Kick-Off With Kathleen - 2025-01-17

Kathleen Lodl Author

01/17/2025 Added

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2025-01-17

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[00:01:15.000]Okay, now you should be seeing the agenda for today. Is that true?
[00:01:20.000]Perfect. Just going through that really quickly. There are so many things to feel good about.
[00:01:25.000]We're going to get some updates from our college and career readiness team. I'll talk about focus teams just a bit, STEM opportunities, migrant education, tractor safety.
[00:01:36.000]Annual reporting. Thanks to all of you who are completing that work.
[00:01:40.000]Our 4-H volunteer screening process continues to evolve. We'll be talking about our youth protection policy as well as Nebraska 4-H Month and STEM opportunities.
[00:01:51.000]Do you have anything to add into the agenda, certainly you can type that in the chat box or you can unmute yourself and do that verbally.
[00:01:59.000]So the success stories are coming and we're not going to spend a lot of time today focusing on those because I know many of you have just written those and put those into the system. We're starting to read those on this end now, and it's an exciting time to be able to do that. So thank you for first doing success stories and making that success happen locally and then reporting those out.
[00:02:21.000]It'll be fun to watch those come through. We are very excited about two positions that we've got open in 4-H. One is the program area leader 4-H coordinator for the panhandle.
[00:02:35.000]And that position, I believe, is closing pretty close to now, like sometime next week.
[00:02:41.000]And then we have the Racing Nebraska 4-H Assistant. That position is open and closes next week. So we are looking for great applicants. If any of you are interested in applying or know people.
[00:02:53.000]Please pass those along. And with that, I am going to turn it over to Greg.
[00:03:02.000]Well, good morning, everyone. It's great to see all of you. We have lots of anticipation and energy happening here on campus as we begin to welcome back our students for the spring semester.
[00:03:12.000]It's also a really exciting time for your seniors who are eager to be Huskers.
[00:03:16.000]The FAFSA is now open to help them get the most scholarship possibilities, the greatest eligibility, excuse me, for scholarships. Housing is open.
[00:03:25.000]Most importantly, the supplemental scholarship application is due February 1st. So that's a great reminder to any of your seniors. Admitted student day is coming up the end of March with thousands of new Huskers and their families on campus.
[00:03:36.000]And our deposit deadline is May 1st. If you have some juniors who are also interested in being Huskers, lots of visit opportunities for them. We have four red letter days scheduled and then also four new junior jumpstart visit days. We're actually
[00:03:50.000]Those are half day visits for students and families. And then lastly, something that we've piloted that we found to be very successful are academic program specific visit experiences.
[00:04:00.000]You probably know that Sue Ellen hosts an experience the power of red visit day. We had that last November and more than 50% of the students and families were 4-H families. So that's great.
[00:04:10.000]Teach at Nebraska, lots of opportunities in journalism in the studio, in the agency and connecting with others who are interested in journalism and mass comm are all coming up this spring as well.
[00:04:20.000]And then women who are interested in engineering and in STEM programs on May 1st. So again, if you have any questions about helping your students become huskers, please let me know. Happy to help you.
[00:04:30.000]And we look forward to all of the spring connecting the dots events that are coming up as well. Have a great weekend.
[00:04:37.000]Lots of things happening. Greg, thank you for that update. We appreciate it.
[00:04:42.000]Any questions for Greg?
[00:04:48.000]Well, we continue to really value the relationship that we have between 4-H and emissions, and we're looking forward to some new things and new ways to expand that.
[00:04:58.000]Maria, focus team updates and program selection
[00:05:02.000]Thanks, Kathleen. I'm going to share my screen really quickly to help keep focus as we walk through this little These slides for your reference.
[00:05:14.000]Here we go. Watch show. Mode. Very good.
[00:05:20.000]So here's a quick update. If you're wondering what's going on with focus teams, now's the time to listen in.
[00:05:27.000]We have launched We have launched The four team structure. And I'm so grateful to all the leaders of those teams to help make that possible.
[00:05:41.000]Our four teams, our ag and food systems, college and career pathways, health and wellness, and STEM. So those are the four teams we'll be talking about in 2025. And you'll have an opportunity to contribute to Based on our program framework. Just a refresh of what that looks like.
[00:06:00.000]And that's on our site if you want to share it with councils or whomever.
[00:06:06.000]It is available there for you. To do. With our launch of these four teams, we have a pretty uh solid team structure with three team leads, past, present, and future, each serving in different capacities to create some Consistency in leadership and
[00:06:25.000]To uh a way to empower folks to take on some skills and tasks that they may not have before and or contribute to the team in a specific way. We have our members for And the members will make up certain committees within the team that's specific to each team and
[00:06:45.000]Perhaps you'll have an opportunity to be invited to be a committee chair. I hope that's the case, that you want to do that and contribute in that way.
[00:06:56.000]I'm sorry, my slides. All right. We also have content coaches and these are folks from State 4-H who are specifically Working with teams on content.
[00:07:07.000]You just saw Greg Fritz. He's the official content coach and uh connection with college and career pathways. Ashley Binish for Ag and Food Systems.
[00:07:16.000]Kimberly Stanke for STEM and Cherry de Guzman for health and wellness.
[00:07:22.000]And so you may see their faces, the part of your teams, or have them contribute in some way. We're so glad that they said yes to this and that we're really working to all different persons on campus in our work. And then the 4-H coordinators, Ashley, myself and uh
[00:07:41.000]Tbd to be determined. For the third to contribute to our team work as we work together to collaboratively move the needle in readiness for young people.
