By Meg Fraser

Last spring, Alison Arnold, 21st Century Community Learning Center grant director and Scruffie Crockett, community resource coach, turned to Grand Traverse County 4-H to help create a sense of empowerment and competence for Kingsley middle school students.

The Kingsley 4-H Teen Club for 6th- through 9th-grade students formed in April. At the club’s first meeting, the members were told that they were responsible for creating the club. This included creating ground rules, electing officers, planning activities, and other responsibilities. This was music to their ears.

The 4-H’ers quickly took charge and decided what they wanted to do for the summer. It was amazing to watch the 20 members transform from children into young, mature leaders. In fact they had to make up new titles for officers so that everyone could be a leader!

It truly was a gift for many of these middle schoolers to be given trust, respect and a chance to establish themselves as leaders as they organized and managed their own club. This gift was especially evident to those watching one shy young woman. “Libby” had been abused, suspended from school and had failing grades. She was in her second foster home.

As the club began to elect officers, Libby suddenly stood up and announced that she would like to be club reporter. She spoke of how she has always wanted to be a newspaper reporter and that she was the right person for the job.

The club members talked about how cool it would be for Libby to write an article for the local paper, make a scrapbook, or get a camera and take photos. Libby seemed shocked that they all were talking about what she could do for the club.

Libby took notes at every meeting after that and at each meeting she asked how and when she could get a camera. She felt that a camera was a very important part of her responsibilities as club reporter. She wanted to photograph the members volunteering at the Kingsley concert, sailing at the Traverse Area Community Sailing Camp, and riding horses at Ranch Rudolf. Most importantly, she stressed the need for a club picture.

It was hard to believe that a girl who had barely made eye contact with anyone the week before was now flourishing as an excellent reporter and a vocal, active member of Kingsley’s 4-H Teen Club.

Libby’s campaign to find a camera continued for three meetings until a parent heard of the club’s need and donated a few disposable cameras. Libby began to take photos at every meeting and at all club events. As it turned out, she was quite a photographer.

Taking pictures of the 4-H Teen Club, and recording its story, was vitally important to Libby because she had been moved from foster family to foster family and had never had the means or time to record her life. The 4-H Teen Club has provided her with another family. So she was not only making a 4-H Teen Club scrapbook, but her very own family photo album.

Meg Fraser is a 4-H program assistant in Grand Traverse County.