Another retreat is in the books for this year for our 4-Hers! On February 11, 2023, about 50 teens ages 12 to 18 joined us at UNH Manchester for the T(w)een Winter Retreat. The main focus of this retreat was to learn how to market themselves and 4-H in creative and practical ways.
For our icebreaker activity, teens were divided into small groups to choose an icebreaker to learn to facilitate in that moment and teach to the other groups. Options included the human knot, fireman relay, flip or fail, and paper airplanes. The teens were able to get to know each other a little more as well as work on their collaboration skills.
After this, the large group came back together to get into their workshop groups. About 30 of them stayed with Andie, our 4-H collegiate intern, and the others went with Kasey, our 4-H intern. In Andie’s workshop, teens worked on resume building and interviewing. They learned about the purpose of resumes and what aspects should be included in them. Example resumes were given to the teens to pick a profession that they would base their interview. Guest interviewers focused on entry level jobs, 4-H National trips, 2 and 4 year universities and farming/business came to the retreat to conduct mock interviews for the teens to get hands-on experience. The teens explained how they liked being able to learn more about resumes and interviews while getting to practice working on them together.
In Kasey’s workshop, they learned about Public Service Announcements (PSA)s. A large group brainstorm encouraged the group to answer questions like “What is 4-H?”, “What makes you 4-H?”, “Why did you join 4-H?”, and “Why should others join 4-H?” Many said they joined to make friends or they were part of a 4-H family, some used their clubs and interest to describe what makes them 4-H and others talked about 4-H as a community where they can make friends and grow through their passions. From here, the teens picked the question they felt was the most important to them and made a PSA! Their PSAs consisted of posters, videos, jingles, and more.
After this, we loaded the bus and went to Pats Peak for some nighttime snow tubing and dinner. The teens enjoyed this activity while also getting to know each other and hanging out with their friends. The day was perfect for all of our goals, thank you to all that joined. Can't wait for the next event, we hope to see you there!
