Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to share with you a resource I find extremely helpful in my teen leadership and development work. Teen Link, a web site developed by the University of Minnesota, provides resources, both academic and practical, addressing issues commonly faced by teens.  They have done a wonderful job in organizing teen issues into topic areas, and under each topic you will find books, websites, and journal articles that address that particular topic.  All of the included resources are peer-reviewed and are constantly being updated, so bookmark this site (http://www.extension.umn.edu/family/families-with-teens/resources-professionals/teen-link/) and refer to it often as you work with the teens in your community.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or are in need of additional resources, tip sheets, etc. in regards to teen leadership and development.

Thanks for all you do!

Tonya

As we approach the end of another 4-H year, I wanted to remind you that all enrollment data for the 2015-2016 4-H year needs to be entered into 4HOnline prior to midnight on September 30, 2016.  It is the responsibility of the 4-H Agent or person in charge of the 4-H program to review the ES237 report and check it for accuracy.  Online enrollment data is shared with local, state, and federal partners so it’s critical that your ES237 data is accurate and that all of your youth and adults members are entered into 4HOnline prior to midnight on September 30. 

To help you and your families with the rollover process, please visit this web link for tip sheets and resources: http://www.ext.vt.edu/topics/4h-youth/online/index.html.  I’ve also attached the tip sheets specifically for rollover to this email.  If additional help is needed, please don’t hesitate to contact me as I’m happy to walk you through the process or answer any questions you may have.  

In preparation for the new 4-H year beginning on October 1, 2016, 4HOnline will be shut down October 1 – 4.  What this means is that no unit (county and city) managers, club leaders, and/or families, will be able to enroll or re-enroll members during this time.  The system will reopen on October 5 for re-enrollment and data entry.  During this time, I will be updating the project list to include Teen Cuisine as well as adding SNAP-Ed to the EFNEP project offerings and District Horse Show will be added as a competition area.  Furthermore, to help collect 4-H Alumni data, a check box will be included for parent one and parent two to indicate if they are 4-H Alumni.  If there are other changes to the project listing you would like made, please let me know.  

Thanks for all you do!

Tonya

As we wind down this 4-H year and begin preparing for the new year, I wanted to share this resource to remind you how powerful your words can be in the lives of youth.

 5 Things Great Leaders Say: http://kentjulian.com/5-things-great-leaders-say/  

 Thanks for all you do.  Keep making a positive difference!

 Tonya

Are you interested in implementing Character Counts! into your school system but are having trouble getting school administrators to buy into the program? Check out this web link for the correlations to the SOLs: http://ext.vt.edu/topics/4h-youth/leadership/character-counts/index.html

Schools are very much focused and driven by SOL testing and are much more inclined to “buy in” to a program that is correlated to them. Therefore, the State Character Counts! leadership team has worked hard in reviewing the Character Counts! program and correlating it to the Virginia SOLs. On the website you will find the correlations for each pillar and grade level. It is our goal to have Virginia 4-H actively engaged in implementing the Character Counts! program in all schools. Research indicates that the Character Counts! program fosters a positive environment that helps improve overall attendance and test scores and has reduced negative behaviors such as bullying and disciplinary referrals. We hope that by having these correlations you will have an easier time getting your school system to buy into this program. Should you have any questions about these correlations or the Character Counts! program in general, please don’t hesitate to contact Dr. Tonya Price.

These correlations would not have been possible without the tireless work of the State Character Counts! Leadership Team! Special thanks goes out to: Karen Baker, Dara Booher, Sonya Furgurson, Brian Hairston, Jeremy Johnson, Jocelyn Pearson, and Glenda Snyder.

I hope you will take advantage of the 25% off curriculum sale that is taking place till April 30 through the 4-H Mall and order some of the below healthy living curriculum. This curriculum is excellent, so if you haven’t checked it out, I hope you will do so.

An issue facing younger generations, and especially teens, is the over-use of technology.  Younger generations, unlike their parents, often socialize, hang out, and communicate online, rather than in person.  They prefer to text rather than talk on the phone, and often prefer to socialize on Twitter, Snapchat, or Facebook than in a social setting.  Some of our youth are spending up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, online, perusing the Internet or gaming.  Spending this much time in front of a screen can interfere with a young person’s emotional, physical, and intellectual development.  Due to this issue, I’m sharing the below information with you.  May 2-8, 2016 is Screen-Free Week and encourages youth to unplug and play.  The Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth has put together a free toolkit inclusive of active, fun alternatives to screen time that we can use to help address the issue of over using technology.

– See more at: http://vfhy.org/obesity/healthy-people/less-screen-time

I wanted to share with you the recording of a presentation I created regarding the 4^th H for Health Challenge.  I gave this presentation as part of the April First Friday discussion and at In-Service to the FCS agents during their update but wanted to share as broadly as possible.  This challenge is a great way to get your 4-H clubs involved in eating more fruits and vegetables, drinking more water, and being more physically active in the club meeting setting.  Once you have had a chance to view the recording, please email me if this is something you’d be interested in implementing in your locality.  This challenge is a great and fun way to engage youth in healthy living behaviors that will hopefully last a lifetime and I hope you will consider incorporating it into your programming efforts.

Tonya Price wants to share this WebEx recording with you.

Tonya Price’s Personal Room-20160210 1503-1 Wednesday, February 10, 2016 10:16 am | Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00)

PLAY RECORDING ( 10 min) https://virginiatech.webex.com/virginiatech/ldr.php?RCID=06a0e50a4f6c37e9d28d795c26f200c5

Please check out the resources below.  Even though this is designed for the summer meals  program, these resources could be used with almost type of summer program or activity targeted at healthy living.  Feel free to use as you deem appropriate.

Dear Colleagues,

I hope that your summer is off to a great start!  As we just concluded our premier teen leadership event, State 4-H Congress, I wanted to share with you a link to two publications that Billie Jean Elmer and I authored as a resource for you in your teen leadership and development programming efforts.  The first publication is titled: “Preparing Teens for Opportunities Beyond the Local Level” and the second is “Recruitment and Retention of Teens”.  You will find the publications at the following links: http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/4-H/4H-283/4H-283.html and http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/4-H/4H-284/4H-284.html.  These two publications are part of a teen leadership and development series of fact sheets that we are working on.  When complete, there will be a total of six; so, be on the lookout for more to come.  A special thank you to the peer reviewers of these publications for your suggestions and comments!  We hope that you enjoy reading these pubs and find them practical and beneficial in your programming efforts!  If you should have any questions regarding these publications or teen programming in general, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks for all you do!

Tonya