[00:07:54.000]And to execute the action plan for Nebraska 4-H. So, you know, we've briefly mentioned that we're moving to the statewide programs with a foundational program, then a deeper exploration and a concentration.
[00:08:10.000]Those programs will all meet what you have understood to be those state program criteria. We've talked about it for a few years now, but wanted to refresh.
[00:08:20.000]That exists. It's informed by peer review literature. There's statewide access, sustainable. We have the capacity for it. And these established outcomes and measures for those programs. So that's just a refresh.
[00:08:35.000]And what does this mean for you? We really hope that you can get connected and plug that all persons in 4-H be a member of one of the focus teams. We encourage one selection.
[00:08:47.000]Because we really want you to contribute to the teams. And by contribute, we mean actively participate in the meetings.
[00:08:55.000]Serve on a committee, contribute in thought and action to the execution of the plans for the team. So how do you do that? We want you to learn to explore the teams. Some people come to 2025 ready. They know where they're headed.
[00:09:10.000]But if you don't, it's okay to explore during this time, reach out to team leaders.
[00:09:15.000]And even attend first or second meetings to make sure that aligns with where You want to be contributing in 2025. So learn and then discern where that aligns with your goals for 2025, the needs of your community or your own professional development interests.
[00:09:31.000]And then we ask you to choose to sign up for a team officially. We'll tell you how to do that in a moment. And I did struggle with a rhyme for this. So I said enthuse. I don't know if it makes sense, but That just means be excited to subscribe to the listserv. We'll get to how to do that in a moment. So learn, discern, choose and enthuse. I thought that was a nice rhyme.
[00:09:54.000]To help remember what do we need to do in the next few weeks. If you want to learn more about the focus teams, a small video, three minutes, that's it.
[00:10:03.000]Was sent out earlier this week. It'll be on 4-H Alerts and following this call.
[00:10:09.000]So that you can see who's doing what and what these teams are about.
[00:10:13.000]Here is a brief… chart as to who meets when. There are even some Zoom links on this chart.
[00:10:21.000]If they're not there, that's on me. I'll get them in there to make sure we have it.
[00:10:27.000]My calendar said You don't get to see that. Yesterday afternoon when I was plugging them in So a focus team introductions, you get to know when folks meet.
[00:10:41.000]And then we'll ask you to choose. And this is a screenshot of what the Qualtrics will look like. We'll send that out at a later date, not today. You don't have to make that selection today.
[00:10:55.000]Some folks haven't had their first two meeting yet, and that is a-okay. But where you'll actually put in, here's the team I select for 2025.
[00:11:04.000]And then if you really want to take it One step further, we hope you do you'll subscribed or unsubscribe if you're leaving a team to the listserv. Some folks have said, how do I do that? That will come up in a follow-up email. So you'll have all these links accessible to you there.
[00:11:24.000]But the directions are to go to this homepage and type in the listserv name. The example is at the bottom.
[00:11:32.000]The next slide includes information about the lists that you click And once you click on them, it looks like this, where you can subscribe or unsubscribe. So just a highlight of what you can do.
[00:11:45.000]For becoming a part of a focus team. And so again, these slides will be sent out afterwards so you have access to them and can walk through them on your own time. Wanted to give you the high level overview.
[00:11:57.000]So far, the energy around this from my perspective has been very good and I've loved people asking questions.
[00:12:04.000]And getting connected to where they feel is best for 2025. Thanks, Kathleen.
[00:12:10.000]Thanks, Maria. Maria, there's a question in the chat box. Since they're only joining one team.
[00:12:16.000]How do they stay up to date on the programs of the other areas so that we're connected across the program and the content?
[00:12:24.000]Thank you so much for asking that question. Yes, the intention is to make sure one of the roles is past chair. That person will be in contact with the chairs for the other focus teams.
[00:12:39.000]To be able to have some level of understanding of what's going on to report on hopefully each Team meeting, what happens, what's going on in the other teams We also will, of course, kick off with Kathleen. Kathleen always invites people to share or add to the agenda. It will become a part of the agenda.
[00:13:00.000]Either through myself, through Ashley, through a content coach or a focus team leader. So we'll coordinate that to make sure you're in the know.
[00:13:08.000]I would also, if you've ignored 4-H alerts at any point in your career, don't do that in 2025. We'll be using that pretty frequently to make sure folks are updated. So that's one way to know because you're right, you did not have to be a part of a team to do work of the team.
[00:13:26.000]To teach programs associated with the team, et cetera. And so we'll over communicate what's going on.
[00:13:34.000]Through our various platforms to make sure you're in the know.
[00:13:38.000]And if those platforms aren't working. Please tell me so we'll make sure to increase our efforts so that you feel like you're in the know.
[00:13:48.000]Thank you. This is kind of a new format, just a new evolution of the process. So continue to give comments and ask questions because we'll be changing it and making sure it fits your needs as we go along.
[00:14:01.000]Excellent. Brandy, we're going to shift to you with STEM opportunities.
[00:14:08.000]Great. Thank you, Kathleen. I'm going to try to share my screen here.
[00:14:16.000]All right, let's go in display mode.
[00:14:21.000]Perfect. We can.
[00:14:23.000]Do you see it okay, guys? Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much.
[00:14:29.000]Team, today I wanted to share a little bit more about our second annual 4-H robotics expansion event. So we had so much fun in 2024.
[00:14:40.000]That we wanted to come back again in 2025. So I really thought what better way to explain this event than showing images of just how much fun these young people had. And so less text and more images today.
