4-H youth explore service, leadership, careers at statewide summit

Participants in the recent Idaho 4‑H Learn, Engage, Act, Develop Summit (ILEADS) will be returning from the event with a homework assignment that benefits communities throughout the state.

University of Idaho Extension 4‑H Youth Development hosted ILEADS, a statewide leadership forum in its second year open to youth in grades eight through 12, from Oct. 3-5 on the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) campus in Twin Falls. Seventy-nine 4‑H youth participated. One of the elective ILEADS sessions challenged youth to complete a Lead to Change project, which is a service project participants lead in their communities.

4-H Extension educator Paige Wray, from Bonneville County, led the Lead to Change session, walking participants through planning and organizing a community service project. She was joined by Bonneville County 4‑H member Bethany Church, who is part of the 4‑H Eastern District Teen Leadership Group.

Wray helped develop a manual that includes a needs assessment tool, guiding youth in how to survey their peers about community needs and select a meaningful service project.

“I really love this youth-led aspect of them getting out and figuring out what their community needs and then responding to that need,” Wray said.

ILEADS is designed to offer members a statewide version of the National 4‑H Ignite Summit hosted annually in March in Washington, D.C. Ignite includes youth hands-on workshops in a programming track they choose, including agricultural science, animal science, healthy living or STEM education. Next spring, University of Idaho Extension will take a team of 25 4‑H youth to Ignite, where they’ll be challenged with planning a leadership project within their chosen track to carry out in their local communities.

“The idea that young people can lead positive change in their community, county or club, that’s an Ignite thing and we incorporated it when we developed LEADS,” said Mike Knutz, a 4‑H area Extension educator and ILEADS organizer. “We’re using ILEADS train youth and encourage that, because not everyone can go to Ignite in Washington, D.C., but the value of that is huge.”

Several former Ignite participants from Idaho completed creative Lead to Change projects. Idaho County members established a new day camp. A Lemhi County member organized a half-day 4‑H field day, including workshops and classes promoting non-animal 4‑H projects. A youth in Washington County solicited donations to provide feed for livestock displaced by wildfires on rangeland. He also developed a phone tree of volunteers willing to evaluate displaced animals and relocate them to the county fairgrounds during wildfires.

Youth may apply for grant funding toward their Lead to Change project through the National 4‑H Council.

Busing was provided for ILEADS participants from Idaho Falls and northern Idaho. Youth participated in recreational activities including fishing, hiking, roller-skating, a high ropes challenge course and a swing dance lesson.

ILEADS sessions introduced youth to a host of career fields and disciplines, such as drones, robotics, veterinary medicine, photography, forestry, potato processing and technology.

The summit included tours of Magic Valley agricultural businesses, such as Reverence, which is the largest U.S. producer of farm trout and steelhead, and Chobani, which makes one of the nation’s best known yogurt brands.

“The other emphasis of the summit is to highlight career opportunities in agricultural science and technology,” Knutz said. “What better place could there be to do that than one of our community colleges that offers some of those things?”

Several workshops were facilitated by CSI students from the college’s Ag Ambassadors program, along with CSI faculty. Many of the other sessions were led by UI Extension faculty, who often partnered with 4‑H youth leaders to deliver engaging and collaborative learning experiences.

Trent LeBlanc, a sophomore 4‑H member from Boise, teamed up with UI Extension 4‑H coordinator Alysson Statz from Valley County to lead an ILEADS drone workshop. During the session, participants decorated and flew drones, which were later featured in a drone show.

“I have helped build a few drones and I have my own. I use mine for photography,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc served on the steering committee that planned ILEADS and attended the first ILEADS event in 2023. ILEADS was canceled in 2024 when it was booked at a Cascade YMCA camp which was repurposed as a base camp for wildland firefighters.

LeBlanc has learned a great deal about his own aptitudes and interests through his experiences in 4‑H programs such as ILEADS and the State Teen Association Convention (STAC), which is held each June at U of I’s Moscow campus.

“I go to STAC every year, and participating in STEM activities at STAC got me interested in engineering,” LeBlanc said. “4‑H has really helped me find what I want to do for a job later in life.”