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4-H
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| EVENT OVERVIEW | WHAT'S NEW | CODE OF CONDUCT | RESPONSIBILITIES |
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Page Contents:
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All youth should have either a full session assignment or two half session assignments before they arrive to Exploration Days. It is very important that all youth pick their own session choices during registration to eliminate the need for session changes at the event. Eight different choices should be listed on each participant’s registration form.
4-H Exploration Days teaches responsibility, not as a burden, but as a sense of connection and empowerment. All youth and adult participants must abide by the Code of Conduct. This is required for participation at 4-H Exploration Days. Please sign and return the form given in the back of the 4-H Exploration Days registration book as directed.
Adults should attend the event to provide for the physical and emotional safety and well-being of the youth participants, and to help create a rich learning experience for them. Adults should not attend solely for their own personal growth and development. Each adult is needed to serve as a session host, activity host, instructor, session helper or county conference assistant (CCA), in addition to the role he or she plays as a staff member or volunteer chaperone for a county delegation. The only exception to this are adults with disabilities that prevent them from taking on one of these support roles, or bus drivers staying with their county delegation. These adults should be the only ones registered as "Other Adults" on the registration form.
More than 400 adults annually attend 4-H Exploration Days. If everyone takes on just one of these support roles (descriptions of each follow), there will easily be enough people to fill each and every one.
Adult enrollments in most sessions will be limited to 10% of the total session enrollment. This is to best serve the needs of our youth audience. Adult enrollment maximums will be lifted during the last week of registration to enable adults who REALLY wanted a certain session to get in if space is still available. County staff will need to contact the registration secretary to reassign adults to any open sessions during these days.
Counties will assign specific chaperones to specific youth rather than having all adult females oversee all female youth and vice versa. There must be at least one chaperone identified for every 10 youth of the same gender. County chaperones will manage the accountability of the youth (including commuters) assigned to them.
Chaperones are expected to:
- Help participants settle into their rooms upon arrival to the event.
- Work in conjunction with CCAs, other county chaperones, and county field staff to supervise the behavior of county participants both in the residence hall and at other campus areas during daytime and evenings.
- Assist CCAs at county meetings if necessary.
- Assist CCAs with bed check.
- Assist participants and CCAs with checkout procedures.
- Chaperones will post a "whereabouts schedule" on their housing room doors so that the youth will know how to locate their assigned chaperone at all times. A "whereabouts schedule" for the youth assigned to each chaperone will also be posted for the youth to use in signing in and out for the recreational activities they attend without chaperone accompaniment. Chaperones must accompany their youth to the Wednesday evening entertainment and swimming at the outdoor pool.
There must be at least one chaperone for every 10 youth participants of the same sex.
All youth and adult participants must abide by the Code of Conduct. This is required for participation at 4-H Exploration Days. Please sign and return the form given in the back of the 4-H Exploration Days registration book as directed.
County Conference Assistants (CCAs)
County Conference Assistants (CCAs) are expected to:
1. Prepare for the arrival of county delegations.
- Read the direct mailing sent from the State 4-H office in early June.
- Arrive on Tuesday afternoon before the event for the CCA orientation meeting(s) and hall manager meeting. CCAs must stay until the end of the event on Friday.
- Arrive 15 minutes before the CCA meeting to drop off county forms (housing sheets and housing/individual meal cards) to the State 4-H staff located outside the event General Headquarters. These materials complete the registration process for the county (or multi-county) delegation.
2. Serve as a communication link between conference General Headquarters (State 4-H staff) and all members of the county delegation. Information from the Tuesday CCA orientation meeting will be shared by the CCAs with county 4-H staff and chaperones.
- Rotate shifts throughout the event to assist the Head Conference Assistants (HCAs) staffing their hall 4-H Information Center.
- Be readily accessible to their county delegation in case an emergency arises. When CCAs are not on the assigned housing floor, they are expected to post a notice on their door informing their delegation where they can be easily found. CCAs wishing to attend a session must work with their county 4-H staff to ensure that another adult will be available during the CCA's absence. (The delegation and the HCAs must be informed of the temporary shift in responsibility.) This policy is to ensure that all participants do attend sessions and that a CCA is available if a participant becomes sick or injured and returns to the dorm during session hours.