[00:14:53.000]In 2024, we had four campus-based partners and we had nine STEM partner experiences. So our young people that participated in the first Lego League event as well as those that had heard about it were able to come and do some programming with industry size robots. They play with some robot dogs and robot arms and did programming with that.
[00:15:15.000]They made many electric arc furnaces. They did some graphite circuits.
[00:15:20.000]They learned how much CO2 do you actually produce. So each individual young person Excuse me, friends.
[00:15:28.000]They did some VR work. We worked with some rockets. We did some rocket propulsions. We did some car building over at Riggs.
[00:15:36.000]And then our friends at Emerging Media Arts, we did some arts and technology. So this event really is surrounding and providing opportunities for our young people to engage and learn from experts. And those experts were our UNL partners as well as our industry partners.
[00:15:52.000]So they learn STEM-based information and they did activities. So it was really, really cool event.
[00:15:57.000]And we thought it was so cool. You know what? Let's just do it again.
[00:16:03.000]All right, I'm going to go to our next slide here, hopefully.
[00:16:07.000]All right. So this event takes place, I said, on Friday.
[00:16:11.000]March 21st. The activities will not begin until noon and they'll conclude at 5 p.m.
[00:16:19.000]So this does happen in conjunction with our first Lego League Championship so If you are an extension professional that's already bringing a team, wonderful. We'll have something for you to do on Friday.
[00:16:31.000]But if you have some young people in your community and your 4-H youth that This may be really up their alley. They have a spark in STEM. We're going to invite you to come and join us as well.
[00:16:43.000]And information on how to join us will be coming soon as we finalize our attendees and create that sign up opportunity.
[00:16:54.000]I will showcase here. The images is our friends from like core I said these young people were actually testing their air to see how much CO2 is actually in their body.
[00:17:05.000]And the young lady on the left is participating in some VR work with a resin house. And so they were allowing these young people to see what they do for their careers and how that coordinates to what they do now as First Lego Leath or first lego league youth
[00:17:21.000]Or just youth in general? So not only is this really cool event happening.
[00:17:26.000]You can volunteer as well. And I'll be sending out an email later today with opportunities, rules.
[00:17:32.000]And a little bit more definition on the timelines. But on that Friday.
[00:17:38.000]First off, just bring your young people to participate. That's all you have to do is bring them along and have a good time and walk through those partners. The other opportunity is The campus is kind of big and so some of our youth who've never been to UNL or even Lincoln for that matter.
[00:17:54.000]Might need a little assistance. So if you want to help be a tour guide We'd love to have you join us for that as well.
[00:17:57.000]Bye.
[00:18:00.000]Also on Friday is the championship, the FLL championship We had some awesome, awesome extension professionals come last year. They served as referees.
[00:18:10.000]As robot game cures, as field reset, as judges. Whatever role that fits your fancy, we have an opportunity for you.
[00:18:19.000]And the event continues on on Saturday as well for first leg of league The other really cool piece is on Saturday, we have our first Lego League Explore Festival And Explorer serves youth ages six to 10.
[00:18:33.000]And in this program, it's almost like a show and tell or a science fair setup.
[00:18:39.000]Where it's not a competition and the young people just kind of show what they did.
[00:18:43.000]And what we have, we have what we call reviewers. And the reviewers just ask some questions and engage with them.
[00:18:49.000]So really, it's a nice way just to visit with young people and see them get so excited about what they've learned this season.
[00:18:56.000]In that time frame is between eight and one o'clock. So that's really all I have at this point. Kathleen, more information to follow via email.
[00:19:06.000]Fantastic. So very cool robotics events. Nice to see that expansion. You know, that was part of our value adding to our 4-H programs last year and it was very successful. So shout out to that team.
[00:19:22.000]As we think about what we offer in STEM in the big picture of STEM, we've got other opportunities. And Kimberly, you're going to talk about those because some of those are the same dates as the robotics event
[00:19:34.000]Yes. Thank you so much, Kathleen. So a couple.
[00:19:40.000]Other statewide STEM opportunities I'd love to share with you all today is the first is our second annual data driven, and this is going to be our statistics based field day held right here on campus.
[00:19:53.000]And that will be on Saturday, March 22nd, 2025. So the intended audience of this group is a little bit older.
[00:20:03.000]And we're looking for teams of four high school students and an adult coach or teacher or parent to come with them.
[00:20:12.000]And you can think of this as sort of like a recruitment event for our various mathematically and statistics related fields.
[00:20:22.000]On campus in Kasner. I am happy to announce that Kastner is sponsoring the first 20 teams registered.
[00:20:31.000]Registration opened yesterday, actually, and we already have one team registered. So there are 19 free registrations left open.
[00:20:40.000]Email will be coming out this afternoon to you can send that out to your folks.
[00:20:47.000]The top. Two teams, top eight students get $500 in Kastner scholarships.
[00:20:54.000]And that will be a very exciting opportunity for them.
[00:21:00.000]The second thing I wanted to tell you guys about is a day for AI literacy. This is going to be on Friday, March 28th. I invite you to save the date now.
[00:21:10.000]I would love… for you to do some programming on or near that day about how AI is shaping our world.
[00:21:19.000]So we have AI statewide team, myself, Brett Barker, and Becky Swanson, and we are developing Some resources to disseminate to help you deliver that AI programming on that day.
