4-H Agent, Michelle Beran, was the chaperone to Washington DC with four Kansas 4-H Youth Council delegates to attend the 2025 National 4-H Conference. One of the delegates was Melody Braddy from Hoisington. Melody is a member of the Hoisington Jets 4-H Club, involved in 4-H Council and Junior Leaders, and serves as the co-superintendent for 4-H Visual Arts at the Barton County Fair.
National 4-H Conference is a 98-year-old tradition administered by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture with the intent to develop the next generation of leaders.
Youth participants had the opportunity to prioritize several challenge questions that they were interested in working on and presenting a youth perspective briefing. A key component of the National 4-H Conference is to amplify youth voice so a Youth Leadership team assists in conference planning and a Collegiate Facilitator Team host and facilitate youth roundtable groups.
The 21 challenge questions provide the foundation for the roundtable groups to research and develop a presentation to share youth perspective ranging from Financial Literacy to Youth Engagement, Preparedness, Resilience to Empowering Youth in Rural Communities to Future Food and Agriculture Workforce. The roundtable group will develop a 45-minute briefing presentation for a related federal partner. Michelle reports that it was exciting to see the thought-provoking ideas that came out of this work.
In addition to many hours of research, discussion, and practice, the youth have time for great opportunities to expand their experiences and network. The Kansas delegation had congressional office visits, time to take in The American History Smithsonian museum, Ford’s Theatre museum, an evening tour of the monuments, and to participate in the flag-raising at USDA!