Join us as we meet Tiffany Cervantes, 4-H Extension Program Coordinator for Clark, Crawford, and Edgar counties, and learn about the iDREAM and iCREATE program and the opportunities it brings to the youth. Get the scoop on the best ice cream and where we can be found competing in the next Olympic games.
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
Amy Henschen:perspectives of 4-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 cohost, Amy and Henry. We're back for more illuminating conversations with Illinois 4-H staff. Today, we're continuing our transition series by talking with Tiffany Cervantes, an EPC and former support staff member in unit twenty. We'll introduce you to her more formally in a bit, but first, we invite her to participate in our spitball round, kicks off now.
Ryan Littlejohn:So what's going on in your lives right now, folks? And, Henry, I wanna know what you've been up to because I've heard some pretty cool things.
Henry Craft:Listen. I have been doing some pretty cool things, and I just got back from Dallas, Texas with the national four h, food challenge competition, and we had some folks from the unit seventeen go down and compete. And they they represented us well. I was really proud of them. It was 93 degrees, and they were all dressed to the nines.
Henry Craft:And, yeah, it was it was nuts, but, they got a johote squash, if you've ever heard of that. It's it looks like a pear or an avocado, but, it's not. It's a squash. So feel free. Go look it up.
Henry Craft:It was a very challenging competition, but we had 15 teams from across the nation, and everybody brought their a game. And it was a lot of fun. I got to go down there with a fellow educator and some say state staff member, and we got to one of the really cool things. We got to walk around the state fair of Texas because they don't call it the Texas state fair. It's the state fair of Texas.
Henry Craft:And we were, like, the only non personnel, like, that worked at the fair, and we were just we got the whole place to ourselves. Got to see big ticks. If you've ever seen big ticks, he's their mascot, which listen. I think Illinois needs to get our own mascot. I don't know what it should be.
Henry Craft:I'll take your recommendations, and we'll make it happen. No. But it's like this hundred foot not a hundred feet, 40 foot tall statue of a cowboy named Big Ticks. And they got merch for days about it, and he waves and, know, howdy, folks. So it was it was a very, very classic Texas, and we had a great time.
Henry Craft:So that's some of the stuff that's going on with me and, yeah, just living the dream. Amy, what you got going on?
Amy Henschen:Well, I'm getting ready for our big national four h staff professional conference in Boise, Idaho, which is coming up in about a week. I'm a little behind because I'm presenting a poster and I need to send it to the printer. So that's my job today is trying to get my poster to look pretty. So everything's in it and I just need to make it look nice. And I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to things looking nice.
Amy Henschen:So I'm sure this is gonna take me more time than I want it to. But I'm working on that and just really excited to be wrapping up all of our big PD events from September and getting ready for some other ones in October. So it's just been kinda hectic in my life, but excited to take I took a couple days off, to go visit a friend in Utah after all team meeting, and I'm taking a few days in the beginning of this conference to go look around Idaho a little bit. So I think that's always nice if you have the opportunity to tack on a few days to decompress prior to or after a meeting to take advantage. So that's kind of what I've got going on.
Ryan Littlejohn:Are you going to visit a potato farm?
Amy Henschen:I don't think it's on the, like, event schedule to visit a potato farm. I've driven through potato country in Idaho. It's not the most exciting part of the state. They also have, you know, like mountains and rivers and waterfalls, and that's more my speed. I used to live in potato country in Colorado.
Amy Henschen:So, like, I don't need to go to no potato farm. I've already been to potato farms. Well, that's it for me. Tiffany, welcome. What have you got going on in your life?
Tiffany Cervantes:Well, on top of having a high school senior and going through the whole college process right now that has been insane, it's been an experience. Also, work wise, we're getting back into the classrooms with I Dream, I Create, which I'm really excited to talk about. And then I've got some etiquette next week that I'm looking forward to with the eighth graders. Yeah. It's a lot of fun.
Tiffany Cervantes:We do it for a couple different schools in our counties. And, basically, the high schoolers come in and put together a lunch for everyone. And then the eighth graders come in, and we, bring in community members to sit and talk with them and ask some questions throughout the luncheon. We go over etiquette, of course, talk over some slides, give them some cues on conversations to have at the table with the community members. And it's just it's a really good experience for everyone, and I think they look forward to it every year.
Amy Henschen:That sounds amazing. I love that it's not just, like, talk to other kids. It's like you're making it a community event. So you're kind of having them test their skills with actual the general public. I love that.
Tiffany Cervantes:Oh, yeah. 100%. And just getting them comfortable with making eye contact and shaking hands and just getting comfortable with talking to community members and seeing them at their school or in the community so that they can say, like, hey. It was great to see you again. I met you at our etiquette luncheon.