[00:21:34.000]And as an added incentive. We have, through the same grant, we have 40 spots in a course, a 10 hour Coursera, Google AI Essentials. So the first 40 extension professionals who are going to commit to Delivering AI programming on that day. We're happy to offer you a spot in this eight to 10 hour
[00:22:03.000]Self-paced beginner course. If you pass of course You get a certificate that you can put on your annual report, but really the most important thing is you'll learn how to use these generative AI tools, how to use them responsibly and give you
[00:22:20.000]Good discussions for your youth you're serving locally.
[00:22:29.000]And those are the things I wanted to tell you about today.
[00:22:32.000]So let me know if you have any questions. We're happy to answer them.
[00:22:37.000]Thank you, Kimberly. Very cool work coming from that group and that team. So we appreciate that.
[00:22:43.000]More to come. And certainly if you have questions, ask Kimberly. Take one of those 19 available slots, folks.
[00:22:50.000]The prizes and awards are good on that one. We are going to move next to an opportunity we mentioned briefly before and now we want to get a little bit more in depth around migrant education.
[00:23:04.000]And Jill Lindgardal to you. Throw it to you.
[00:23:07.000]Yeah, good morning, everyone, and thank you for time on this agenda this morning. I'm really excited to be able to introduce you to two people from the Nebraska Migrant Education Program. You may or may not be familiar with that, and that's the intent of having them join our call today.
[00:23:23.000]But it is a statewide program and there are youth being served in nearly every county and school district across Nebraska and we want to give you an opportunity to get to know the two folks that are joining us today, but also there are project directors who are in your counties and communities.
[00:23:40.000]We'll do something to connect you with all of those. But I'm going to turn things over For the next few minutes to Benjamin Zink, who's the state director for the Migrant Education Program, and his colleague Heather Hackett, who's the state services coordinator.
[00:23:54.000]And Heather, I believe you're going to take the lead. So I'll give the floor to you.
[00:23:58.000]And I'll just do a brief introduction. I'm traveling today, so I wanted to make sure that in a better position to do a full presentation. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to you.
[00:24:13.000]As Jill mentioned, we are a statewide program. We're federally funded, but state operated.
[00:24:19.000]And we have over 4,900 kids, children of agricultural workers. Here in Nebraska that we serve annually.
[00:24:30.000]Last year, we had migratory children in 83 of Nebraska's 93 counties. So we truly are statewide.
[00:24:40.000]And we have 12 funded projects. And those are both district and regional projects that do this work with these children so again Thank you so much for the opportunity. And now I'm going to turn it right over to Heather Hackett.
[00:24:56.000]Good morning, everyone. When we spoke with Benjamin and I have been speaking with jill um for the past maybe a couple months and she asked if we would mind coming on to talk to you a little bit about the work that we do and our program. So that's what we're here to do.
[00:25:13.000]As Benjamin said, the Nebraska Migrant Education Program is a program for servicing students in the areas of support services and instructional services.
[00:25:27.000]To be eligible for our program, our students have to be new to the area where they're living in Nebraska and they have to have a parent who works in agriculture, qualifying agricultural work which is probably what most of us think of when we think of agricultural work. In Nebraska, plant work counts as agricultural work. So any of our students who have parents working in a packing plant.
[00:25:51.000]That work with the raw meat would qualify for the program if they're new to their area.
[00:25:58.000]We are divided into different types of projects, as Benjamin mentioned. Some of us are working in regional projects.
[00:26:07.000]And some of us work in district projects with just the school district themselves. So for example, Lexington.
[00:26:14.000]They run their own program through Lexington Public Schools. And when I was working in my previous role with Migrant Ed, I was working in the region of Northeast Nebraska through Educational Service Unit 1 and we just Out of ESU1, we served
[00:26:32.000]Pretty much all of Northeast Nebraska. So it looks a little different from project to project As Benjamin said, we have 12 projects throughout the state. We're pretty much covering the entire state. So if there's a a region that you're interested in connecting with a director. I believe we shared the contact information with Jill, and if we haven't, we certainly can.
[00:26:53.000]She can share that with you all so that you know who, if you're looking to recruit for programming.
[00:27:00.000]We would certainly be open to having you reach out to our directors And see if there's a way for you guys to get in with the program, the MEP programming.
[00:27:12.000]The services that we provide in the area of instruction typically happen either in the home in the school or through after school and summer school programming. So in the past, I know I can only speak for myself you know
[00:27:30.000]But in my work at Educational Service Unit 1, we did some work with Angela Apst Out of South Sioux City.
[00:27:39.000]We had her come in and help us with some programming during summer school as almost like a special we did that one year. She has also come in and done some robotics with our students. We had some food.
[00:27:58.000]Programming early on in my time at ESU1 for summer school. There's different ways that we would like to get 4-H involved. And some of that is just by also talking to our own staff about the programming that you all provide and the resources that you have available so that we can
[00:28:20.000]Partner for programming in the summer. The nice thing about being able to work together is that we can bring students to you have you provide the programming as you
[00:28:39.000]Have things come up in our, and as you have programs developed. So I think we're excited about the opportunity to work with you more closely. I would like to see our directors In each project, get more involved with the Nebraska Extension in their area to see what kind of programming is offered there and how our students can be involved.
[00:29:01.000]I'm trying to think if there's anything else I might need you to know. Do you guys have any questions for us?
[00:29:09.000]I would just say I think there's two really unique opportunities. One is for us to engage as professionals in the 12 programs that you're providing.
