March 22, 2021
2021 Kansas 4-H Discovery Days call for proposals
Proposals for content tracks for the 2021 4-H Discovery Days event scheduled June 1-4 are now being accepted.
As this is the second year offering the program virtually, we have learned a great deal about how youth prefer to engage online. This has led us to formulate a schedule that engages youth through smaller groups, over shorter sessions, with ample time to digest and apply content.
The proposed schedule for 4-H Discovery Days is as follows:
- Tuesday, June 1 — all participants
- Evening welcome kickoff and keynote
- 4-H Council Engagement
- Wednesday, June 2, and Thursday, June 3 — cohort groups
- Sessions organized into content related tracks
- 10-30 youth per track
- Four, hourlong sessions designed to engage and build upon a content area
- Utilizing hands-on learning and flipped classroom options where some content can be available beforehand and sessions are used for engagement
- Sessions held between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day — some flexibility to tailor the content delivery schedule to the content delivered
- Friday, June 4 — all participants
- Morning wrap-up and cap-note speaker
The proposals for the 2021 event should be aligned to academic units represented at K-State:
- Agriculture.
- Architecture, Planning & Design.
- Arts and Sciences.
- Business Administration.
- Education.
- Engineering, STEM.
- Health and Human Sciences.
- Leadership, Civic Engagement.
- Career and college readiness — college or career prep beyond a specific area, e.g., interview or resume preparation.
Content tracks should also reflect the objectives of the 4-H Discovery Days program:
- Help youth learn new ideas, techniques and skills they can use personally and in their 4-H clubs or groups and communities.
- Give youth in-depth training through hands-on educational sessions from content and youth development experts.
- Prepare youth to make informed decisions about their careers and college path.
- Enhance personal growth by giving opportunities to develop responsibility, confidence, independence, accountability, problem-solving, decision-making and time management skills.
- Help youth meet new people and make new friends from different places and with different backgrounds from across the state.
- Provide an opportunity for youth to experience the K-State campus and its wealth of resources.
- Develop college and career readiness skills that prepare participants academically and socially for a successful transition to college and life as an adult.
To accomplish the creation of the cohort content track model we are seeking out track leaders who would act as organizational leaders for each track. This could be one person or a small group. The purpose of this role would be to coordinate and facilitate the content for a chosen area.
The first stage in our planning will be to find organizational leaders. These leaders would submit their intent to lead a cohort along with a short — two to four sentences — description of their intended track by April 6. We would then review and confirm each track before opening registration on or before April 12. Group leaders would then work to finalize content, session outlines and times, which would be due to the office by May 6. General registration will close on May 15. Session leaders will then receive a finalized list of participants for their track.
If you have any questions please contact Dona Ratliff at dsratlif@k-state.edu or 785-532-5800, or Shane Potter at potters@k-state.edu.
Please submit your track ideas and share with others who may be interested as well.