Growing Sustainable 4-H Clubs and Experiences

This project will support youth mental health and social emotional learning by creating sustainable 4-H experiences for youth who attend Eugenio Maria de Hostos Charter School in Rochester, New York. The 4-H Program at CCE-Monroe has a strong relationship with students at the middle school through a 4-H UNITY (Urban Neighborhoods Improved Through Youth) project and would like to bridge that relationship to high school to offer opportunities. By creating this opportunity, 4-H participants will benefit from the continued interaction with adults, feel a continued sense of belonging to 4-H, develop life skills, and be able to give to others. The chance to take part in these positive experiences will help to mitigate the risk factors that have been caused by Covid-19 and other pubic health crises in the city.

Roles and responsibilities 

The student intern will be pivotal in helping to build these experiences. The intern will have the time to connect with the high school to offer mentoring to the students. Some students will be taking part in a summer college experience and a career explorations experience on the Cornell campus. Having a current Cornell student to lead the way will be a wonderful way for the teens to have a possibility model who can help prepare them for their first experience on the Cornell campus. The bilingual Spanish skill of the students will aid in communications with parents and translation of forms needed for participation. The student will also support the work of the 4-H educator with the middle school students as the 8th graders will be moving up to the high school in the fall.

Qualifications and previous coursework

This opportunity is available to non-graduating students in Cornell University's College of Human Ecology.

• Bilingual: English and Spanish
• Ability to connect with youth and parents
• Ability to manage more than one project at once
• Interest in supporting youth mental health and social emotional learning skills

Learning outcomes 

• Identify a public health issue, through engagement in practice, policy, or research.
• Examine and explain the key characteristics and interests of host organization, hospital, institution, or research project, and how they relate to a specific public health issue.
• Analyze a public health issue integrating academic knowledge and experiential learning.
• Document and explain how the applied experience advanced academic, professional, and personal learning goals.
• Demonstrate the capacity to critically reflect on one's own values, ethics, assumptions and actions in the context of cultures, collaborations and institutions.
• Demonstrate the capacity to collaborate across differences (e.g. cultural, social, personal, economic, values, religious).