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

BLACKSBURG, Va., February 10, 2014– The late Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson may have been the first to declare, “I am a part of all that I have met,” but a novel classroom tool created by researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech may be the first to make students actually believe it.

The late Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson may have been the first to declare, “I am a part of all that I have met,” but a novel classroom tool created by researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech may be the first to make students actually believe it.

Kristy Collins, education programs and outreach specialist at the institute, explains the Virus Tracker in a Box program includes scanners, bar codes, and additional exercises for the curriculum. The screen shows a transmission tree that generates for participants to track the spread back to ‘patient zero.’

Virus Tracker In a Box (VTIB) allows students to use bar-coded wristbands to follow the path of a virus in real-time, from initial infection to school-wide “epidemic,” revealing that the total number of people someone affects can be much greater than just those they directly infect.

The Virus Tracker program is a part of a larger effort being pursued by the institute’s Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory (NDSSL) involving activities in computational epidemiology to understand how diseases are transmitted over distance and time.

By using computer models, big data, and novel decision support systems, the researchers avoid the expense and risk of experimenting with actual infectious diseases.

In the Virus Tracker game, players become part of a virtual virus-spreading exercise in which bar- coded wristbands represent infections with a particular virus.

The first person to be infected is known as “patient zero.” He or she can choose how many others to infect by giving away wristbands.

People receiving the next round of bands choose how many others to infect, and so on, until all bands are dispersed.

Each game kit includes a scanner to enter the bar codes into a database that displays the resulting “transmission tree,” as well as other statistics about the virtual epidemic.

Each participant can find his or her place in the tree, and trace the path backwards to find “patient zero.”

“We are excited to bring this technology and educational experience to classrooms and informal education venues around the nation. The project brought together the institute’s software developers with the scientists at our Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory, as well as Franklin County, Virginia teachers, to produce the VTIB software and curriculum package,” said Kristy Collins, a K-12 program specialist, and Kids’ Tech University director at the institute.

In addition to the game, the VTIB package includes:

~a crash course in biology that walks students through the characterization of life and explores how viruses can highjack our genetic code and potentially change our DNA.

~an exercise where students can develop their own creative model of a virus.

~an exercise on epidemiology and the retrovirus HIV, where students are given vials representing “bodily fluids” and a solution is pipetted into the vials. The teacher then places a drop of phenol red in each vial as students watch as their solution turns red (infected) or yellow (not infected). Students then begin the “Hunt for HIV,” working backwards to find patient zero.

Sixth-grade health teacher Randy Miskech from Wilmington, N.C., has been thoroughly amazed at the effect VTIB has had on his students.

“The Virus Tracker in a Box System is 21st century learning at its best,” Miskech said. “This system has allowed me to step away from multiple choice, true-false questions and look at a real world application and apply it to hands on learning.”

Misketch said his students took control of the game, setting up computers and mobile laptops, “infecting” students, and gathering and analyzing data.

Miskech also notified school administrators “and to my delight, they came down and were willingly exposed to the virus! What a joy for the students, creating relationships with the principal and other staff!”

Educators can acquire Virus Tracker In a Box via an online form at the VTIB website, and the materials, along with a tailored curriculum packet, will be shipped as they become available.

This project was funded from National Institute of General Medical Sciences, administered through the MIDAS Network, grant number: U01 GM070694-09, Dr. Kristy Collins and Dr. Stephen Eubanks, the National Science Foundation, grant number: CNS-1011769, Dr. Madhav Marathe and VBI, and the Fralin Institute at Virginia Tech.

A university-level Research Institute of Virginia Tech, the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute was established in 2000 with an emphasis on informatics of complex interacting systems scaling the microbiome to the entire globe. It helps solve challenges posed to human health, security, and sustainability. Headquartered at the Blacksburg campus, the institute occupies 154,600 square feet in research facilities, including state-of-the-art core laboratory and high-performance computing facilities, as well as research offices in the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington, Va.

Written by Emily Kale.

The Virginia 4-H Foundation has offered partial scholarships to support both the Citizenship Washington Focus and Leadership Washington Focus program. Please contact your local extension office for more information to apply!

Kaitlyn introducing the first 4-H flag in Senegal to Bineta under the Baobab tree with her classmates and instructors from Virginia Tech

It all started out when I was sitting in my first day of classes at Virginia Tech. Dr. Cindy Wood, Animal and Poultry Sciences Department Professor, was telling our class about a new study abroad program that students would have the opportunity to participate in over winter break. I never would have imagined that was something I would do, so I didn’t think much of it. As the next couple of weeks went on, she kept announcing it, and I started to think more and more about it. I finally decided that I would at least look up where in the world Senegal was located. When I found out it was in Africa, I was hesitant at first. After another week passed, I started to look into what participants were going to be doing while there, and I decided that it seemed interesting and it seemed like something that would be a really good experience. I finally decided to apply and see where that got me, and a few weeks later I found out that I was accepted to go on the trip. I was so nervously excited!