Tiffany Cervantes:So, yeah, they really look forward to it and take a lot away from it.
Henry Craft:So it's kinda like a mashup between, like, some ready for work stuff. It sounds like you're doing some professionalism in there. Oh, that's interesting. We did we did one when I was in grade school very similarly, and then I didn't see it anymore. So I'm really I'm happy to hear you're still kinda doing it.
Henry Craft:That's fun. What's the craziest etiquette that no one knows? I feel like scooping your soup away from you is one. That's totally a thing. You're supposed to scoop soup away from you, and I didn't know until we had some in-depth conversations about etiquette.
Tiffany Cervantes:Yeah. That I would say that that's the one that definitely gets them the most and just not really getting the point across that you may enjoy the food, but you don't want to make a ton of noise when eating, you know, no slurping or anything like that. And then also just make sure you don't start eating until everyone has their food. And also start by addressing the older person in the conversation first. I think that's another good reminder for them.
Amy Henschen:Well, Ryan, what have you been up to?
Ryan Littlejohn:Oh, man. There's so much going on. It's the beginning of the four h year for me. So I've done enrollments are starting to come in, getting the information out to, like, different community partners at what four h is, how to enroll, just doing those types of things. And then on top of all that, you know, planning fall workshops for kids, grading record books as they come in, my experience awards.
Ryan Littlejohn:I had over 50 kids turn in records this year, which the number is up by 20 kids, which was great.
Amy Henschen:Ryan, how did okay. What was the secret to getting that many more award applicants this year? Did you do something different?
Ryan Littlejohn:I made it easy. I made, like, a membership pin application where they basically just have to do checkboxes, put some dates and the events, and then they can use that membership PIN to fill out their experience award. It kinda helps to remember what they've done throughout the year. But I also sent my record books out the start of the four h year with updated award applications so kids filled them out continuously through the year and not just all at the end. And I think that's helped a lot because the kids don't feel like they're stressed and rushed to do it within the four week time frame that we give them from after fair to turn them in.
Amy Henschen:Love that. Can't wait for you to share that with more people at maybe an upcoming EPC new EPC call. Like, I'm always looking for ways to help other people make their life easier. So awesome.
Henry Craft:Leave it to Ryan to bring out the new cool stuff. Well done and thought through. Good job, Ryan. Speaking of thinking through stuff, as usual, we do have very important topics and we are we're gonna toss around another. Again, I say this every time, but very important.
Henry Craft:What is the best ice cream flavor? And not don't just tell us what it is, but tell us why. And first up, I'm gonna throw the ball to Amy. Let's go. What's your favorite?
Amy Henschen:Well, I am uppity about ice cream because I like artisanal crazy town flavors. I mean, I'll I'll eat a quality just like standard chocolate or whatever if that's all you got. But if I can get some, like, locally grown crazy flavor combinations, I'm all in. I went to college in Ohio, which I think has some of the best ice cream chains, like local ice cream chains in the country. And I'm a big proponent of Jenny's ice creams out of Columbus.
Amy Henschen:There are some locations in Illinois, and they have really cool flavor combinations. And my top two, I could probably pick one if I needed to. They have one that's biscuit. Okay. Peach jam biscuits and sweet cream, which is just like heaven in a dish.
Amy Henschen:And then they also my longtime favorite, which is not currently available, is goat cheese and roasted red cherries. It's like this, like, sharp cheesecake y flavor with cherries, and it's like just heaven. But I tend to go for the fruit flavors. Just love me a good good ice cream. So those are mine.
Amy Henschen:But, like, I'm curious what you guys are thinking. Ryan, do you have a favorite flavor and why?
Ryan Littlejohn:So this is probably the hardest question for me that we've had so far because I'm a huge ice cream person. I have to have a bowl before I go to bed. And Southern Illinois has, like, a lot of hometown ice cream shops. Like, I'm gonna name drop one in Wayne City, Sweetie's. They have a homemade peanut butter sauce that is unique to that restaurant.
Ryan Littlejohn:No one else has the recipe. The owner won't give it out. People have tried buying it from her. She's like, no way. Like that, I know it's not an ice cream, but that's good.
Ryan Littlejohn:But my favorite flavor, probably besides purple cow at K State, which is a blueberry ice cream, is gonna be root beer. I worked at a dairy as an internship in college, and they made root beer ice cream and peach ice cream and pina colada ice cream, different things like that. And you could take it home and put it in your homemade ice cream maker and make homemade ice cream out of those flavors. So you get the deliciousness of homemade ice cream with a wonderful flavor. Tiffany, what about you?