[00:29:16.000]And so as we… find out more about those 12 programs. There may be folks who are interested in that But the other piece and what I'll send out after this call is the list of the project directors that are respective to each of your local areas. And a simple strategy would just be to make a connection with them
[00:29:35.000]Get them on listservs for your summer programs or newsletters so that they can connect young people who are in your counties with the programming that is already available.
[00:29:44.000]So I think that could go, again, either way. We could be joining them in an instructor capacity, but also engaging the youth who are already living in your community. And I know some of you already are engaging these young people in some
[00:29:57.000]But I think there's more opportunity there for us just to create a clearer pathway for the young people that are in their program.
[00:30:02.000]To the opportunities we already have available.
[00:30:08.000]Saw this.
[00:30:09.000]Yeah, I think it's very, I think it's very likely that a lot of our projects are already working with 4-H and with Nebraska Extension, and I certainly hope that's the case, but we want to be able to open the door for those who may not
[00:30:20.000]May not know about your programming or your programming or your staff and services. Also, and I probably should have mentioned this in didn't think to.
[00:30:33.000]In our program, our students we serve pretty much age three to 21. We really serve birth to 21.
[00:30:41.000]But our primary focus is age three to 21. So we have a very large population of students that we serve.
[00:30:48.000]There is no qualifying factor for our program, no eligibility factor around race or language.
[00:30:57.000]So I think a lot of times when people hear the word migrant they associate that with immigrant.
[00:31:03.000]And it's not to say that some of our students aren't immigrants but In our case, migratory really means a student that's moved from one place to another. And so some of our students come from other cities in Nebraska into new cities and that's how they're recruited.
[00:31:20.000]Some of our students move in from other states and on the rare occasions we have students move in from out of the country. So we really have students from all over.
[00:31:31.000]All ages, a lot of opportunity here.
[00:31:38.000]Questions from any of you? There may be more as we go down the road, but we're excited about this opportunity and to take advantage of it.
[00:31:48.000]And what we'll probably do is maybe in a couple of months, we'll have this on the kickoff agenda again.
[00:31:55.000]To just give an update of what kinds of things are going on so that you also can start working with each other about best practices and the kinds of innovation you're thinking in this space.
[00:32:06.000]So a great way to reach new audiences in new ways. You know, that's one of our goals in 4-H. And so this is a fun opportunity to partner.
[00:32:14.000]Thanks, Ben and Heather. Thanks, Jill.
[00:32:16.000]Yes, and please watch your email and I will send the list out following this discussion.
[00:32:17.000]Thanks for having us.
[00:32:22.000]Perfect. We are going to move on now with another opportunity around tractor safety training. Beth Nackie, I'll give it to you.
[00:32:34.000]I'm actually going to kick us off and then I'm going to pass it off to Beth. But thank you guys so much for allowing us to be on today. Beth and I actually were texting this morning and this is my first coffee with Kathleen.
[00:32:46.000]Heard so much about these. And so it's really fun to kind of, I told her, I said, I feel like I'm getting a glimpse into another world. So thank you guys so much for allowing us to be on.
[00:32:56.000]As you guys know, Beth and I, I've recently stepped into some new positions as rural health extension educators with statewide appointments.
[00:33:04.000]And, you know, our job is ever changing and we're learning as we're going. We're about four months in.
[00:33:12.000]But one thing that we have been working a lot with is UNMC and CS Cash. And so they approached us about tractor safety training. And I'm sure you guys have heard of this. You know what this is happening.
[00:33:27.000]But they really came to us just asking how we can kind of leverage partnerships and communications and programming that's already happening across the state just to ramp up enrollment. And Beth and I really see this as an amazing opportunity, not just for safety, but also career development. So Beth, I'm going to pass it off to you.
[00:33:47.000]Sure, thanks. So that is the big piece that's focused when we're meeting with Erin Yoder about this. Their focus is really about how this can be used for career development.
[00:34:03.000]Hannah created a marketing checklist that we'll share with you, but I'm just going to um kind of read through what this looks like from that piece of it. It's the federal law restricts youth under 16 from using certain farm equipment unless they are with their parents or guardians that own the farm. And 14 and 15 year olds
[00:34:24.000]Are able to earn an exemption by completing this two-day program. So this tractor safety program. So that opens up an opportunity for them to work, not just on a family farm, but outside of that family farm.
[00:34:37.000]And so that's really that piece of leaning into that this is a great opportunity for them to start something early if you're 14 and 15, your options are limited for employment when you live in a rural community. And so this is a great opportunity for them to start working and have something maybe beyond what they've experienced in detasseling as being kind of one of your only options.
[00:35:00.000]So. It's a pretty easy partnership with CS Cash because they're doing all the work. They're doing the trainings.
[00:35:09.000]They're putting together all of the marketing materials so that the registration all goes through them.
[00:35:15.000]And we did ask because they've shared in a couple of different meetings that Cumming County has been kind of their their spotlight. It just works really well there. And they've had great participation. So we asked Melissa to kind of share her experiences with working with CS Cash. And she said that they take care of the training both days.
[00:35:38.000]So they're hosting and that's a whole different level. They're hosting that training there and are really working in partnership with CS Cash to bring that in. That isn't the ask.
[00:35:51.000]Today. The ask really is just to share this opportunity in a variety of ways. So Hannah, do you want to go into that or do you want to share screen or did you opted it in.
[00:36:03.000]Yep, I just put it in the chat. So you guys will see there. Obviously, you guys will probably open this document and be like.
[00:36:12.000]Hannah, we know how to share information at extension. And I did feel kind of, I told Beth, I was like, I feel kind of silly making this, but maybe it will be helpful. But you know, really.
