The 4-H Ontario Ambassador program provides youth with advanced level training in leadership, citizenship, communications and public relations. Ambassadors put their energy and 4-H experiences to work recruiting new members and sharing the 4-H story. The 4-H Ontario Ambassador Program is sponsored by FS.
Submitted by Andrea Dohner, 4-H Ontario Youth Ambassador from Elgin 4-H Association
A Year In Review
As the new year arrives, it is time to think and reflect on the past year, and look forward to the new year. Looking back on my year as an Ambassador, many amazing thoughts and memories come to mind. Memories like working at College Royal, going on FS Sponsorship tours with my fellow Ambassadors, travelling to Eastern Ontario for the Avonmore Fair, and the Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference, to name a few. Being a part of the Ambassador Program has made me appreciate 4-H more than I could have ever imagined. Being able to attend events all over Ontario gave me the chance to see how different associations run their events and to connect with so many different people to share our love and connection to 4-H. I remember being nervous about travelling to new places with unknown people, but I always kept in mind that I was meeting with 4-H’ers, people that I share a mutual love for the organization with so I didn’t have anything to worry about. One of my main goals as an Ambassador this year was to introduce people to 4-H. I wanted to meet people who had never heard of 4-H so that I could share my story and encourage them to join, I was able to do just that at my first event. My first event was College Royal at the University of Guelph and it also happened to be one of my favourite events. At College Royal I had the pleasure of connecting to many different people and was able to introduce many of them to 4-H and what it stands for. I was also able to meet many people who shared stories from when they were younger and we got to compare it to today’s 4-H. I found out that a lot has changed, but some of the most important things like the values and mottos of 4-H have still stayed the same even after all these years. Overall, my year as an Ambassador was rewarding in so many ways. I was able to meet so many people, connect to them and introduce new people to 4-H. If I could encourage every 4-H’er ages 18-21 to participate in the Ambassador program, I would; you never know who you could meet and how many people’s lives you could positively impact simply by sharing your passion and 4-H story.