The UNH Extension Master Wellness Volunteer Program is an opportunity for adults and youth ages 15+ to take part in a series of learning sessions focused on creating community change for health. In February 2021, Master Wellness Volunteers attended the 2021 Virtual National 4-H Healthy Living Summit. Alice Breisch, a high school student at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, reflects on how that experience helped motivate her volunteerism.
I attended the Master Wellness Summit, which was an incredibly engaging experience despite the fact that it was completely virtual. The event was full of interesting people and their stories, which broadened my perspective of the world at large. Going to this summit provided me with both information and valuable insight on the learning tracks that I had signed up for, as well as providing me with some solid advice.
The very first impression I got of the people attending and leading the summit was that everyone was extremely friendly and open. This made me feel comfortable and willing to share my thoughts on the subjects we were discussing. The supervisors moved us into our respective breakout rooms where we had a guest speaker come with a presentation on our learning track. In my case, we learned about food insecurity and the various things that cause it and what one might do to prevent it.
The guest speakers that came to the summit were all engaging and interesting and offered insight on what we could do to assist our communities. A personal favorite speaker of mine was the very first one, Kazi Mannan, who was very motivational and had an awesome message that set the mood for the rest of the summit. He told us about his restaurant, where he offered a free meal to anyone, no questions asked. He encouraged us to pursue at least 30 days of kindness and to do something that would make a real difference in our communities. His presentation really struck a chord with me and kept me motivated throughout the summit.
In our breakout rooms, we listened to presentations and engaged in different activities based on our learning track. The activities were my favorite part of these meetings because of how immersive and informative they were. In one of these activities the participants had to figure out how much food they could buy with a set budget. This broadened my perspective on food insecurity while also teaching me about it and showing me what the problems are.
In short, the 4-H Healthy Living Summit was absolutely amazing and was a pleasure to attend. I learned a lot and left with a fresh perspective on the world. The concepts and sentiments the presenters gave were well thought out and interesting. I’m excited and motivated to do more with my community and to plan projects with my Master Wellness group.
