Minnesota 4-H held the Southwest BLU and TEEL leadership workshops on Saturday, Feb. 18, at Southwest Minnesota State University for 58 youth from across our region.
In February, youth from across Minnesota gathered to participate in the annual 4-H Building Leadership and Understanding (BLU) and Teens Engaged in Emerging Leadership (TEEL) workshops. Four regional BLU and TEEL leadership events were held across the state. BLU was facilitated by youth leaders from the Minnesota 4-H State Ambassador program, and TEEL was led by older 4-H youth leaders and 4-H alumni. The events were also supported by a team of adult chaperones.
This year’s theme focuses on “Seasons of Growth.” Youth learned about leadership while connecting to their own personal story and experiences through hands-on activities. They engaged in small-group discussions, educational workshops, and large-group activities to meet other young people from throughout the region. Youth also had the chance to learn about the Crayon Initiative, which is an organization that takes used crayons, melts them down, and creates new crayons for kids in the hospital. This organization helps bring joy to children who are ill, and keeps millions of crayons out of landfills.
BLU focuses on youth who are in middle school to help them develop their leadership skills, whereas TEEL targets high school-age youth to help them take their leadership skills to the next level, and help them look deeper into their journeys as leaders.
Using a youth-teaching-youth model, the 4-H BLU leadership workshops are developed and led by 4-H State Ambassadors and Minnesota 4-H youth who have been selected to serve as spokespeople for 4-H. Their purpose is to educate youth and adults about the importance of youth development, leadership, citizenship, service, teamwork, and other invaluable life skills. To challenge the older youth that attend, TEEL is designed and facilitated by a team of older youth and young adult leaders to build on the leadership skills older youth have developed at BLU, and through their lived experience both within and outside of 4-H.
Youth participants were also able to learn more about the SMSU Agronomy, and Theatre departments from faculty and students, experienced Student Dining, and received a campus tour.
Henry Lemke, Meeker County 4-H’er from the Valley Victors 4-H Club participated in TEEL.
Cassidy Martin, Meeker County 4-H Extension Educator said, “4-H’ers who participate in leadership development opportunities, like TEEL, bring new ideas and energy back to their local clubs and groups they work with. We are so grateful for the opportunities to develop our future community leaders.”
To learn more about 4-H in Meeker County, contact 4-H Extension Educator Cassidy Martin, at (320) 693-5275 and visit the website at www.4-H.umn.edu.
About Extension 4-H
4-H is a youth development program of the University of Minnesota Extension. Available for youth grades K-1 year after high school, 4-H’ers participate in hands-on learning experiences in STEM, citizenship and leadership, animal -science, creative arts and much more. Through this unique learn-by-doing process, youth obtain essential life skills such as problem solving, decision making, coping, and communicating that help them succeed in their school, college, community and career. Research shows that youth who participate in 4-H have better grades and are more emotionally engaged with school, are more than twice as likely to be civically active and contribute to their communities, and are 47% less likely to have risky or problem behaviors.