Local 4-H Members to Participate in Leadership Conference

COURT HOUSE – Seven Cape May County 4-H teen members will attend the 2016 South Jersey 4-H Teen Conference on March 4-6, 2016 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Sam Barry, of Eldora, Coryn Dykhouse, Cape May Court House, Erin Schalick, Cape May Court House, Minglan (Angela) Zheng, Cape May Court House, Victoria McCann, Cape May, Victoria Matt, Ocean City and Lewis Megonigal, North Cape May will be a part of approximately 200 4-Hers from 10 South Jersey counties at the conference.
4-H teens have selected “Stay Strong, Live Long with 4-H!” as their 2016 conference theme. During the three-day event, participants will take part in interactive educational workshops based on the national 4-H Mission Mandate of Healthy Living. Workshop topics will include careers in the health industry, stress reduction, healthy eating, yoga and other exercise forms, road race preparation, sun safety and more.
Other activities include leadership and team-building activities, meeting other 4-H teens from around south Jersey, visiting the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and a food collection community service project. A formal banquet will be held on Saturday evening, which will highlight the activities of county 4-H Teen Councils, and the closing session on Sunday will include an inspirational speaker and reflections on the weekend.
The teens will also have the opportunity to practice voting in actual voting booths generously provided by the Cape May County Board of Elections. Acting 4-H Agent Linda Horner is grateful to Board of Elections Director Michael Kennedy and his staff for providing the voting booths to the conference every year. “The value to these South Jersey teens of having the opportunity to learn how the voting process works and getting to vote in real voting booths cannot be overstated. Thanks to our Cape May County Board of Elections, we are preparing future experienced voters each year at the South Jersey Teen Conference.”
Partial funding for the South Jersey Teen Conference is generously provided by the Youth Voice: Youth Choice Program funded by National 4-H Council and the Wal-Mart Foundation.
The Cape May County 4-H delegation’s responsibility at the conference is to provide voting booths from the Cape May County Board of Elections and to conduct evaluations at the conference.
The South Jersey 4-H Teen Conference is an annual event which brings 4-H members in grades 8-13 (one year out of high school) together to practice leadership, citizenship and cooperation and is coordinated by the 4-H Youth Development Program, a part of Rutgers Cooperative Extension.  4-H offers educational programs to all youth, grades K-13, on an age-appropriate basis, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
For more information about the New Jersey 4-H Program, administered by Rutgers Cooperative Extension, visit the website at http://nj4h.rutgers.edu. To learn more about    4-H in Cape May County, visit www.cmc4h.org.