[00:36:23.000]We are just asking for you to share the resources that are already created by CS Cash. So on this document, you can see it's just a little marketing checklist of where we think that this information would be best shared. So we did, again, Melissa was a valuable resource for us.
[00:36:40.000]Kind of just seeing where she shares this. And so what we ask is that you guys kind of look around that document You can see what resources are already created. And if that is feasible for you to just, you know, again, printing off a flyer, putting it in your county office.
[00:36:56.000]Sharing it in your newsletter, that would be absolutely amazing. And again, CS Cash has been an amazing partner and we really feel like this is just as, you know, again.
[00:37:08.000]Individuals on the road. We feel like this is a great effort and a really easy way to support a great program that's already established.
[00:37:16.000]So again, our ask only today is just to share out this information. They did say if you would ever want to bring this program to your community specifically.
[00:37:26.000]Obviously, you can reach out to us. You can reach out to the tractor safety team directly as well. So I think that's all we have for today.
[00:37:35.000]Excellent. Questions?
[00:37:44.000]Good timing, thinking about what young people can do over the summer and how they get trained and prepared to do that.
[00:37:50.000]This is Beth. And just a quick question I have is how is this different than the tractor safety clinics that have been going on for years. And it hasn't necessarily been on the 4-H side. I have a another educator that he has taken the lead on having these come to our area.
[00:38:12.000]Is it the same difference?
[00:38:13.000]So this is the same bet. And the biggest thing that they have said is their attendance has declined rapidly, where they said that they were, you know, educating Beth, correct me if I'm wrong, but I mean, they even said that they would have you know 20
[00:38:30.000]Kids per per training, they're now having two.
[00:38:36.000]And, you know, and they just said that that's really scary because, and you know.
[00:38:41.000]We've had really honest conversations with them as well, where a lot of kids are driving tractors and operating farm equipment at this young age. They just haven't gone through the training.
[00:38:51.000]And so our kind of goal is to kind of intervene and make this the norm of like, this is just what you do. And to get trained. And so really, yes, this is the same, but they just have, again, have seen such a big decline in um
[00:39:07.000]In the registration. So one thing too that we do want to add, we will be, you'll probably see us again. We're going to present this at huddle because Beth, you bring up a great point.
[00:39:17.000]Other educators, depending if you have, you know, who's in your office, will kind of take this on. So it really is cross program area as well. So you guys might see from us again, but we just feel like, you know, you guys in the youth.
[00:39:29.000]Section and this is you guys really are hitting our target audience. So we really feel like you guys would be a valuable resource with.
[00:39:36.000]With communication.
[00:39:40.000]Thank you, Hannah. We're not duplicating efforts. We're partnering. Any other questions?
[00:39:50.000]All right. Thanks to both of you. We're going to shift next to talk a little bit about volunteer screening and youth protection.
[00:40:02.000]Jill.
[00:40:03.000]All right, fantastic. Thanks, Kathleen. Just a couple of reminders and to address a couple of questions as well.
[00:40:09.000]That I've gotten regarding the 4-H volunteer screening. We've seen an uptick in volunteers going through the process.
[00:40:18.000]We are at about 50 volunteers a day are being screened.
[00:40:22.000]And I'm very happy to report out of the 762 volunteers who have done the screening so far. There truly have been about two that we cannot figure out in terms of technical issues. So I feel good about that transition in terms of making it a more usable format for both volunteers and staff.
[00:40:45.000]So thank you again for your patience in that. A quick reminder is that we are asking for all returning volunteers to be screened before they are serving in their role.
[00:40:59.000]So if you have clubs and others that are meeting. They need to be going through the screening before they begin their role.
[00:41:08.000]We're asking that all returning volunteers are screened by March 15th.
[00:41:13.000]I know that many of you are needing a deadline to tell your returning volunteers to get screened by. And so please help us and sharing that message.
[00:41:25.000]The other piece is that, of course, volunteers can come and and join and serve at any point in time. So of course, volunteers will continue to be screened as they join as a new volunteer serving in our program.
[00:41:38.000]I'm going to be sending an email to just put it at the top of your inbox. It was sent several weeks ago prior to the holiday just to make sure that all those resources are back at the top of your inbox.
[00:41:52.000]In addition, it is also time for us to be reminded as faculty and staff serving the Nebraska Extension and 4-H programs that it is time for us to sign off on the annual 4-H The youth protection policy that UNL has.
[00:42:12.000]And so just as a reminder, this will be coming out for all faculty.
[00:42:17.000]And all staff in every county and on campus to sign off on this policy that you have read, reviewed, and will abide by so that we know that everyone is up to speed and what is expected for interaction with youth in our programs. As a reminder, all extension programs are 4-H and therefore we need to make sure that we are signing off on these.
[00:42:41.000]And just a point of clarification. That for faculty and staff.
[00:42:47.000]In our offices, ultimately, you are not required to go through the Sterling volunteer and 4-H online enrollment and screening process Unless you are truly serving in a volunteer capacity in any way, shape or form. So if you are a staff member and you also lead a 4-H club or a shooting sports team on the side.
[00:43:11.000]Then yes, you would need to go through the enrollment and screening. If you do not and work with youth solely as expectations of your role.
[00:43:20.000]With Nebraska extension in Nebraska 4-H, then that's when you would sign off on the annual requirements for those interactions. So any questions, let me know.
[00:43:30.000]Those two pieces will be landing in your inbox momentarily.
[00:43:37.000]Questions for Jill.
