December 19, 2023
Extension Program Specialist Highlight: 4-H Shooting Sports
Kansas 4-H shooting sports volunteers dedicated their time to help youth thrive in 2023. Consistency in positive youth development and firearm safety came from intensive volunteer training with the seven national 4-H Shooting Sports curriculums.
In Kansas 4-H, shooting sports volunteers are dedicated to helping 2,798 4-H youth taking 6,027 projects to thrive and reach their full potential as they grow through 10 4-H shooting sports projects. Three statewide trainings and one national training for volunteers were organized and held in Kansas in 2023.
For me, teaching the coordinator discipline and writing, and teaching new general session lessons engaging 137 volunteers from 32 states at the national training was a privilege. Kansas also added 111 discipline certified volunteers through state trainings.
Partnering with Tammy Stuhr from Nebraska, we started a program called, Shooting Better Scientifically to assist leaders to better incorporate the 4-H missions of Healthy Living, Civic Engagement, and STEM into their Shooting Sports programming. Our program recently won the Excellence in Programming Award from the National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4-HYDP).
The national reach of our program has grown from 45 participants to 422 participants. Each program includes a written lesson plan, a demonstration on how to teach the lesson, and question/answer time.
To sign up please go to shooting better scientifically. A statewide program called “Counties on Target with 4-H Shooting Sports” was also started for county agents and shooting sports leaders in 2023. It will begin again in January. To sign up, please go to counties on target.
In 2023, Kansas 4-H shooting sports volunteers reported 58,070 donated hours, which is an Independent Sector Volunteer Value (https://independentsector.org/resource/value-of-volunteer-time/) of $1,828,087. This is 15,495 more hours than reported in 2022. There were 6,027 individual enrollments in the ten 4-H shooting sports projects. Volunteers also reported reaching another 3,311 youth through events outside the 4-H Club setting, for a total reported youth reach of 9,338 by 4-H shooting sports volunteers.
Serving as an extension specialist from the North Central Region on the National Shooting Sports Committee gives Kansas a voice. The youth's voice is also valued through the implementation of national and Kansas 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador programs.
Teaching at the National Leadership Institute, I watched Kansas Lange from Pawnee County grow as she was encouraged to tell her 4-H story, which is currently being used in the state of California, to show the positive impact that 4-H Shooting Sports can have on youth mental health.
Through her years in 4-H shooting sports, Lange went from a lonely youth who didn’t believe others cared about her, to a youth with many friends from other states and a large group of adult volunteers who support her. Lange says: “I credit this program with saving my life and shaping my future. I aim to give back to future kids suffering from the same affliction that plagues most junior high kids: loneliness.” --Chandra Plate, Extension Specialist, 4-H Youth Development