K-State Research and Extension

Thank you for attending the 2016 Extension 4-H Military Liaison Meeting. Per the evaluation results, the meeting met your expectations. The most meaningful presentations were Common Measures, Writing Impact Statements, and Military Partner Presentations. As a result of attending the meeting, future plans include getting more involved with MFLN, using common measures in more military programming, and using the impact statement assessment rubric. The roundtable discussions provided an opportunity to learn best practices and to share ideas that will help strengthen connections with military youth and military partners.

Thank you for attending the 4-H Military Partnership. The evaluation results showed that the change in format was well received. Overall the Share Fair contributed to their learning experience by providing additional information and best practices being shared. Workshops centered around curriculum, social media and blogging, preparing youth for college and careers, and best practices for working with military partnerships. Learning to make a shift through the Oh,shift! keynote speaker provided participants with resources to use in their everyday and work environments. Suggestions for future workshops included offering trending information, technology innovations, best practices, resiliency, and more STEM/ART programs and curriculum resources. Building and working on military partnerships will help strengthen the programs within one’s state.

4-H Military Partnership Reporting

The 2016 Mid-Year report covers October 1, 2015 through May 31, 2016, and is due June 30, 2016 at 11:59 pm. (Qualtrics has a major update scheduled for July 1, don’t get caught in system changes.) Final report will be due October 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm. A new Qualtrics link will be sent to you in August for the final report.

Several states edited the document for local sites. If you are still struggling with the “editable” document for local sites, you might try copying the document to remove more of the formatting. Call or email Carol if you have questions.

Professional Development Common Measures

The 4-H Military Partnerships has provided leadership for the development of a measure in the area of professional development.

To move these measures in with the current 4-H Common Measures, a psychometrics analyses must be completed. We are looking for sites to pilot the measure during May-July of 2016. If you are interested in piloting the measure, please contact Kendra Lewis (kmlewis@ucanr.edu) or Carol Fink (cfink@ksu.edu) with the following information:

• When your program will run and an estimate of when the measure will be given to staff
• Overall estimated of staff that would complete the measure
• If staff will be able to take the survey via a URL link, or if you need paper versions of the survey

Each state must work with their IRB before the survey can be given. Thank you for your continued support to document the impact of 4-H programs at the local, state, and national levels.

Impact Statements

As requested within the 4-H Military Partnerships report, each state is to develop an impact statement for on installations and geographically dispersed. A copy of the guidance for writing an impact statement and a rubric to assess your work was distributed at the Partnership meeting. If you need an additional copy please contact Carol Fink. As a national system, impact statements that represent the military audience as a whole are also important. If you are using 4-H Common Measures, please share that data with Carol (cfink@ksu.edu). Illustrating the impact of the entire 4-H Military Partnerships is important to our military partners and USDA.

The Experience of Reintegration for Military Families and Implications for DoD

Over 2.6 million members of the United States military have deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Although most Service members are resilient and do not develop long-term difficulties, some face traumatic events and experience mental and/or physical health problems upon homecoming. Further, military deployments affect not only the Service members, but their families as well. This webinar will outline the current research, existing and emerging topics military families face during reintegration. In addition the Office of Family Policy will provide a brief interpretation of how these findings may impact programs and policies. Presenter:  Dr. Lynne Borden is a Professor and Head of the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota.

Join this webinar: https://learn.extension.org/events/2484

Outcome Based Learning in Military Settings – Thursday, June 2nd at 1:00 EDT, 12:00 CDT

4-H engages youth in learning about things that interest them, while at the same time enhancing positive youth development. In order for positive youth development (PYD) to happen, however, learning must be situated within a larger PYD framework that connects youth learning to larger PYD outcomes. What happens in the program in terms of program quality, has an impact on how learning leads to PYD. This webinar will take into account the military audience in which youth and staff transition frequently. A particular focus will be placed on the program quality portion of the framework to highlight the key critical features of programs that support learning in a PYD setting. A reminder the week before will include the webinar link. Presenter: Dr. Mary Arnold is an Extension Youth Development Specialist with the Oregon 4-H Program, and Professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, College of Public Health and Human Services at Oregon State University.

Recommend Webinar Topics/Speakers

If you have a topic or have heard a speaker that you feel would be an excellent resource for the 4-H Military Partnership, please share their name/topic with Marlene or Carol.

Summer camping time is here for Air Force (AF) youth! The Air Force 4-H Partnership is supporting 20 4-H camps in 18 states for youth of AF Active Duty, Air Guard, and AF Reserve service members. These  4-H camps provide safe camping opportunities and offer a variety of activities that help develop leadership skills, build resiliency, enhance communication skills, introduce STEM initiatives, foster teamwork, and prepare students for college. Youth will participate in activities such as rock climbing and zip lining, night hikes, aquatic STEM activities, college prep, cookouts, campfires, horsemanship, horseback riding, STEM careers, archery, astronomy, science activities, robotics, drones, and service learning. This link will take you to the list of camps by state or date on the 4-H Military Partnership website: http://4-hmilitarypartnerships.org/educator-staff/af-cyp/2016_camps/index.html

It’s 4-H camping time for Navy youth! Five states were selected to offer Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) camps for youth of Navy service members this summer. Navy Child and Youth Programs (CYP) selects the youth to attend these awesome camps based on projects completed by the youth in their CYP programs. A group of 10 youth plus 2 adults from 2 bases are sent to each camp. While all camps include adventurous and fun camp experiences such as swimming, games, whitewater rafting, archery, low ropes challenge courses, fly fishing, and canoeing, they all have a STEAM focus. The University of Georgia camp will highlight the role of forest ecology in supporting humans and wildlife.  The University of Maine camp participants will construct submersible remote operated vehicles (ROV) equipped with cameras to explore the Ducktrap River. At the University of Maryland camp, youth will design, build, and compete with SuGO robots and LEGO WeDO. Clemson University’s camp in South Carolina will focus on biotechnology – DNA in forensics, diagnostics, medicine, agriculture, and environmental studies – to foster an understanding of its power and limits. STEM careers will be the focus of the camp at Texas A&M University. Campers will experience such activities as iFLY (indoor skydiving), Inner Space Cavern, flight simulator, Veterinary Science programs, and Health Science Labs. Youth will have fun, make friends, and gain valuable STEAM knowledge and skills in these exciting camps.