- Maintain the expectation standards for the county delegation using state guidelines as a basis. All CCAs on a floor should meet to establish consistent rule interpretation and implementation.
- Work with county staff to keep them informed of event happenings. Request staff help when needed.
- CCA (and field staff) should frequently check their county message baggie in the Information Center in case they (or others from their delegation) have a message or are needed by other staff or county participants.
- Collect evaluations and provide feedback to State 4-H staff.
3. Coordinate the activities of the county delegation.
- Assist participants with check-in. Provide room damage identification sheets if needed by participants. (CCAs receive these sheets upon request at the event from their Head CAs.)
- Chair the county meeting held during the event in cooperation with the county staff person. Counties, especially those with early arrival delegations, may wish to hold additional county meetings.
- Assist participants with health care or emergency services if necessary.
- Bed check all participants for which CCA has responsibility with the assistance of county chaperones each night. Inform the 4-H Information Center in your assigned hall as soon as all participants are accounted for.
- Assist participants in evaluating what they see, do and hear. Help participants plan how they can share this with others in their club or county.
- Assist participants with check-out.
- Serve as the main resource for answering participants' questions.
County conference assistants will receive free meals and lodging during the conference.
All youth and adult participants must abide by the Code of Conduct. This is required for participation at 4-H Exploration Days. Please sign and return the form given in the back of the 4-H Exploration Days registration book as directed.
Head Conference Assistants (HCAs)
Head Conference Assistants (HCAs) are expected to:
- Meet with State 4-H staff on Tuesday morning before the event for a Head CA orientation. Meet with County Conference Assistants (CCAs) on Tuesday afternoon to review conference assistant responsibilities and to develop a uniform understanding for handling discipline problems that will assure the health, safety and rights of all conference participants. Meetings to be conducted by State 4-H staff.
- Operate the hall 4-H Information Center to help CCAs, chaperones and conference participants in a firm and courteous manner (two Head CAs per center). Each Information Center will be open 7 a.m. to midnight (or until the last participant in that hall is accounted for at bed check).
- Access the dorm master keys if necessary. These keys provide access to the dorm outside doors (after curfew) and to participant rooms (in case of lost or forgotten keys).
- Supervise and assist CCAs with delegation check-in and check-out procedures, including collecting completed evaluation forms.
- Notify General Headquarters when all counties in the residence hall have accounted for their participants during bed check. CCAs will relay the "all accounted for" to the Head CA at the Information Center as soon as possible after curfew (11:15 p.m.).
- Pack up all conference-related materials from the Information Center at the end of the event for pickup by the State 4-H staff. Head CAs should also take down all posters and signs in the lobby areas and bundle them for use next year.
Head Conference Assistant responsibilities are finished when all participants have checked out and the Head CA has notified State 4-H staff at General Headquarters.
Head Conference Assistants will receive free meals and lodging during the conference plus a stipend approximately two weeks after the event. Transportation costs to and from Exploration Days is at each individual's own expense.
Session Instructors are expected to:
Help youth make connections between their interests and career opportunities, as well as available higher education opportunities. (For the past three years 4-H Exploration Days youth have indicated that the top issue for them and their friends is knowing what they want to do in the future for a career and what they need to do to get there.)
Teach your subject-matter in a way that makes your session educational, hands-on and fun. 4-H specializes in providing opportunities for “learning by doing.” (Teaching new things through hands-on learning” was ranked as the most important feature of the Michigan 4 H program for the past three years by more than 50% of 4-H Exploration Days youth participants each year.)
Provide youth with leadership opportunities. (“Building leadership skills” was ranked second in importance by youth participants each of the past three years.)
Plan your session content to fill the entire time allocated for your session (five hours each for 1st-half and 2nd-half sessions, nine hours for full sessions). Event chaperones and staff expect all youth to be in their sessions for the full amount of time scheduled and not let out early. They will have plenty of recreation time after sessions are over.
Ensure your session supports and reflects the Michigan 4-H Youth Development 7 Guiding Principles. These are listed below.
- Youth develop positive relationships with adults and peers.