Preparing for the trip was probably the most stressful part. We had meetings once a week from when we were accepted to go and up until we left. During the meetings we discussed what we would be doing in Senegal, we learned a little bit about their culture and a little bit about the agriculture there, and we tried to learn some French, which is the primary language there. As the trip go closer, I started to prepare things to take over with us. One of my most exciting preparations was getting together 4-H youth development items to take and leave over there. I also prepared many games to play with the youth in the villages.

When it was time to depart, we thought we would never make it over there due to flight complications, but we finally did! When we first arrived, it was so much to take in! We went through customs and got our bags with no complications. Once we did that, as we started to walk out of the airport, all of a sudden we all heard “Let’s Go HOKIES!!!!!!” in the most exciting screams I have ever heard. This was when I first met Bineta. She visited Virginia last year to learn about 4-H youth development programs in hopes to bring information back to her country to get something similar started. I had heard so much about her during pre-departure meetings with 4-H staff, and I was so excited to finally meet her.

While we were in Senegal, we worked closely with USAID/ERA, which is who Bineta works through. They were our chauffeurs and translators during the trip. Without them, we couldn’t have gotten where we did, we would have ordered food not knowing what it was we would be receiving, we wouldn’t have gotten good deals at the market, but most importantly, the trip wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun and enjoyable if they weren’t there to accompany us.

We did many activities while we were there and we learned a lot. The activities we did included Djouj Bird Sanctuary, Reserve de Bandia, Goree Island (Slave Island), a tapestry, two French owned farms and a locally owned farm, the University of Gaston Berger, Saint Louis (which is the closest University to land grant in Senegal), and the Holy city of Touba. While in Touba, we got to go inside the biggest mosque in Senegal, and it was so beautiful. The best and most rewarding experience I had while in Senegal was going to the village and meeting all of the farmers and villagers.

Kaitlyn helping the Senegalese primary school students plant a garden

Our main focus on the trip was in Toubacouta, a very small, rural part of Senegal, where many villages are located. Here we did several activities and projects and also introduced prototypes to help the farmers better their production. One of the prototypes we took over there was a silage compactor. For those who don’t know much about silage, it has to be compacted to ensure that no oxygen will be present within the bag so that fermentation can take place. We also took a water purifier that will help them to be able to have better cleaned water that would be better for them to drink. They really liked that prototype and wished there was a way to be able to have it reach all the way to the bottom of their wells. The reason for that being so they would pull up fresh water rather than pulling it up and then having to purify it. Another prototype that we discussed, but didn’t take with us was a seeder. The current seeder that they have is inefficient and spits out too many seeds with each rotation, so we were thinking of possibly creating disks that have smaller holes so they wouldn’t waste as many seeds when planting. Some of the projects we did included planting trees at the local community center, planting a garden at a local primary school, and working with the youth. My overall favorite part of the trip was doing the youth development activities in the village. The only thing we got to do was play games, but it was very rewarding. There were approximately fifty children and youth present when we played the games. It was so awesome to be able to see the boys and girls playing together and having such an enjoyable time. Their favorite game was Duck, Duck, Goose – they actually said Sheep, Sheep, Donkey, because those are more widely known animals by the younger children. When they were playing the games, they were so fascinated that it made it seem like they had never really played games like that before that had instructions and that the boys and girls could play together.

Looking back at the experience I had, I would definitely say, without a doubt, that it was life changing, and I will never be more thankful and glad for my curiosity those first couple of weeks of school. Learning and experiencing their culture has also made me more grateful than I ever have been before. In Senegal, everyone was so grateful, and you always saw smiles on everyone’s faces. We are spoiled, spoiled individuals that let the smallest things upset us. We have life so easy compared to the Senegalese people, yet we have more ungrateful people than they do…something isn’t right about that, and I will never go a day without thinking about that now that I have experienced it first-hand.

Kaitlyn with the children and youth from Santamba Village in Toubacouta

April is the Month of the Military Child. Because the color purple represents all of the colors of the military branches of service blended as one, we are asking all folks in Virginia to support our military kids and “Purple Up!”.  Set aside a day for your 4-H Club to wear something purple to honor the children who have to live without parents or loved ones while they are in the deployment cycle of military life. Encourage your community to participate – promote at your schools, local businesses and newspapers. Be proud to support our military troops and the children who are waiting for them at home! More information on the Virginia 4-H Military Program can be found at: http://www.virginia4-hmilitaryclubs.org  and  http://vamyn.wordpress.com