Join us for the second half of our interview with Extension Program Coordinator Sara Seyfert about her work with her Emerging Leaders Program. Learn more about how the program works and who it reaches, what types of events the group helps support, and how she uses youth voice to make choices in her county! Hear about some cool events their county runs including "Meet the Projects" and "Welcome to the Fair" and get Sara's take on how to help start or reinvigorate your local leadership program.
Creators & Guests
Host
Amy Henschen
Senior Program Lead, Positive Youth Development
Host
Henry Craft
4-H Youth Development Educator
Host
Ryan Littlejohn
4-H Extension Program Coordinator
What is Behind the Clover: Real 4-H Talk with Real 4-H Pros?
Join us each month as we invite experienced staff from Illinois 4-H and beyond to share their stories, experiences, and insights about the world of 4-H.
This is Behind the Clover, Real 4-H Talk with Real 4-H Pros. A look at 4-H from the perspectives of 4-H h professionals from Illinois and beyond with your hosts, Henry Craft, Amy Henschen, and Ryan Littlejohn.
Ryan Littlejohn:Welcome to another episode of Behind the Clover. I'm Ryan, and I'm here with my co-hosts, Henry and Amy. Today, we're continuing our conversation with Sarah Seyfert about youth leadership.
Amy Henschen:Sarah, first question. How many kids do you have in this program?
Sara Seyfert:So it is open to anyone in eighth grade or older. You can help out with Cloverbud Camp once you've finished seventh grade just to get an idea of what it's like. It depends on the day. You know, Cloverbud Camp, we have 30 kids who will show up to teach and lead groups or more, but just kind of depends, and that's what's kinda nice about it is that it's flexible.
Sara Seyfert:So we have anywhere between thirty and forty. Does everybody come to every meeting? Absolutely not. I mean, some kids come to some of it, and some are like, hey, I'll see you at Cloverbud Camp.
Sara Seyfert:And, okay, that's fine. What fits in your schedule?
Amy Henschen:Well and that's the other thing I wanted to ask is so, like, let's talk traditionally. You've mentioned Federation. So for anyone who's listening who maybe not is not familiar with Federation, so a number of our counties, one of our standard, like, leadership team opportunities has been a thing called Federation. We also have another thing called Ambassadors. They're a little bit different.
Amy Henschen:But, essentially, they would meet in person at an office with staff and, like, plan to do things. And they'd meet on a regular basis, and then do the things they plan to do. So, like, how have you broken that model? Or because you do have these big drive times? Like, are you guys meeting virtually?
Amy Henschen:Are you meeting in person? How often are like, I'm just curious kinda how that logistics work with this new model you're kinda working through.
Sara Seyfert:So we usually send out polls like, "Hey, we are going to do various times". "Hey, "If I do it on this Saturday, who all can make it this day?" Or we try to make sure that we do our meetings, and we don't really do a ton of meetings.
Sara Seyfert:We just don't. We do planning sessions, and we usually do the next planning session before the current workshop. So for example, we have what's called Meet the Projects. So a lot of kids come in. They set up little booths.
Sara Seyfert:It's it looks like a science fair. You know, you've got all these tables set up with kids. Here. Try this project. And you walk around and you talk to the kids about, you know, what is this project like?
Sara Seyfert:So for, computer science or fishing, you know, there's the cutest kid ever, and he sits at the table with his homemade lure set that he created, and he talks about the fishing project and what has gone well and why you should do the fishing project. Love that. So we will do, like, a planning meeting before Meet the Project starts because a lot of the kids who are willing to do Meet the Projects are also in Emerging Leaders. And I asked all the leader the the volunteers, the leaders of the individual clubs, "Hey. If I have a kid doing the doing Meet the Projects, they're gonna give a talk on their project probably anywhere from, you know, 12 to 20 times or more.
Sara Seyfert:Do they really need to give another talk at a meeting? Can this count?" So, we have a lot of volunteers for Meet the Projects because these kids will get their, you know, meeting talk done by end of September before the year even really gets going.
Amy Henschen:You you have you essentially plan events as this group, and then you really have meetings just like, okay whoever's helping at this event, we have our meeting to get this event in gear. And then, like, for the next event, different people might be meeting because they can go.
Sara Seyfert:Yeah.
Amy Henschen:Very cool. And I wanna come to your project day. That sounds so fun.