Tiffany Cervantes:So mine is going to be the standard Ben and Jerry's Netflix and chilled, I think. Peanut butter, fudge, pretzels. So it's got that sweet and salty kind of mix. That's just what gets me excited. I love that sweet and salty mix, man.
Tiffany Cervantes:It's good stuff.
Henry Craft:Listen. Listening to you guys, I feel like I need a budget to get a, like, a goat cheese and cherry. Like, what? That is that is some fancy ice cream. And I must be basic as they come because mine's all about the toppings.
Henry Craft:Right? So you just give me a a solid, I hate to say it, vanilla or, like, because it's super basic. Right? Or or even a chocolate. I I probably prefer a chocolate if it was more plain, but I need, like, chocolate sauce, maybe some melted peanut butter to drizzle over the top.
Henry Craft:But, yeah, the artisanal stuff, you just never know what you're getting. And I'm not adventurous enough for that. I I I respect it. Don't get me wrong. I know you're surprised, but I just all I hear I just came from the State Fair of Texas.
Henry Craft:Everything's a thousand dollars. Like, literally, you buy an ice cream, it's, like, $50. But but, yeah, that's that's hilarious. I love it. So, yeah, chocolate for me, though.
Amy Henschen:Okay. Here's my note, though, about fancy ice creams. If you're gonna overcharge me for ice cream, you're gonna give me a free sample of any flavor I want so I can decide if I really want it. So Jenny's does that quite a few of the, like, weird flavor combination places. It'll give you the tiny tasting spoons so you can be sure you're making a good choice.
Amy Henschen:And I'm totally guilty. I'm a crazy person. And I follow them on Instagram. And I'm like, new fall flavors. So I'll literally go and try all four new fall flavors.
Amy Henschen:And then I'll end up most of the time just getting the normal
Tiffany Cervantes:thing that I always order. Like,
Amy Henschen:oh, those were good, but I want what I want.
Henry Craft:Actually, I will say if we're giving shout outs for local ice cream joints, Clinton, Illinois has I mean, there's a schoolmate of mine. She opened a shop called Sweet Maze. And honestly, they do have some of the best ice cream. And I think they source it from Wisconsin, and there's some I don't know if it's artisanal, but it is high end and it's like the the cream content is way higher and it is just delicious. So not much of a debate today because, I mean, how can you disagree on ice cream?
Henry Craft:I mean, ice cream is just good because I'd still eat goat cheese and cherries, let's be real, or root beer. But, you know, everybody's got their own. Don't yuck don't yuck yums on the ice cream. Right?
Amy Henschen:Well, now that we know the answer to that very important question, I think we should get into getting to know our guests today. So Tiffany Cervantes hails from beautiful San Diego, California, but she moved to rural Illinois where she settled in Marshall. She currently works as an extension program coordinator in Unit 20, which is Clark, Crawford, and Edgar Counties. And in that role, she focuses on college and career readiness and leadership. So prior to becoming an EPC, Tiffany served as office support where she assisted with four h enrollment and fairs.
Amy Henschen:Welcome, Tiffany. We're excited you're here. And you gave us a little info so we could give you a little intro, but we wanna know. Tell us a little bit more yourself and how you got started with four h and with Illinois Extension.
Tiffany Cervantes:Well, thank you for having me. I started in 02/2013 in an office support role. Had never worked in office support before. Was very unfamiliar with extension and definitely with four h. So applied, got the position after months of waiting.
Tiffany Cervantes:That's when it was a long hiring process, and you'd wait forever to figure out what was going on. And right away, I got dived right into four h and learned all about it. Growing up, we did have a four h program at my school, but it was basically just a horse and maybe a cow, and that was the extent of it. So got my kids enrolled in four h and just kinda took off from there. And in my role as office support, I kinda learned all the back end stuff of four h and all the enrollment fun and just really, really enjoyed it.
Henry Craft:Now, Tiffany, I gotta know. Like, San Diego to Unit 20.
Tiffany Cervantes:I know. Right? Crazy.
Henry Craft:I feel like I need to tease out a little bit more of the impetus for that move. Yeah. That's a big one. I was like, I
Tiffany Cervantes:guess Yeah. Basically, just it was the cost of living in California was insane, and it's gotten significantly higher since then. So we had some family here that had suggested moving here and just said it was a great area to raise your family. And so we came out here and fell in love with it instantly. And four kids later, here we are fifteen years later.
Henry Craft:Remind me, Unit 20. Forgive me for my ignorance. The counties, and then where are you, like, on the daily?
