Article by Nancy Wilhelm Contact Emily Alger, Program Coordinator, Extension, Haddam, CT emily.alger@uconn.edu 860-345-5218 4-H.uconn.edu UConn 4-H is a statewide program with educators in all eight counties. Each of our 4-H educators brings unique skills and life experiences to the program. If there is one experience that has opened Emily Alger’s eyes to how special the 4-H program is, it would be asking the high school field hockey team that she coaches to participate in the National 4-H Science Experiment. Each year National 4-H Council introduces a new science experiment that 4-H members across the country take part in. In 2017 the Science Day Challenge was “Incredible Wearables”, a hands-on STEM project that challenges young people to build a wearable fitness tracker that will help people lead healthier lives. Emily explains that, “the team is not exposed to 4-H activities or our culture. Yet I walk in and hand them the science kits and the handbook, divide them into groups and ask them to complete the experiment, and every year I get responses say- ing it was my favorite activity of the year and we should be doing this in school.” Emily adds, “You can’t understand the impact of what we do until you introduce it to youth outside of the program and see their responses.” As the Middlesex County 4-H Program Coordinator, Emily works with a variety of exciting and unique programs. Her introduction to 4-H came as a member at the age of seven. Emily participated in a variety of projects and was a regular participant in the 4-H fair. It remains to this day one of the aspects of her work that she is most proud of, emphasizing the patience and nurturing necessary to commit to a youth driven program such as the 4-H Fair. “We were the first fair to have an entire youth board of directors. There are no voting adults in Middlesex County. Each youth is paired with a mentor and is responsible for their job description. We have a full fair manual. Everybody has to complete and submit reports. It’s really run by the youth. It takes a lot of follow-up to make sure that things move forward smoothly, but we are committed to it. I think the place it shows up the most is that our millennials are dying to get back into this program and mentor. Not only did they learn how to do a job and take pride in Emily Alger Changing Lives Through 4-H 26 2017 HIGHLIGHTS OF EXTENSION