Agricultural Youth Leadership

Kelsie (Hanlontown, Iowa) attended Global Youth Village this past summer, and was one of six students selected to be part of the Youth Leadership Program — Turkey & USA. This U.S. Department of State initiative links young farmers who are opening the eyes of their peers to food production and careers in agriculture.  Kelsie has been a 4-H member for seven years and has led many peer-education programs both at the state and county 4-H levels. The goal of her county group has been to engage the youth in her community. Kelsie’s passion for combining STEM and agricultural education has led her in many new directions including teaching robotics to youth.  She was selected to attend the National 4-H conference as one of six Iowa delegates. All of Kelsie’s accomplishments made her a stellar match to be a US Ambassador for the YLP-T program. 

As part of the YLP-T program, each selected student is required to complete a self-initiated project related to agriculture. The mission of Kelsie’s personal project was to grow her own pumpkin patch for kindergarteners and to teach youth about the joys of farm life and growing one’s own food.  With the help of two conservationists and a member from Farm Bureau Insurance, on October 7th, Kelsie hosted 30 kindergarteners and 15 adults on her family farm. Kelsie’s farm and pumpkin patch experience had several stations, including pumpkin-picking and weighing, making pumpkin-pies, caring for livestock (goats, horses, chickens, etc.), and pony rides. Kelsie’s project was a complete success and everyone who attended had a wonderful time! 

Below are some photos from Kelsie’s event. 

The first image depicts her home-grown pumpkin patch, and the second image shows the pony rides the kindergarteners participated in.