Tiffany Cervantes:So my home office is in Clark County, so Marshall, Illinois. And then I also cover Crawford, which would be like a Robinson area, and then Edgar, which would be Paris area. So I work all three counties, which is unique for my for my role. But my as I said, my home office is in Marshall.
Amy Henschen:And, Tiffany, like, if you can explain where this is in the state. Sometimes you might be going into Indiana, right, for some of bigger for the closest city. Big city might be actually not in Illinois. Correct?
Tiffany Cervantes:Correct. Yes. Yes. So we are about, twenty minutes from the Indiana border, from Terre Haute, Indiana. And, actually, we are looking to do, kind of, like, a college tour of some schools in that area in the spring because we do have, Saint Mary of the Woods College, Indiana State University, Ivy Tech, and there's a couple other that we wanna stop by and visit.
Tiffany Cervantes:So yeah.
Ryan Littlejohn:So, Tiffany, when you're not working, what are some things you like to do in your free time or decompress from your job? Obviously, it's not San Diego, so you can't go to the beach or anything like that. But maybe you do. Maybe you go back to the beach.
Tiffany Cervantes:Usually, every summer, we do go home. We did not this year, So we'll be doing some of that after the kid graduates, oldest graduates. We'll definitely be good hitting up Chicago and then going back out to San Diego for a few weeks. But the beach is 100% my most favorite way to decompress, so I miss the beach a little bit right now. But I do a lot of reading in my free time.
Tiffany Cervantes:Knitting, I enjoy knitting a lot. Can't crochet to save my life, but knitting is fun. And then just basically following my kids around doing all the things that they're doing. You know? I got a 18 year old, 16 year old, and 13 year old twins, so they're all in four h and sports.
Tiffany Cervantes:So just running around after them.
Henry Craft:But let's transition slightly. So we are we're close. We had an Olympic year this year. Not too long ago, we ended, and we wanna know if you were forced to compete in absolutely any Olympic sports, which one would you choose and why?
Tiffany Cervantes:Okay. Yesterday, I had my break dancing pants on, so I feel like I should have been doing that yesterday. Could have been doing some moves on the floor, squeaking around. But I also really like swimming, so I'd like to think that I could do synchronized swimming. Don't know if I could hold my breath that long, but it'd be kind of cool if I could pull that off with a sweet team.
Tiffany Cervantes:I don't know.
Henry Craft:I feel like breakdancing just became pop culture all of a sudden, like, again with this with the gal from Australia. Like, oh my gosh. That's hilarious. So good to hear that you're up on all the current Olympic controvert controversy out there. So that's funny.
Henry Craft:Who else? What else what other sports are out there? Anybody else got one to weigh in on?
Ryan Littlejohn:Water polo. I've thought long and hard about this one, and water polo is my go to because, you know, I'm so tall. And I I was a lifeguard for ten years. I I can tread water pretty good, And that's what you have to do. I mean, you have to tread water and swim throughout water polo.
Ryan Littlejohn:And if I was a goalie, I could just reach up and touch the top of the goal. So I think that's where I would thrive.
Amy Henschen:I mean, I think you gotta go with the four h adjacent events, which is the shooting sports. So we I mean, like, we prepare kids. We've had kids that were four h compete in the Olympics. I'm a certified archer instructor. I would get my butt kicked by those Olympians.
Amy Henschen:But I gotta say, I don't know if any of you guys are watching. The shooting people who were shooting, I don't know if they were air rifles or air pistols, those people looked the coolest of anyone at the Olympics. They had, like, cool stances, cool looks, cool equipment. Just thought that they brought the vibe. And I was like, that's pretty rad.
Amy Henschen:I wanna look like these peeps.
Henry Craft:That's awesome. I don't know. I'm probably the broom guy on a curling team. I don't know. I'm not all that athletic.
Henry Craft:So, yeah, that that's probably where I'd be.
Amy Henschen:Maybe we can get a, you know, a staff team together on one of these events and and see what we can do. I like it. Alright. Tiffany, back to it. We're gonna turn off the silly and turn on the real questions.
Amy Henschen:We wanna know, do you have a favorite story or experience from your time working in extension or four h?
Tiffany Cervantes:I think just getting to connect with the community. Know, getting to meet everyone in the schools, I think, has been super beneficial, and just making that connection with the youth. With this role, you know, they've gotten used to seeing my face. And so when they see me in the community, they're like, hey, Tiffany. How's it going?