[00:43:42.000]That process has really been going smoothly. We hope that your volunteers are finding that as well.
[00:43:48.000]It was a shift. And it so far has been an excellent one. So keep letting us know if there's issues that arise and we will work on it.
[00:43:57.000]Thanks to all of you. Ashley, annual reporting in the action plans.
[00:44:04.000]Thanks, Kathleen. We wanted to take an opportunity. We're post-January 15th, which sometimes that date can feel looming to a lot of you. So now that we've done our annual reporting, we want to say a big thank you to everyone, both for completing that process But also, we've now completed our first year officially of PEARS. And so as a 4-H staff.
[00:44:24.000]We worked through that. You asked great questions. You hung in with us, which we appreciate.
[00:44:31.000]Most of you have figured out we are learning along with you. So there were some some hiccups and things like that, but we worked through those and we had a very successful first year reporting. And we found that through pairs, we can more easily and
[00:44:47.000]Probably succinctly collect data through all of our programs across the state. So some things to be thinking about as you're moving into the 2025 programming year.
[00:44:57.000]Really how to make pairs work for you. So what systems do you put in place so that you can more regularly maybe put those program activities, meetings, things that you're doing into pairs?
[00:45:11.000]And we're thinking the same thing. So we're also looking at ways that we can make things more streamlined, simplify processes for you as well.
[00:45:21.000]And so you'll be getting some information soon, hopefully, regarding some slight changes in pairs that we're going to make that will help us on the reporting side to more easily report data, collect that data and find that data in pairs. So nothing for you to worry about. There won't be any major changes, but right now just be thinking a little bit about
[00:45:41.000]How to best make that work for you. And again, thank you for a very successful first year of PEARS.
[00:45:52.000]You are welcome and hats off to all of you on a successful year of PEARS. We continue to find new ways to use that system and the data from that system is getting to be pretty crucial and critical to us. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And it will only get better as we go forward, right
[00:46:11.000]Next thing we're going to do, you're saying, wow, there's amazing things happening in January in Nebraska 4-H. What could we do to top that in February?
[00:46:21.000]And Angela, your team has been working on it. Take it.
[00:46:25.000]Thank you so much. Are you seeing my screen? Perfect. Awesome.
[00:46:29.000]We are.
[00:46:31.000]Awesome. So we're going to be sharing, the team and I are going to share some highlights and some things of updates.
[00:46:37.000]For you as you are working through newsletters or any items for business.
[00:46:42.000]And just to get us going, this is our toolbox of resources that we have on SharePoint.
[00:46:48.000]That are available for people to download the graphic social media pieces.
[00:46:53.000]Ideas for any incentives. That if your county wants to order anything, we've got UNL Printing is willing to work with us on that, but you have to order your own supplies.
[00:47:06.000]We have got the popcorn and chocolate resources, some proclamation updates, storage telling challenge for us as staff.
[00:47:14.000]As well as working with our PSAs and so forth. So just to share, we've got graphics there. These are the days that we have picked for the month. So we're hoping that you can do a social media push.
[00:47:26.000]On these days, and I know Tracy was going to make sure that these come out in 4-H alerts as well as reminders, but go ahead and go download those resources. Those graphics are there.
[00:47:37.000]I do know that there was a correction and I did get that corrected yesterday on one of the graphics, so go for it.
[00:47:44.000]They are there for you to use. These were the promotional items that the team had reviewed and had talked about. And so I know yesterday I was getting mine ordered.
[00:47:54.000]So it's not a hard process, but there is an opportunity to do that if you want to order anything.
[00:48:01.000]From UNL Printing. If you would like to utilize the graphics that I made here for popcorn and chocolate, this was kind of our idea of how to pop into 4-H for new members or how to thank volunteers.
[00:48:16.000]We do have a list of some vendors that are across the state that could help you if you're wanting to order popcorn or any special supplies.
[00:48:25.000]Or you can just go buy whatever you like at your local store as well. I know sometimes I just have gone and bought popcorn in the microwave packets and have put labels on like this, or I think I might be doing something a little fancier this year.
[00:48:40.000]So how much money you want to spend, we just have made the resource for you. I do have this in Canva, so I know that it's not friendly in Adobe to correct.
[00:48:50.000]So if you would like access to it, just let me know and we can try to get that there for you.
[00:48:56.000]I am going to have Lori Swanson. She's going to give you an update on our proclamation process.
[00:49:03.000]Yeah, so this was um several months in the making with the making a a statewide proclamation and we are so excited And I really think that our governor is excited about 4-H too. So save the date, Tuesday, February 4th at nine o'clock.
[00:49:23.000]Kathleen will be our spokesperson there that day and we are getting some local 4-Hers some ambassadors And, you know, if you have youth who maybe are coming to the state for NASEB or something like that that day.
[00:49:39.000]You know, they are invited as well the proclamation signing will take place at nine o'clock at Warner Chamber at the state capitol.
[00:49:50.000]We just want everyone there. There'll be about two minutes that Kathleen will get to share our story. I know that isn't very long.
[00:49:57.000]But there are a lot of other people that also have proclamations that day. If you do attend, we just suggest that you Give about an hour so that everybody You know, you're there as a guest for everybody else that is there as well.
[00:50:13.000]And we want to get this pictures and we'll get it out. But this proclamation is available online that you can use locally.
[00:50:22.000]So use for your counties your cities and towns Let's just really get this out there and celebrate Nebraska.
[00:50:37.000]I think.
