Kansas Road Trip

Six giggling girls, plenty of sugary and salty snacks, I-pods with popular tunes, and four hundred miles of Interstate. These are the ultimate makings for an awesome road trip and a great learning experience.

Five of those giggling girls were Douglas County 4-Hers and the other 4-H girl hailed from Boulder County. In addition to the six, two brave chaperons loaded their luggage into the Douglas County 4-H van and headed to Rock Springs 4-H Camp in Kansas for Ambassador training about a month ago.

Although Kansas Ambassadors' duties are quite different than Douglas County 4-H Ambassadors, the purpose of the training was to prepare 4-Hers to promote an awareness of the 4-H program in their communities. There were sessions on public speaking, 4-H history, event planning, websites, activities to do with younger members, and more. The food was fairly good for camp chow, the activities were educational, and I'm told by several teenage girls that those Kansas farm boys were AOK.

When the van pulled into the Braum's Ice Cream Store in Salina, Kansas, all the girls were amazed to hear the young waiter say that in his sixteen years in Kansas he'd never had any fun. These young women found eastern Colorado and Kansas to have a plethora of interesting places. Even the hats and toys at the Cracker Barrel restaurant furnished great entertainment! It was decided on the way home that this group might adopt the name "Four-H Bureau of Information" or F.B.I.

Since their return to our great state, the F.B.I. has been looking for ways to "spread the good word" about the 4-H program, as they were trained and agreed to do. Additionally, I am looking at the possibility of having a statewide F.B.I. program and offering a training next year. Several other 4-H agents in Colorado are excited about the prospect also.

Keeping these things in mind, I am looking for feedback on this program. Please feel free to comment on the following issues:

• Do you have an organization or event at which our Douglas County 4-Hers might be able to promote an awareness of the 4-H program?


• Do you have any ideas on how 4-H can be better promoted in Douglas County?


• Are you interested in starting an F.B.I. program in Douglas County? In Colorado?


• Other comments

Note that at the right side of this blog is a picture of the six girls and two chaperons who attended the Kansas Ambassador Training. Good looking group, huh?

This program was made possible by the Douglas County 4-H Foundation.

Thanks for reading,

Mary Baldwin