October 12, 2022
Weber represents K-State at National 4-H Professionals Conference
Wade Weber, assistant dean in the Office of Student Life, has been invited to speak as a national presenter delivering a seminar presentation titled "Stories Matter: Teaching Youth Facilitation Skills through Conversation Bootcamp and Community Conversations" on Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the National Association of 4-H Youth Development Professionals Annual Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.
Since 2019, Kansas 4-H has implemented an intentional three-step leadership development pathway for youth through the creation of 1) Conversation Boot Camp, 2) Stories Matter, utilizing Visual Thinking Strategies in partnership with Beach Museum of Art, and 3) Community Conversations — using the National Issues Forum in partnership with K-State's Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy, including the capstone event at Citizenship in Action Day at the Statehouse in mid-February.
Weber will be representing the good work of many partnerships across the K-State and Kansas 4-H community. Thank you to the K-State community for contributing to the development of tomorrow's leaders through Kansas 4-H, the state's largest youth development program. Together, we are extending the mission of the next-generation land-grant university to communities across Kansas.
Contributors and partners include Aliah Mestrovich Seay, executive director of UFM; Donna Schenck-Hamlin, program associate, co-founder and a facilitator of community partnerships with the Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy; Lorenza Lockett, assistant professor of social work; Lisa Bietau, retired Manhattan-Ogden School District educator; Kathrine Schlageck, associate curator of education and Kim Richards, education specialist from the Beach Museum of Art; Saya Kakim, graduate researcher; Jaryth Barten, Kansas Leadership Center program associate; and Jackie Hernandez and Chase Jordan, K-State students serving as program coordinators/consultants.
Generous support has been given from the Staley School of Leadership; Ernie Minton, dean of the College of Agriculture; College of Agriculture leadership, specifically Susan Metzger, senior executive administrator to the dean/director; K-State Research and Extension leadership, including Gregg Hadley, director for extension; Kansas 4-H Community Vitality Leadership team, including Beth Hinshaw, regional 4-H specialist, Dona Ratliff, program coordinator for Citizenship in Action, Institute for Civil Discourse and Democracy-trained facilitators and many KSRE local unit agents.