Ryan Littlejohn:Sarah, can you explain a little bit on how you come up with the different project workshops? Do the kids bring these ideas to you? Do you have a list of, like, most popular projects? Kinda what does that planning process look like? And what are your steps to get there where these kids take on leadership roles throughout it?
Sara Seyfert:So one of the things we talked about with all the kids was, hey. In the next five to ten years, you will be the next generation of 4-H leaders. You're gonna be the next set of 4-H adults. In the next, hopefully, fifteen to potentially twenty years or twenty five, you're going to be the next set of 4-H parents. So that being said, when you say something like that to a 16 and 17 year old, just the look on their face of, oh, ma'am, I I just came for some snacks and to hang out with some, like, little kids because you told me it would be fun, and now you're laying, like, these life thoughts on me.
Sara Seyfert:That's a lot. But it's also kinda cool to see them go, oh, yeah. That's a real thing that's gonna happen someday. And so the big push has always been, what do you wish four h had looked like for you when you were eight and nine years old? What do you wish it looked for it looked like for you now at, you know, 14 to 18?
Sara Seyfert:And what do you hope it looks like in five years? So those are kind of the conversations that we have to get their thoughts flowing, and that's actually how we came up with. We. I say we. It's all the kids. I'm just there to facilitate a conversation.
Sara Seyfert:But that's how the kids talked about how they want to do Welcome to the Fair. So the weekend before the fair starts, they want to be in barns and give tours to early livestock kids. So that way they can say, okay. Here's where the wash racks are. Your family's pens are over here.
Sara Seyfert:This is the best way to get to the wash racks. This is the best way to then get into the show ring, those types of things. You know, that came from the question of what do you wish 4-H had looked like when you were eight? You know? So another thing that we've done is just put up polls around, different events.
Sara Seyfert:Like, hey, here's some project areas. What would you like to learn more about? And kids kind of put stars on it and mark it and, kind of vote. And then I take that back to the Emerging Leaders. I'm like, hey.
Sara Seyfert:People wanna see stuff like this. Is anyone interested in talking about it? Like, hey. You, my friend, do this project. You do it well, and kids are interested in learning more about it.
Sara Seyfert:Would you wanna share your experiences with it? So that's kind of the gist of it, you know? Hey, you're really good at this kiddo. You should share this.
Henry Craft:I actually, I actually had a, a supervisor who called that launching. So when they when you kind of really infused the kid with that confidence and identified in them, something that they're doing really well and said, hey. Yeah. You should be put you should be putting this out there other people, and you just are lifting them. She said it was a launch because you're really you're really thrusting them into the leadership position, so a lot of people, I mean, I I find this quite commonly with our teenage youth.
Henry Craft:They're losing more and more confidence, and 4-H kids are far and ahead of the confidence game. But as leaders, I I think that's really something very important is if we're thinking and focusing on launching a kid into the stratosphere of potential is really what the the origin was. So I that's one comment. All that to say, man, I really think it's really cool what you're doing for, to catch that older audience's attention because I think that's something that all all counties, all states throughout the nation are are thinking through critically. And so, I give you kudos for really thinking through what's what sort of offerings, because I guess, I mean, it's a hard thing to think through and put yourself into a kid's shoes and offer them all the creative things that you did.
Henry Craft:So I think that's awesome. Well done. I think that's something definitely that we should all be mimicking to, try to get some of those leader groups just back together because, I mean, after COVID, it it took a bit of a dive. And, you know, I know we've been trying in our unit to do some more teen and leadership type things, and a lot of times our kids that are involved with 4-H are the ones that are, like you said, ultra involved and ultra tapped for time, and I think it really does take intentional effort to say this is what sets this apart, what we can offer you, because it is it's kind of a business transaction. If you want their time, you have to offer them something.
Henry Craft:So I I love that. I would, kudos to you and to unit thirteen doing all that. So well done.
Sara Seyfert:One of the things we do, though, is make sure that the kids know that these opportunities, these small opportunities they're taking right now. Right? So photography three is 16 years old. She taught a photography one workshop. My hope is that when she is, you know, 19 or 20, she wants to do a SPIN club for photography.
Sara Seyfert:And that's something that we've really talked with the kids about. We're actually going to do a food preservation workshop in a couple of months. And so there's two kiddos who are just they love canning. It's their jam, literally. So everybody that comes to this workshop, they're gonna learn how to make strawberry jam, and they'll take it home that day.