- Youth develop sustained relationships with peers and adults that nurture their positive development.
- Youth are physically and emotionally safe.
- Youth will learn more and participate more fully when they feel physically and emotionally safe. A structured yet flexible environment encourages honesty, trust and respect among all youth and adults.
- Youth are actively engaged in their own development.
- Through a process of identity discovery and awareness, youth increase their personal competence and sense of well-being.
- Youth are considered participants rather than recipients in the learning process.
- Youth are encouraged to actively participate in their learning. Opportunities for youth to learn and develop take place in many different contexts and take into account a variety of learning styles.
- Youth develop skills that help them succeed.
- Youth experience and learn from hands-on educational opportunities that help them develop the skills they need to be successful adults.
- Youth recognize, understand and appreciate multiculturalism.
- Youth will respect differences among groups and individuals of diverse backgrounds. Youth will develop skills and competencies that help them foster social justice in their communities and their world.
- Youth grow and contribute as active citizens through service and leadership.
- Youth develop personal competencies that foster leadership, caring and citizenship.
State 4-H programming committees are responsible for recruiting instructors. If an instructor is a county volunteer, the programming committee should inform the instructor's county. Once counties have been notified of those serving as session instructors, it is the county's responsibility to register these individuals as instructors. In late April, a list of instructor names, identifying both county and session number, will be sent to all counties for verification. Instructors should be included in orientation meetings, housing counts, etc.
Counties with volunteers who express interest in being instructors should contact the programming committee chairperson or State 4-H program leader who is responsible for programming in that interest area, before March 15.
Programming committees will provide instructors with a session planning packet which must be completed by the instructor and returned to the State 4-H office by mid-March.
- 4-H Exploration Days Instructor Planning Packet Adobe PDF format with "fill-in form fields" Note that this file format requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to open, fill in and print this document, however the packet file cannot be saved with session information included. You will need to print and mail or fax it to the State 4-H Office contact person. If the Adobe Acrobat Professional version is purchased and installed, forms can be filled in, saved and emailed in PDF file format to the designated State 4-H Office contact person.)
Session instructors receive free meals and lodging. Volunteered time and effort are greatly appreciated however, a $25 honorarium for volunteers only is available upon request to help offset travel and other expenses. If a volunteer instructor chooses to commute and declines free meals and lodging, a $50 honorarium may be requested. Honoraria are requested by filling out the appropriate section of the session planning packet.
Session Helpers are expected to:
- Be skilled in the session they are helping teach.
- Assist the instructor as needed with instruction and hands-on activities.
State 4-H committees and/or session instructors are responsible for contacting potential helpers and informing each helper's county to ensure the county registers them correctly as helpers. Teen session helpers who are assisting in only one half session should register as a participant for the other half session. In late April, a list of helper names, identifying both county and session number, will be sent to all counties for verification. Helpers should be included in orientation meetings, housing counts, etc.
Counties with members or volunteers who express interest in being a helper should contact the programming committee chairperson or State 4-H program leader who is responsible for programming in that interest area, before March 1.
Session helpers are not required to participate in any session orientation meeting prior to the first session unless it is arranged by the session instructor or the programming committee.
County volunteer teen and adult session helpers will receive free meals and lodging. County staff serving as session helpers receive a scholarship for approximately half the event registration fee (refer to current year's fee for exact scholarship amount).
All youth and adult participants must abide by the Code of Conduct. This is required for participation at 4-H Exploration Days. Please sign and return the form given in the back of the 4-H Exploration Days registration book as directed.
County Field Staff are expected to:
- Ensure that all participants and chaperones understand the rules and expectations.
- Collect and submit all the necessary delegation forms. Forward the forms due to the State 4-H office by the dates requested. Be sure all the county maintained forms are collected and organized for use at the event by CCAs and staff.
- Work with CCAs in conducting the county meetings.
- Work with CCAs and chaperones to help them carry out their responsibilities.
- Frequently check their county message baggie in the 4-H Information Center in case they (or others from their delegation) have a message or are needed by other staff or county participants.
