Youth Development (McKinley County)

Share Fair- On April 22, 2008 Community resources that are geared towards youth met at Gallup High School. There were about 100 participants that visited the booths. Karen Esquibel, Administrator of Gallup Teen Health Center organized the Share Fair. Agencies that attended disseminated information about their organizations to interested parents and care givers. Some of the groups gave presentations or preformed for the audience. It was an excellent way of sharing what some of the youth in Gallup are doing and their talents. Karen has requested that we do this again in August she hopes that parents will be encouraged to enroll their children in activities that are stress positive experiences. Each of the agencies encourage family involvement which is a very valuable component of child rearing. A resource list will be compiled and distributed to schools for further reference. The 4-H booth shared information and prior 4-H members yearly activities/photos that showed a variety of projects that any child age 5-19 could enroll in. The goal of the CES Agents is to improve their enrollment for the comming year.

On May 7th 2008 about 650 4th and 5th graders attended McKinley County Youth Water Awareness Days 2008 at Miyamura High School. The students moved from station to station learning about 16 different topics. The topics ranged from Tree Rings to Wild Life Birds. Presenters offered information and hands on activities at each station. Each of the students collected information from each presentation for the "Treasure Hunt" sheet and as they completed the questionare the were given a prize. Elizabeth Barriga Water Conservation Coordinator and CES staff have had training in Project Wet that was offered three years ago. Once again it was a success and the students took with them new and updated knowledge about the importance of the worlds water. This year we included two activities that required student participation. The first activity required the students to estimate how many drops of water a penny could hold before spilling over and the other activity taught the students about two properties of water adhesion and cohesion. The students gained knowledge and enjoyed the day of events.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)Grant that I am P.I. for provided funds for hiring a county agent that reports to the McKinley County Director. His efforts had the following evaluation results:
• 95.83% of the participants from Fort Wingate High School made life skill gains from pre-program to post-program in Communication, and Useful/Marketable skills. This same percentage was also indicated for gains in tools and skills in GIS/GPS. Results below are from the Fort Wingate High School 4-H school enrichment program. Using the Targeting Life Skills Evaluation Tool, analysis of quantitative data indicates the following:

In terms of the life skill, communication, surveys indicated:

• An increase of average 1.82 to 3.5 for the students in terms of opportunity to practice the exchange of thoughts, information, or messages between individuals using speech, writing, gestures, and artistic expression

• An increase of average 1.79 to 3.5 for the students in terms of opportunity to make a presentation of their project in a classroom setting

• An increase of average 1.85 to 3.5 for the students in terms of opportunity to clearly state my thoughts, feelings, and ideas to others while presenting the projects in a classroom setting

In terms of life skill, useful/marketable skills, surveys indicated:

• An increase of average 1.97 to 3.5 for the students in terms of having useful/marketable skills to have the abilities wanted by employers and needed to hold a job

• An increase of average 2.14 to 3.54 for the students in terms of following instructions as they are given to them

• An increase of average 1.97 to 3.5 for the students in terms of contributing as a member of a team

• An increase of average 1.81 to 3.45 for the students in terms of keeping accurate and useful records

In terms of reading topography map, using a compass, using a GPS unit, and using GIS mapping software, surveys indicated:

• An increase of 87% of knowledge in the areas of tools used in project for mapping

• An increase of 63% in the reading of topography map

• An increase of 75% in the use of compass

• An increase of 68% in the GIS/GPS application use

• An increase of 82% in the use of GPS unit

• An increase of 90% in the use of GIS software

Tribal 4-H Planning Committee
Northern District CES Agents, State Specialists and the District Director have met with Native American Tribal leaders/youth representatives on several occasions to discuss the need of increasing the number of Native American Youth in 4-H. Discussion centered around cultural awareness, protocol among the various Nations, and the lack of involvement of Native American youth and adults in traditional 4-H programs. Tribal representatives also suggested that traditional Native American crafts become 4-H projects added to the current projects list. Currently Mckinley County has several active 4-H clubs on the Navajo and Zuni Reservations.

550 students from the 4th and 5th grades attended the second Water Feastival at Gallup Junior High School. This was a two day event held in May of 2007. The event centered around water conservation use in recreation, personal, and work related issues. The title of our presentation was "Water Works" and the objectives were to illustrate the interdependence among water producers and users. The students were able to distinguish between direct and indirect uses of water and demonstrate the complexity of resolving water shortages among interdependent community water users. They also learned the difference between ground water and surface water through an activity conducted by the 4-H agent and Home Economist. Various agencies also presented simular activities and shared information on water conservation with the students. The day was very successful each presentation was 40 minutes long.