Sara Seyfert:And what's nice about in the show guide is that there's a project area called food preservation combination. So you can make any combination of those food preservation, projects. So they'll have one where it's, you know, canned jams and jellies. And then if they get home and their adult, it's like, no. We're no.
Sara Seyfert:This is not a thing in our house as in what I will be saying if my kid comes home from this. Like, no. We don't can here. That's not a thing we're good at. I can do a lot of things.
Sara Seyfert:Canning is not one of them. But you can do drying. Right? So we're gonna talk at that workshop also about how to make banana and apple chips in the oven. So just, you know, making sure that when we're doing these workshops, it's not just what's happening in this one piece, but what happens when kids go home.
Sara Seyfert:But the joke is and I, I tell the kids I'm joking, but I don't think they believe me, which is good because I'm not. As soon as you turn 19, we fill out your volunteer paperwork, and we start the process. Right? Because, they're they're the next generation of leaders, and they're the next generation of what happens. And I can see a lot of these kiddos, maybe going back and still working with their community their traditional community clubs, but I also think that we're gonna start to see more SPIN club type opportunities coming in the next couple of years.
Sara Seyfert:It it's just kind of the way things are moving. You know? You find something that you really love. So let me do this for a maybe a shorter period of time, and that was a cool experience. And then, oh, now it's softball season, so I can go off to that. So I think that's gonna be something really interesting to look for in the next couple of years with these kids.
Ryan Littlejohn:Sarah, I'm interested in your Emerging Leaders. How do they participate in a county level outside of putting on workshops? Like, do they have specific roles that they help you with at fair and or, like, awards nights or different things like that?
Sara Seyfert:So our kids really it's they get what they put into it. You know? So what you're willing to give us, if you're able to say, hey. Look. I am in four sports.
Sara Seyfert:I am in three other activities at school, and I live forty five minutes away. Can you zoom me in for the Cloverbud camp planning meeting? And I will give you that entire day for my summer. And that's what I can give you. Deal. I'll take it.
Sara Seyfert:And you know, you love working with little kids. You can be a group leader. We'll do that. But as far as rules are such, it's really, again, whatever the kids are able to do. The one thing we do ask is that they com they commit to Cloverbud Camp if possible.
Sara Seyfert:Because I mean, we're inviting up to 90 five to seven year olds. We need a lot of people to help out with that. So that's kinda like the one thing. And, honestly, it's its own club. So if, you know, you've got friends at school who are like, you know, I like the idea of 4-H .
Sara Seyfert:I just don't think I can commit to something as hardcore as, you know, a monthly meeting or extra meetings or projects, all these things. Okay. Come be part of the Emerging Leaders. You don't, it's a SPIN club, essentially, so you don't have to be in a community club. You can just come do this.
Sara Seyfert:And if this is what you are into, you know, service and sharing and teaching, awesome. We've got stuff for you.
Ryan Littlejohn:So leadership is an important skill for our young youth to have. How do you think 4-H prepares youth to be leaders in their lives and communities?
Sara Seyfert:So, really, it it's a nationwide issue. It's a statewide issue. People are leaving small communities in droves. You know? I joke about this.
Sara Seyfert:I was in a high school class of 36, and there are still 20 of us out of 36 that are within forty minutes of our hometown, which is really unusual for this day and age. I mean, I'm gonna be 40 pretty soon, but, you know, for an entire chunk of a generation to be there. So what we look at, I think, with 4-H is really just preparing kids to take pride in their local communities. Because when you give someone an opportunity to be a leader, to make a difference, to be an important part, to be valid, to be seen here in your home area or where you grew up. And that might not happen for everyone.
Sara Seyfert:But when you're able to do that, it gives people a hope and an opportunity to want to come back, to want to stay. And, hey. You know? I know the folks who run the local drive in, and they're not gonna wanna run it forever. So maybe someday I'll come back and I'll have my own business here in town because there'll still be a need there for a drive in.
Sara Seyfert:You know, there'll still be a need for postal workers here in our small town. There'll still be a need for, someone to run the gas station, for someone to run the stores here, you know, all all those things. And I think when you give opportunities to be a leader at a young age, you're more likely to wanna stick around and continue that leadership or more likely to wanna come back and put back into the community that put into you.
Amy Henschen:I love that. You're you're really building connection. And, like, that's such such a human need that I think we've lost slowly over the course of time. And when you don't feel connection to your local community, it's easy to leave. Right?
