make friends with youth from other counties sometime lifelong friendships.

District Contest June 21-22, 2011 Estancia
District contest allows Novice and Junior 4-H members to show their knowledge about projects and compete in several events offered as contests. The home economist provided Favorite Foods and Home Ec. Skill-a-thon with another colleague the attendance was very good for both events. The contest challenge youth to identify home economics items for the Skill-a-thon in a 20 minute period 3 contests altogether. Favorite Foods contestants are interviewed by 2 judges one asks nutrition questions the other judges’ place setting and themes. They are placed for their knowledge as a single competitor or as a team.