Oct. 3, 2007

COLLEGE STATION – When Jack County Agent Tom Marks organized the first boys' ‘corn club' in Texas a century ago, no one ever talked about peer pressure.

But 100 years later, that first 25-member club has grown into Texas 4-H – which has touched the lives of more than a million young Texans a year several times since the turn of the 21st century. And peer pressure is the No. 1 topic for the Youth Board of Hill County.

"We felt peer pressure covers a lot of things," said Katie Rodgers, 17, 4-H and youth board member. "We felt it would hit a lot of people who want to know how you deal with it."

The board members got together and determined that "one of the main issues at our schools was peer pressure," said Sadie Peacock, 17, youth board member.

The members put together a program on how to deal with peer pressure and presented it to 36 participants at Whitney High School, Rodgers said.

And they won't stop there. The group has two more presentations planned for this fall and two in the spring, said Ashley Sulak, Extension 4-H and youth development agent in Hill County. That means the youth board's presentation will be seen in nearly half of the 10 school districts in the county.

"I feel it was a way to get the word about (peer pressure) and to help them deal with it – to help them be better prepared," Rodgers said.

Rodgers has been a 4-H member for about six years, she said. During that time her projects have included livestock, photography and record book. This year she hopes to do a record book on leadership – which is one reason she volunteered to serve on the youth board.

Peacock joined 4-H a year ago when she volunteered to be on the youth board. She was looking for a leadership project, she said, "and it seemed like it would be fun to do – (a way) for us to make a difference in our towns and our community. Also it would look good on a college application."

Rodgers and Peacock are two of the members of youth boards across the state, said Courtney Dodd, Texas Cooperative Extension program specialist in volunteer development. These boards were developed to give young people more input in developing programs that concern them, she said.

The boards were designed "to address the needs of youth in their county because they know what needs are there and can address them," Dodd said.

Sulak put it this way: "As a grassroots organization, Extension's mission is to provide quality, relevant educational programming to all citizens. In order to know what the community needs, you have to listen to the community voice."

Before the establishment of youth boards in 2006, "Extension did not have an outlet for the youth voice," Sulak added.

Requirements for membership on the board is set up by each county, she said. Members are usually in junior high or high school and serve for a length of time determined by the county. Some boards have as few as eight or as many as 15 members.

Young people from other organizations, such as FFA, also serve on the boards, Rodgers said.

Serving on the youth board is a way to give back to the community in a unique way, the board members said.

"Kids listen better to other kids because a lot of kids don't like to listen to adults," Rodgers said. "It's easier to give the same point of view."

But through the youth boards, adults are learning to listen to young people, Sulak said.

"Youth-adult partnerships are the key to growing a strong community," she said. Through the youth boards, young people "are put on a level playing field with the adults, and this partnership enables high success with issues youth face.

"The youth who participate in programs offered by youth-adult partnerships are more likely to follow through with what the program offers," Sulak said. "This is great, but what is even more striking is the leaders that we have created by giving power to youth.

"Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders, and we are giving them great practice for the real, unsheltered world."