- Get involved if a behavior problem occurs and parents must be contacted. The 4-H member should make the call in the presence of the field staff member and/or CCA and then get either the staff person or CCA on the phone. If the 4-H'er is unable to call home, the field staff member should make the call and explain the problem to the parents.
- Work with participants to gain feedback on daily activities and explore how everyone's new learning can be shared with others back home.
County staff have ultimate responsibility for the health, safety and well-being of all members of the county delegation, even though the CCA is the official communication link between the Conference General Headquarters and the county delegation and serves as the leader of the county chaperones.
County 4-H staff are strongly encouraged to attend Exploration Days and stay with their county delegation. If no staff member attends the event, the county must ensure that the CCA is provided with telephone numbers for reaching a staff person day or night. A staff person will be called and expected to get involved if a behavior problem or emergency arises.
In addition to providing support to the county delegation, field staff are encouraged to accept other responsibilities during the event. Many field staff serve as session instructors, helpers or CCA's and assist at General Headquarters.
Field staff who serve as instructors or CCA's will attend at no cost. Field staff wo serve as session helpers will receive a scholarship for approximately half of the participant conference fee.
Adults who attend 4-H Exploration Days must serve as either a session host or an activity host if they are not serving as CCAs, session instructors or session helpers. (Many CCAs, instructors and helpers also graciously double as session and/or activity hosts!) If each of the more than 400 adults who annually attend take on just one of these support roles there are enough people to fill each and every spot.
Adults sign up to serve as hosts on the back side of the event registration form found at the end of the registration book or on-line.
A direct mailing is sent from the State 4-H office to all hosts approximately three weeks before the event regarding their assignment and responsibilities. County MSU Extension offices also receive a copy of this mailing.
A host orientation will be held before the first session periods for approximately 15 minutes. Host 4-H clover vests will be distributed at that time so that hosts can be easily identified.
Session Hosts
A host will be identified for each session. The primary function of session hosts is to take attendance and report missing participants back to counties.
Responsibilities are:
- Arrive early to the session.
- Post the session sign.
- Serve as a greeter.
- Take attendance.
- Facilitate get-acquainted activities for those who arrive early or at the start of the session if desired.
- When the session is ready to start, get everyone's attention and turn things over to the instructor.
- Settle in late arrivals.
- Complete an absence sheet for each participant missing from the session.
- Hand-carry absence sheets to the 4-H Exploration Days HQ or a 4-H information center.
Additional responsibilities for hosts attending the session as a participant:
- Stay for the entire session period.
- Assist the instructor in keeping everyone at the session for the full time period.
- Hosts assigned to sessions taking field trips should take attendance on the bus before the bus departs and give their completed absence forms to the event Headquarters staff assisting at the bus loading site.
Additional information for at large hosts (those not signed up as a session participant):
- Those assigned to sessions with field trips should not attend the field trip. Instead, these at large hosts need to take attendance on the bus then be sure the instructor or helper is set to take over.
- Those assigned to sessions that are not taking field trips are not expected to attend the entire session. These at large hosts should stay for 15 minutes after the session begins in order to take attendance and fill out absence reports. Absence reports are then taken to either the event headquarters or a 4-H Information Center and distributed to the appropriate counties so they can follow up with participants and counties.
Activity Hosts
Activity hosts will be identified to assist participants with navigating the MSU campus and helping them feel comfortable. Activity host responsibilities are:
- Assist participants as needed to increase their emotional and physical safety and well-being (provide directions, answer questions, etc.)
- Provide leadership and problem-solve as needed to assist participants.
This role will vary based on the specific assignment. Further details will be provided at the host orientation held at the start of the event.
For more information on 4-H Exploration Days, contact:
Judy A. Ratkos,
Program Leader
4-H Youth Development
Michigan State University
160 Agriculture Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039
USA
Phone: 517-432-7613
Fax: 517-355-6748
Email: ratkos@msu.edu
Pat Talbot, Project Event Coordinator
4-H Youth Development
Michigan State University
160 Agriculture Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039
USA
Phone: 517-432-7616
Fax: 517-355-6748
Email: talbotp@msu.edu
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About 4-H Exploration Days | What's
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© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Michigan State University
Last Updated: February 28, 2008
Last Reviewed:January 22, 2008