Tiffany Cervantes:How's life? You know, they check-in with me. Let me know, like, how their portfolios are going, what they've got going on, if they're looking at applying to schools, if they're, you working on community service. So just being able to connect with them and talk to them about what they have going on in their lives and how that pertains to four h or to their school experience is super beneficial to me. I enjoy it.
Amy Henschen:That's awesome. And we'll hear more about, like, why you connect with so many people and a little bit with some other questions. But, like, I gotta think living in, like, smaller town Illinois too probably also helps because there's less people. So you're probably running into a lot of the people you you see in school or see in programming. You're more likely to run into them when there's less people around.
Amy Henschen:Right?
Tiffany Cervantes:100%. Yes. This is a very rural community. So, yes, less than 3,500 people, I would say. So yeah.
Ryan Littlejohn:So, Tiffany, as we've mentioned in your intro, you started working as an EPC in January of twenty twenty three. But before that, you worked as an office support staff member. So what was that transition like? Were there any surprises? Do you miss anything about your old role?
Tiffany Cervantes:So it was definitely a transition, I would say, because my role is so unique within four h. So when I started, it was kinda like what what does that role look like for us? But on the same end, it was kind of easy because I was still doing a lot of the same things that I was doing as office support. So preparing things for programs and, you know, typing up agendas and getting things ready for meetings. So it gave me that background that kinda made the transition easier.
Tiffany Cervantes:But, yes, there was lots of surprises where, oh, I didn't think about this or this should be something that I'm covering that we didn't think of for this position. So, yeah, it's it's definitely been a learning experience as we go along. And then do I miss anything about my old role? Probably just connecting with the HCE groups. Our HCE group is very, very small already, and it just continues to get smaller.
Tiffany Cervantes:So I'm disconnecting with them on a, you know, biweekly or a monthly basis. But I do still am able to catch up with them when they come in the door sometimes even if it's just for a few minutes. So I do enjoy that.
Amy Henschen:Can we just give a quick clarification for anyone who's listening who might not know what HCE is? Yes. I don't know if any of us remember the actual what this letter stand for. Tiffany, do you remember it? Or we we need to do a quick Google.
Tiffany Cervantes:It's a home extension group.
Henry Craft:I think it's home and consumer education.
Amy Henschen:Mhmm. And so it's community members who are interested in those topics who come and usually meet at our extension offices around the state. A lot of us call them the HCE ladies because generally speaking, most of the people who participate are cute old ladies. But that doesn't have to be the case. They're recruiting younger people.
Amy Henschen:But they're, like, a very visible presence at a lot of our county offices, so that's awesome that you got to interact with them in that support role.
Ryan Littlejohn:So I have to ask, do you miss having the set hours, or do you like the flexibility kind of the of the EPC job where you have things going on all the time and can work your schedule around that way?
Tiffany Cervantes:So there's some days that I miss the, you know, the eight to four thirty, twelve to one schedule, but I don't mind the evenings sometimes. I don't have a lot of weekends. Again, a lot of my stuff is done in the schools, So I don't have too many evenings, but I do I do like them. It's fun. I like the change in schedule.
Tiffany Cervantes:But, yes, the mundane being behind the computer all day can get a little little old and tedious, so I enjoy getting out and doing things in the schools.
Henry Craft:Well, very good. Okay. So I am a % intrigued by your position and even how it came about and just the programs that you're working on. So in case those of you that didn't hear it earlier or are familiar with Tiffany's work, she has a very unique position in the world of program coordinators. And so so if I understand this correctly, you don't necessarily support a specific county program.
Henry Craft:So, like, not necessarily Marshall, Clark County, things like that. But instead, you focus on supporting special programs within your unit, specifically iDream and iCreate. Can you tell me can you educate me on what this looks like? How did how did y'all in Unit 20 just decide that iDream and iCreate were gonna be an entire position? I'm so intrigued by this.
Henry Craft:Tell me
Tiffany Cervantes:more. So I dream, I create was a curriculum that was started by Tiffany Mackie, who was a consumer trying to think of what her position was.
Amy Henschen:I think she's a consumer economic development
Tiffany Cervantes:Yeah. Yes. Educator. She's a CED educator. Yes.
Tiffany Cervantes:Thank you. And so she had created this curriculum probably in February is when it came to be, and it's just grown from there. So it is a curriculum that, focuses on kindergarten through twelfth grade. And so iDream focuses on, the even years, which would be, you know, kindergarten, second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth. And that focuses on the power of dreaming and writing down your goals and being a dream lifter rather than a dream crusher, and it just grows.
Tiffany Cervantes:I think in eighth grade, kids are doing a hundred dreams, so they are responsible for coming up with 100 sillier serious dreams. And then I create focuses on the odd years. So first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh. And that is your, creative side, so that's where we do a lot of three d printing. We talk about soft skills or essential skills as we're calling them now.