Amy Henschen:You don't see yourself in that as an integral part of that place. So I love that you're kind of connecting kids with people and opportunities and just like that each other, to to just know that they have a place there and making them feel welcome. That's such a like, I love that you're thinking that through as part of this, like, logic behind these opportunities. I think that's really something powerful. And and, really, it is a serious issue, in Illinois when you look at the, like, where did what counties saw people leave and which counties grew?
Amy Henschen:A lot of our smaller counties or with smaller towns, like, lost people, and, we want we want those to be vibrant communities going forward. That's certainly something the Extension's really passionate about and is in our strategic plan. So I love that we're setting kids up, for success with that with these leadership skills.
Henry Craft:So, Sarah, I mean, we talked we talked in length about your emerging leaders program, which, I think that's, again, I've said it on record before in this podcast. I think it's great, and and super, super cool to see all that growth happening. But beyond the Emerging Leaders program, what other 4-H opportunities do you see that help prepare youth to be the leaders of tomorrow?
Sara Seyfert:I am such a general project, like, go for it. You know, I'm a huge, huge advocate for general projects. That's why so many of our workshops are about different general projects, but I'm also a show mom. My kids show swine. There are pigs in a barn outside of my home somewhere.
Sara Seyfert:I make it a point not to go out to that barn if possible ever. You know, usually in June, I'm like, oh, what do we got out there? I just don't like to know. I don't wanna know. Because then that involves, you know, all these other things that my husband did with the kids and, hey.
Sara Seyfert:I want this kind of pig, and I just I don't wanna deal with that. I gotta be honest. Those livestock kids, right? They know what's up. There's so much responsibility that goes with livestock. But I really do think that the same things can be said for so many of the general projects too.
Sara Seyfert:You know, just putting yourself out there in order to, you know, to do a clothing project, you really have to do a lot of thought. And there's a lot of responsibility there to go through these pieces and to be willing to go and talk to someone who's been doing it most of their life, you know, to say, hey. Here's something that I've done. I created this, and I'm gonna put it out in the world for someone else to see. But I'm also gonna talk about it with you.
Sara Seyfert:I'm going to you know, conference judging, I think that's a huge preparation for how to be what's next, you know, as a kid. My dad was a high school English teacher. He's retired now. But he said he could always tell who the 4-H and FFA kids were because they were better public speakers by the time they got to his senior communications class. They were just the kids who were more comfortable speaking in front of people.
Sara Seyfert:And that's not, I mean, 100% for everyone. But I think when you have those opportunities to talk to other adults to really work through and fail. Right? I mean, Ryan believes in red ribbons. I don't.
Sara Seyfert:I will go on record saying I do not believe in red ribbon. I really don't believe in white ribbons unless you're handing them to unruly adults. But, red ribbons are really you have to hit some real weird levels to be able to get a red ribbon. But, I really just think that just opportunities to put yourself out there and to work through that, to work through successes, to work through failures, just in general, just with a project, that really gives you an opportunity to be a leader for what's next because maybe you're gonna be willing to share that journey of failures and success.
Amy Henschen:Sara, I gotta ask, is there any, like, cool other, like, unit events you see people going to or state events that you're also like, oh, rah rah. I think this has been really good for the kids in my unit or my counties. Just curious from a leadership perspective or, like, like, competitions that you've seen them really thrive from participating in.
Sara Seyfert:I love when I hear about our local kids going to, like, state events. We have a few kiddos in our counties in our unit. They did really well at the Junior livestock Competition. I think there were some kids who from the Champaign County Livestock. I think some of those kids actually live in Ford County, but they hang out with Dan down there in Champaign.
Sara Seyfert:They've done really well. And you just see, like, kids who are so excited about public speaking, kids who go to the state dog obedience show. That's so cool. Like, so there's just some really cool opportunities to get out there at a state level, and I just think that's fun to see.
Amy Henschen:So I have one other completely unplanned question. You're in the unit where our university , our land grant university is located. Do you find that that's, like, a burden or a boon for your your kids? Because, like, I know some people who are way downstate or way upstate or way in the Northwest corner are just, like, so many of these things are not really accessible to me because they're not close. But I wonder if you're, like, not in the county that they're in, but you're kinda close if that, like, is good or bad or both.
Amy Henschen:I'm just curious.