[00:50:38.000]So…
[00:50:39.000]Thanks, Lori. Another item just to share storytelling, and I know Megan was going to share a little bit about
[00:50:44.000]Yes. So at a time when it seems like we are sharing a lot of stories.
[00:50:50.000]We thought, what a better time than now to showcase not only stories of our members.
[00:50:58.000]But also us as staff members. So we do have in that SharePoint that Tracy shared.
[00:51:06.000]In the chat, you'll be able to find template first for a template first being able to kind of interview 4-H members or volunteers.
[00:51:16.000]Which we just felt like that would be very helpful to have a few guiding questions.
[00:51:21.000]As we put together our stories. But secondly, we also think it would be fun to show our own story related to 4-H.
[00:51:31.000]So there's a kind of a template for staff as well in a Word document We'll ask you Just a few questions and just a few questions You can attach your photo like a current photo, as well as maybe If you've got a photo of yourself as a 4-H member.
[00:51:52.000]That would be fun as well to be able to share Along with your staff story.
[00:51:59.000]For any of the staff members who do upload into SharePoint.
[00:52:04.000]A copy of their story. We will do like a drawing for this 4-H backpack.
[00:52:10.000]We would love to be able to collect as many staff stories as we can.
[00:52:14.000]And so if you… would be interested in willing We would love to have you go into that SharePoint file and Attach your staff story.
[00:52:25.000]And then feel free to use the guide for conducting local stories as well.
[00:52:34.000]And just a reminder, I know that if you put the at Nebraska 4-H in any of those posts that we make locally or also for staff that will help us in being able to track and And see what's going on across the state as well.
[00:52:49.000]So just a reminder, there's a couple other resources that we didn't mention, which is the PSAs from last year. If you want to download those, those are on the Premier Communication website.
[00:52:58.000]Those would be great for you to already have something to go for the radio. Those are available.
[00:53:04.000]And then we will be doing a Pure Nebraska interview as well. And we're checking into some of the other TV stations to see if there's a way that we could send some resources to them.
[00:53:13.000]Just to promote Nebraska 4-H Month. And then there's also coloring sheets. There's some bookmarks, and then there's also some low cost ideas if you're looking how to promote 4-H.
[00:53:23.000]In your county as well. And if you have ideas or if you're needing help, just give us one of the team members a call or an email and we'll be happy to help you out. I know it takes a lot of time, but have fun, celebrate, and let's see the successes.
[00:53:40.000]Fantastic. So fun to be able to spend a whole month celebrating Nebraska 4-H. Thanks to that team for putting the pieces together so that we can do that statewide and locally.
[00:53:51.000]Just so you're in the know, the date of the proclamation is the same date when NASEB will be.
[00:53:58.000]In Lincoln and at the Capitol. So that's perfect timing as you think about your NASA members and them coming here and make sure that they're aware of that and are a part of the celebration and we'll be coordinating those efforts.
[00:54:12.000]Questions for that team?
[00:54:17.000]Thanks to everybody for hanging in there. Just a couple of things that we want to talk about around the thinking about category.
[00:54:25.000]One is around equine offerings. We've had this on the last couple of months, but just want to make sure that you know about the new dates for contest and you don't ignore those information that's coming out from Lena. But we want to make sure that people don't miss that because those will be in March this year versus in the summer.
[00:54:43.000]Another thing we want to give you a heads up on, there is conversation going on at the state fair level about which ribbon system to be using for the Nebraska State Fair Livestock Programs.
[00:54:58.000]Nothing has been decided and nothing will change for 2025. But there's a conversation happening and I know the Nebraska Association Affair Managers is meeting next week. We'll have a one-page information sheet there that talks about the Danish system and the american system
[00:55:16.000]The Danish system is the system where we place one to five or one to 10 or whatever, how many we go down in a class or in a contest.
[00:55:27.000]While the other system is more related to judging against a standard.
[00:55:33.000]So there's conversation, just don't want anybody to be surprised about that as that comes forward. More to come, no changes for 2025.
[00:55:42.000]The other thing we're really excited about, so you've seen the strategic plan, you've seen the four areas we're focusing on in Nebraska 4-H.
[00:55:50.000]One of the things we're hearing from clients is that they could use some information about that as well as some thinking around what they're giving their money to when they give to Nebraska 4-H.
[00:56:04.000]And so I know lots of you send out letters about this time of year that are asks for county fair sponsorships, belt buckles awards, trophies, whatever that And so what we're going to talk about is we're going to have a webinar that you're going to see a message come out later today.
[00:56:23.000]That really focuses about some strategies for thinking a little bit bigger around that.
[00:56:28.000]How could we still get money and resources? Absolutely. That's the goal.
[00:56:35.000]But how might we help our donors think bigger about that and more programmatically about that and towards some of the outcomes that all of you are reaching when we think about Nebraska 4-H? And so what are some ways we can help educate during that time?
[00:56:50.000]Along with generate some revenue for you locally. So that's coming, a message will be coming out from that team who's been working on it.
[00:56:59.000]Thanks, Ashley, for putting the stampede and the horse events in the chat box.
[00:57:04.000]Perfect. Other questions? Lots of information today.
[00:57:14.000]Certainly continue to let us know as questions come up. Again, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As I hear about the things we're talking about today.
[00:57:24.000]These are the reasons Nebraska 4-H is making a true difference in the lives of young people.
[00:57:30.000]Thanks for all you do. Happy New Year and have a great weekend.
[00:57:32.000]Bye, everybody

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Kick-Off With Kathleen - 2025-01-17

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