Tiffany Cervantes:We do, a shark tank for students in fifth and seventh grade among the classrooms where they have to come up with a prototype for their community, and then they must present it to their classmates and teachers and a board of community members who vote on it, and there's winners, and there's a golden shark, and it's a good time. But those two programs coincide with one another, and they just build each year. And then the final moment that we have at the end of the year is something that we're able to do in our community, through our dream team that I can explain more, is a essential skill scholarship that we give to, graduating seniors that they can apply to either, going straight into the workforce or going into college.
Henry Craft:Okay. So many questions. Yes. First question. First question, this is this just a unit 20 deal, or are other counties adopting this?
Henry Craft:Because that seems like a very comprehensive k through 12 program that man, I I don't know. Are we selling this? We should I don't I don't know why we're not.
Tiffany Cervantes:So we're actually not selling it. It is free because that's just the way that it needs to be. It is a 100% free curriculum, that we have a website devoted to. I would like to, our hope is to get it on the extension website eventually because for now, I think it's like a Wix site that we have set up, for the actual curriculum and the materials that you need to print off. But, it is being used in Litchfield also.
Tiffany Cervantes:But besides that, yeah, it's just in Unit 20, specifically in Clark County. We've had a great community that has supported us. With this curriculum being done, it's ready to go across the state, and I would love to see it everywhere because it has a lot to offer.
Amy Henschen:So, Tiffany, like, seeing kids every year throughout their, like, you know, educational career is a big ask. Like, how are you the only person teaching this? Do you have a team? Like, how do you get this in front of the kids in your community?
Tiffany Cervantes:So, ideally, you would have a, what we call a dream team, and that is a group of community members. We usually have anywhere between ten and thirteen members. We're on the lower end right now just because we have a lot of people that are doing different things. For instance, we have the head librarian from our local library that's had to step down because they've got huge renovations going on at their library right now. So she's 100% busy with that.
Tiffany Cervantes:But, basically, you just reach out and inform community members on, like, a on a board, and then they go into the classroom and usually pick one to two grades, and they go in and teach that material every year.
Henry Craft:So it really is based on a cohort model. Is that what I'm hearing? Okay.
Tiffany Cervantes:Yes. Yes.
Henry Craft:Interesting. Alright. Million dollar question. How did you get the schools on board with doing something and committing every year on their like, an entire class of students? And what's the what's the logistics of that?
Henry Craft:Do you just you go into one classroom, like, once once a day, every so often? I'm I'm really I'm interested.
Tiffany Cervantes:So we are incredibly lucky within our Clark County. Tiffany Mackie created amazing relationships within this community, and so she has been able to work with the school superintendent and has an amazing working relationship with him. And so he just trusts us and allows us and has been allowing us to go into the schools and do this year after year. He's familiar with all the community members. We have three or four different schools that we go into.
Tiffany Cervantes:So usually, we reach out to the principal and schedule something within the principal, the teacher, and then the dream team members. And then it's kind of up to the dream team members how they wanna go about it. If they want to go in and say do all of the second grade in one day, they can 100% do that. Just coordinate with the teachers what that schedule's gonna look like for the day, or you could come in throughout the week if you want to. So it's more whatever works for the community members so that they are not taking too much time because we don't wanna scare away our volunteers either.
Amy Henschen:I love that this is so focused on you have to have a strong relationship to make something like this work. It's very rare, I think, in in Illinois Extension, especially four h where we have this kind of, like, seeing kids long term over a long period of time. Have you seen any, like, any big, like, gains or successes in that time watching some of these kids grow with you through the program?
Tiffany Cervantes:I mean, you can there's kids that I can think of right off the top of my head that, you know, you're teaching them to say the word entrepreneur in first grade, and you're doing a little dance and a song. By the time you see them in seventh grade, they're able to tell you the essential skills, and they're able to introduce themselves to you or to a community member with that eye contact. They can tell you what an entrepreneur is. It's it's just amazing, and they can relate everything back to you. And you can say something in the classroom, and you can tell that they are getting it.
Tiffany Cervantes:And it's just so cool. It's very, very rewarding.
Henry Craft:So just to clarify, the iDream and iCreate, they run every other year that with that cohort system? So, like, one year, they're doing iDream focus and then at the same time, another class is doing iCreate?
Tiffany Cervantes:Correct. Yes. Interesting. Yes. So all the second grade will all be doing the same thing, but then there will be other dream team members that could be working with the third grade.