Sara Seyfert:The answer is yes. It is a boon and a burden. You know, because you have this thought in the back of your mind, like, we're the campus unit. We should be making, you know, partnerships and making sure that we're putting out as many opportunities as possible for kids. And we do that.
Sara Seyfert:We do that. And how cool is it, though, you know, when you say, like, the Illinois Skillathon that happens in November, that started because Molly Kipfer in, Champaign County at the time had some kids and some parents who were like, can we practice stuff? How do we put this together? And that was her baby. That was her brainchild, and she knocked it out of the park.
Sara Seyfert:It was amazing. We did a food science workshop series and working through, you know, like, the project manual of food science, and one of them that was about cooking with different flowers. So we took a group of kids to the Food Lab at campus, and we made the Bevier cookies with different types of flour. And the favorite response we got in, you know, we did a survey at the end. What did you learn today?
Sara Seyfert:It was, I learned that I don't like whole wheat cookies. It was awesome. But there's you know, it is really cool to be that close to these opportunities and to be able to call people and say, hey. Would you have maybe an hour one day where I could bring a group of kids and go through this area and learn more? And so that's that's a really cool thing to have.
Amy Henschen:Well, Sara, we want to channel your knowledge with this last question. So we know that there's people around the state who either one, like like, you came into your unit, like, their local program, leadership program like Federation or Ambassadors is defunct or on pause or in a lull. Or maybe they've never had one or just haven't had one for a long time. Or maybe they've been doing the same thing forever with their program, and it just doesn't feel fresh and maybe their numbers are, you know, dropping enrollment wise in their Federation or Ambassadors. So, like, if you're one of those people who's kind of looking to start or re reinvigorate their youth leadership program in their county, what kind of advice would you give those people?
Sara Seyfert:I would honestly say talk to the kids. Talk to your kids. I know we always say the fair is not the only part of 4-H , but it's a big piece and or it can be a big piece. So if you are, you know, walking through your exhibit building and you see older kids, talk to them about it. Ask your leaders for suggestions of kids to talk to.
Sara Seyfert:Be like, hey. Run me through. Or if you, to be fair, I live in the counties that I serve and I'm I've been a lifer here. Well, most of my life, I've been here in my home county. So I know these kids.
Sara Seyfert:I know the area. So that helps me to have more relationships with the families, with the 4-H members themselves, the leaders, that kind of thing. So just talk to people. Don't be afraid to do it in person. Blanket emails are great if you get a response.
Sara Seyfert:But I don't know about you guys across the state, but when I get said, well, I had no idea that this was happening. I'm like, ma'am, I checked the last three newsletters we sent out, and you didn't open a single one. I don't know what else to do. You know? Make the phone call, make the in person visit, not always comfortable.
Sara Seyfert:It's not. But I think if you can embrace that little bit of inner ridiculousness, it's just you can make it fun. And, but really just just talk to the kids, see what they want, see what they're willing to do and ask that question. Hey, what do you wish 4-H had looked like when you were eight? What do you want 4-H to look like for you now at 16?
Sara Seyfert:What do you hope it looks like for your eight year old someday? And I think those are the questions that really, again, the they'll freak out a teenager for a second, but then when they really start to put some thought into it, you get some really cool impressive stuff that comes out of our teens who are just they wanna be leaders. They just need an opportunity.
Amy Henschen:Well, Sara, I love everything you've told us today. I think you came in with, like, not afraid to make change. And I think that's the thing that ties to this. Like, you gotta talk to people. Right?
Amy Henschen:But, like, also don't be afraid because we've been doing this the same way forever that you have to keep doing it. Because, like, again, if you talk to your constituents, those youth, those families, they might tell you that they need something totally different than what we've been doing. So I love that you came in and brought that fresh perspective. And you have brought so much fresh energy and ideas to us today, and we're so happy that you were able to join us. I think a lot of people are gonna have some, questions for you about Emerging Leaders and and, like, you know, thinking outside of the box to work within kids' schedules because I think a lot of the things that your youth in your community identified as, like, challenges and issues and things they'd like to see, will be ones that are pretty universal across the state.
Amy Henschen:So I love that you shared those with us. But great advice for our staff out in the field, and we've just been, it's been a delight talking to you. So thank you everyone for joining us for this episode of Behind the Clover. Join us next time for more real conversations with real 4-H pros. Listeners, we need you.
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