Cooperative Extension Celebrates 25 Years of Career Awareness & Youth Leadership Laboratory

PRAIRIE VIEW, TX – Two hundred youth, volunteer leaders and Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program staff joined in the celebration marking the 25^th anniversary of the Career Awareness and Youth Leadership Laboratory held June 16-18 on campus. This 4-H & Youth event attracted young people from seventeen counties across Texas.

The 4-H Youth Leadership Lab has been held on the Prairie View A&M University campus since 1983 to expose primarily limited resource youth, ages 14 to 19 from Texas counties ranging from the southeast to the Rio Grande Valley, to college life and educational workshops focused on careers in the agricultural and human sciences.

Participants sing the National Anthem at the opening session
of the 25th anniversary celebration of the
Career Awareness and Youth Leadership Laboratory.

“The 25^th anniversary of Youth Lab coincided with the 100 years celebration of 4-H in Texas,” said Dr. Beverly Spears, program specialist – 4-H & Youth with the Cooperative Extension Program. “This is significant in that 4-H in Texas resulted from a need to train youth in the latest agriculture production practices, specifically corn, and our Cooperative Extension Youth Lab resulted from the need to identify new career opportunities in the fields of agriculture, human sciences, communications, health and entrepreneurship for our clientele, mainly those young people who may not have had the opportunity to be involved in traditional 4-H programs.”

Every year, the Cooperative Extension Program utilizes its county staff, with the help of volunteer leaders, to recruit middle and high school age students to attend Youth Lab.

“Since the inception of our first Leadership Laboratory in which 200 youth attended, we have seen at least 5,000 young men and women come through the doors of Prairie View A&M University to participate in the educational workshops and other activities,” said Gail Long, program specialist, 4-H & Youth and chair of this year’s event. “Many of them have attended and graduated from Prairie View A&M as well as other universities, and have also pursued careers in the agricultural and human sciences.”

Educational workshops featured at this year’s 25^th anniversary focused on the 4-H Science, Engineering and Technology nationwide thrust. Participants gained valuable information about DNA technology and careers, GPS and GIS systems, putting a more professional touch on their MySpace and Facebook pages, wildlife and natural resources and utilizing E-Bay and e-Marketing platforms to enhance their entrepreneurial pursuits.

Dr. Nelson Daniels, rear, works with participants
to develop their eMarketing skills.

Other workshops placed emphasis on improving teen health habits, preparing for the workforce, managing money, growing organic produce, reinforcing the benefits of proper etiquette, image and dress and utilizing the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences’ mobilenet eBus to assist communities who have limited or no access to the Internet with online services.

“Of major importance to the Career Awareness and Youth Leadership Laboratory is the participation of youth on the program where they have speaking roles and engage in leadership activities,” said Long. “Our awards activity where we hold a luncheon or banquet to recognize young people who have excelled in academic and leadership roles is also very important and one of the major highlights of Youth Lab.”

“I definitely enjoyed my stay at Youth Lab, said Jasmine Anderson from Dallas County. “I had the chance to introduce the guest speaker at the awards banquet and also met a lot of new people.”

Tyler Blackshire from Washington County, who emceed the awards banquet and is an active 4-H member in his community, said he is looking forward to attending Youth Lab next year.

First timers at the Lab, Krystal Watkins of Bell County and Matthew Gil of Bexar County, also got a lot out of the workshops and the camaraderie with fellow participants. “Getting tips on designing another MySpace web page for prospective college scholarship committees and summer employment was very helpful,” Krystal said. “I’m going to ask some of my friends to come back with me next year,” said Matthew.

Justin Duncan, right, shows youth organically grown
produce at the Prairie View A&M University Farm greenhouse.

The 2008 Youth Lab Awards Banquet featured a keynote address from Frank Jackson, governmental relations officer at Prairie View A&M University. Jackson addressed three issues – strength, beauty and wisdom. “Strength is within each and every one of you. Find beauty and positive aspects in yourself, in your friendships and communities and pursue knowledge for the sake of wisdom.”

Other individuals who brought greetings at the banquet included Dr. Freddie L. Richards, Sr., interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, who challenged participants to read a book in the next few months about careers and leadership; Dr. Martha E. Couch, professor and associate director of 4-H & Youth for Texas AgriLife Extension, Mrs. Jackie Van De Walle, chairman, Ambassadors Committee for the San Antonio Livestock Exposition, Inc., who encouraged the young people to “replace mediocrity with magnificence and use positive affirmations daily,” and Dr. Nelson Daniels, associate administrator, Cooperative Extension Program.

Two 4-Hers and former Youth Lab participants received $10,000 scholarships from the San Antonio Livestock Exposition at the awards banquet – Brittany Randle, a graduate of Cypress Falls High School in Cypress, Texas and Wesley Lowery, a graduate of Sam Houston High School in San Antonio, Texas, both of whom will be attending Prairie View A&M University in the fall.

Mrs. Scereta Rodriguez, scholarship coordinator of the San Antonio Livestock Exposition, presented the awards.

“The San Antonio Livestock Exposition has provided us with monies for scholarships since 1984, starting with a donation of two $6,000 scholarships,” said Spears. “We certainly appreciate their continued support.”

“Additional support to defray costs of youth to attend the Youth Lab is received from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, who has provided $7,000 annually since 1994 and increased its donation to $10,000 in 2007,” Spears said.

For more information about the Career Awareness and Youth Leadership Laboratory contact Gail Long at 936/261-5119, glong@ag.tamu.edu.

Article-Gloria J. Mosby, program director – Communications, Cooperative Extension Program

Photos-Paris Kincade, Extension Associate, Cooperative Extension Program