Tiffany Cervantes:So for instance, Jennifer Bishop is our third grade dream team member, and so she's also our Clark County program four h program coordinator. So she, you know, goes into the schools in November and does a community board game with them. And so that's kind of her thing that she looks forward to every year for her dream team role.
Henry Craft:Well, I think it's really interesting because as you say, if you're you're focusing entrepreneurship, I've been on campus and I've got some relationships in Geese and the college of engineering, and they're focus and they're putting a lot of money and time and energy into their entrepreneurship entrepreneurship program. Look. I need I need pronunciation help too. But, like, Steve Chen was just on campus, and he's the founder of YouTube. And so my friend was hosting them on campus, and they're talking about entrepreneurship as a core function of leaders.
Henry Craft:They need to be very entrepreneurial. And I wonder if there was any opportunities that you you all might have to connect with campus on some of those new things as well because it sounds like, you know, you're working with a lot of a lot of youth in a a district that's you know, has a lot of Lower Illinois has, like, some challenges as far as, like, not having as many opportunities. That could be a really great on ramp to some of our resources. And I'm sure Indiana, they're close there, if they're going there too. They have some entrepreneurship opportunities as well.
Henry Craft:So I don't know. Do you have any like, what's the next step? What are you thinking forward for for your youth in those programs?
Tiffany Cervantes:We're actually meeting tomorrow, to discuss our next steps. So, Tiffany's gonna be recording, kind of an intro to the program that we wanna get up on the website, kinda just helping potential dream team members get comfortable with the role and seeing exactly what they would be doing. We'd like to record some of our dream team members actually doing the training. I don't know how onboard they are with that right now. It makes them kinda nervous.
Tiffany Cervantes:A lot of them don't want the spotlight on them, which they deserve to have the spotlight on them, but that's just how they are. So we just wanna get this promoted as much as possible and try to get it in as many schools as possible. And we are also going to the Lyft Center in Mattoon next week to also talk about I Dream, I Create to hope and get it more across the the school systems.
Henry Craft:Tiffany Mackie Mhmm. The originator of this, started did she start this cohort model in 02/2010 or she wrote in 02/2010? I'm my question is leading to how many cohorts have you graduated? Because I'd be really intrigued by the data on on how that would work. So if they start in 02/2010, again, probably quick math, I could figure it out.
Henry Craft:But I'm just curious to know if you have knowledge of that off the top of your head.
Tiffany Cervantes:Not off the top of my head. I do have those numbers so I could send them to you definitely. But I think this last year was our first class that had done 100% the full I Dream, I Create curriculum.
Henry Craft:Which which would make sense why you're having those conversations tomorrow on on next steps. So sorry. I didn't I guess my math. I didn't mean to put you on the spot or anything.
Tiffany Cervantes:You're fine. No. This is this has been a process that we've babied for a very, very, very long time.
Henry Craft:Well, longitudinal studies are a lot of investment, and that's Yeah. That's the closest thing to a longitudinal study. I've heard extension doing for a while, so that's cool. Yeah.
Amy Henschen:I think it's just so exciting to see this coming. Like, your first, you know, groups graduate and trying to think about what's next. But I love this program's so cool to me for a lot of reasons. And one of the reasons I asked you be on because I'm like, I'm obsessed with this. It's just a different way to engage volunteers.
Amy Henschen:Right? To like, you can be involved in the lives of kids in our community and making their lives better and here's how. And we can slot you in where you're comfortable. And I just think that's really cool. Is is it the volunteer development end, like, a hard piece of this?
Amy Henschen:Or do you find, like, when you tell people about the program, they are excited and kinda come to you?
Tiffany Cervantes:I think it kinda ebbs and flows. Right now, we're kind of, like, on the downside of it, but I think that we'll start pulling in more volunteers here soon once we start getting people really, really excited about it again and have that presence in the schools. We just talked about it at a regional advisory council meeting for the for, Clark County Schools, and so that got people that reminded them about it and got them excited again. But, yeah, I would say that sometimes the volunteers are hard to come by. Sometimes they may be gung ho, and then after they see all the paperwork and everything, they kinda step back a little bit.
Tiffany Cervantes:And so, unfortunately, then that's when we have to cut them. But if their heart's in it, then, man, they'll they'll do it. And, you know, a
Amy Henschen:lot of
Tiffany Cervantes:people really care. And so a lot of our dream team members are people that have been the same group for several years, which I appreciate so much.
Amy Henschen:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, reliable, consistent, returning volunteers is such a just a key to the success of our program. Well, Tiffany, I like, it's very obvious when you talk about I Dream, I Create that you're really passionate about, like, preparing youth for the future, for success in college, for success in the workplace. So in your opinion, how does four h help youth be ready or be beyond ready for college in the workplace?
