Volume 17, Number 1, Fall 2006

Leelanau County 4-H Programs Help Girls Reach Potential

Barb Duvall

Leelanau County 4-H has partnered with the local Voices and Choices initiative. The mission of Voices and Choices (V&C) is to “ensure that girls in our community have a voice, a sense of belonging and value and a purpose.”

V&C hosts a semi-annual conference for middle and high school girls entitled “Eyes Wide Open.” Based on requests from the girls involved in the past, this year’s conference focused on sexual health and relationships. Parents were invited to attend, as there was a series of workshops designed especially for them.

The event was held at The Leelanau School on Saturday, April 23 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Presenters included the County Health Department, Catholic Human Services, Planned Parenthood, Family Independence Agency, Third Level and Ticconi’s Taekwondo Academy.

Topics for teens included healthy versus unhealthy relationships, wacky mood swings, realities of being intimate, how to protect yourself physically and emotionally, resources in the community and how to talk to your parents about sex and relationships.

Workshops for parents included how to talk to teenagers about healthy relationships, choices and sex; the impact of hormones; the laws regarding teens; warning signs of unhealthy choices; how relationships differ today; and other issues. Dr. Meg Meeker’s books on teen sexuality and raising healthy teens in today’s society were available for sale at a discounted rate during the conference.

Each spring, V&C also offers “Girls on the Run,” a program that promotes goal-setting and a healthy lifestyle. The participants, using a national curriculum, do activities that encourage positive choices.

Through lessons on nutrition, exercise and health, Girls on the Run encourages healthy physical, emotional and social development. Members meet with their “coach” twice a week throughout the spring to prepare to complete a 5k run.

Coordinator of the program and 4-H leader, Therese Schaub, says Girls on the Run has had a powerful impact on its participants who are girls in the third- through fifth-grade.

“We have girls who think there is no way they can finish a 3 mile run—and then they do! One girl who finished last her first year, made a personal goal to do better. The next year she finished in the middle of the pack. Afterwards she said, ‘I figured out that I can make myself better. If I can do this, I can do anything!’”
According to Schaub, “THAT is what we hope each and every girl takes from the Girls on the Run experience!”