Tiffany Cervantes:I think one of my favorites is welcome to the real world, I have to say, and then Ready for Work. I think both of those have been very successful. We do Welcome to the Real World with eighth graders right now, and I think it would be beneficial to do it with older kids too just to kinda give them a reminder maybe junior year. Like, hey. It's knocking on your door.
Tiffany Cervantes:Grown ups time is here. And then I think ready for work is really good too just because it I think my favorite is digital citizenship. Just discussing that with kids and getting them ready for the future and letting them know that everything is out there. This is how you present yourself, and you need to be mindful of what you're what you're posting out there because it can come back and bite you in the future.
Amy Henschen:Aren't you glad that most of us didn't have to deal with? We're old enough that this is not a problem for us, at least 100%. Our whole life was not on the Internet for people to see Mhmm. And think about, like, curating things away that maybe we shouldn't have posted. Being all this great.
Amy Henschen:Yay. Yay. Tiffany, I I have a follow-up. Like, I'm curious. Have you seen any, like, gaps working with kids?
Amy Henschen:Like, I wish we I think we need to do more in this area or this area of that, like, getting kids ready. Or have you developed anything because you saw a gap?
Tiffany Cervantes:Well, we do have what we use here, in our unit. They're called career portfolios. And so, we're in the process of wanting to rework through those. But we, it helps students, like, again, keep track of their soft skills. Are you hitting these skills?
Tiffany Cervantes:What is something that you're good at? Out of these, what is something that you need to focus on? And then I think it's really good too because we also, help them keep track of their community service hours, grades, so that everything is in one location so that they can go back to references when they are applying. And the it used to be a binder process that would, transition with them from grade to grade, and they would grow on it kinda like the I Dream I Create. And they actually all worked together, which was really, really nice.
Tiffany Cervantes:But I thought that that was very beneficial to our students here.
Amy Henschen:Yeah. And when four h can be the person providing that location, we're providing so much utility to kids at large to be like, oh, you're helping me keep track of all of these moving parts and helping me know what to put on my resume or my college application. That's awesome.
Tiffany Cervantes:And what what positions did I hold in my four h club, and how many hours did I devote to, you know, community service? Yeah.
Ryan Littlejohn:So, Tiffany, you've given some great advice today, especially on how to get into the schools and work with volunteers. But what advice would you give someone who is making a transition between positions within Illinois Extension and four h like you did? Maybe especially if they're going into an EPC role and they've got these great ideas for programs and how to get them running.
Tiffany Cervantes:I think it's all about making sure you have a good support system in your in your unit or in your county. I can't stress enough how lucky I am to, you know, been in the same unit for since 02/2013. These people are like my family. You know? We all work really well.
Tiffany Cervantes:We communicate well with one another. It's not always sunshine and rainbows, but, you know, if I need something, know that I can count on the unit 20 staff to help me.
Henry Craft:I appreciate that. I think that having having a good support network is is 100% key. And I I'm I'm really glad that you you have that, and I can I can see it, especially you've got somebody that is a champion for you coming in with Susan? And I'm I'm I'm happy. I'm happy you have that support system.
Henry Craft:I think it's good.
Tiffany Cervantes:Thank you.
Henry Craft:We could all we could all use that for sure.
Amy Henschen:You do fun things. Like, I saw you guys made flower arrangements for each team and posted it on our staff fun channel on teams. Like, I think that making, like, making time for that team building and just communication is so important. So I think you guys like, I don't know who's if it's a team effort to organize those things or someone's, like, makes it their passion to do it, I love that you guys do that stuff.
Tiffany Cervantes:Yeah. We we've got several little committees within our unit, and we just make sure that once a month, we bring everybody together. Usually, we'll do, like, a luncheon. I think we're doing one on Monday where everybody's bringing in some kind of slow cooker dish, you know, just where everybody can kinda come together and check-in with one another. And then, usually, our four h team will do something fun once a month as well.
Tiffany Cervantes:So it just keeps them raw up and keeps everybody motivated and in good hands.
Ryan Littlejohn:Well, thank you, Tiffany, for joining us today and sharing your four h story and experience because this is I mean, working for four h, there our stories continue and go on for past even if you were in four h or not. It's inspiring to hear about the dreams and creations that you are bringing to your community.
Tiffany Cervantes:Thank you. We're so excited. We can't wait to see I dream I create across the state.
Ryan Littlejohn:Thanks for joining us for this episode of Behind the Clover. Join us next time for real conversations with real four h pros.