Pollinator Ambassadors
Pollinator Ambassadors
Who are the Georgia 4-H Ambassadors?
Since 2005, the Georgia 4-H Ambassador Program offers opportunities for high school students to learn and lead in specific content areas related to their interests. Each spring, Ambassadors are selected through an application process that evaluates their interests, teaching and leadership experiences, and desire to educate others. In the early summer, Ambassadors participate in a dynamic and intensive training experience that allows them to learn how to plan, implement, and evaluate outreach programming as well as connect with subject matter experts related to their specific track. Throughout the upcoming year, Ambassadors are tasked with completing activities that further their learning as well as teaching others about topics within their area of focus. Participants are recognized annually at State 4-H Council if they meet all the outreach requirements and submit necessary reports.
What do Pollinator Ambassadors do?
The Pollinator Ambassadors focus their learning and outreach efforts around the importance of pollination, the process by which pollen is moved from the anther to the sigma in flowers. Almost all flowering plants require pollination to reproduce and produce fruit and seeds. Pollination can happen by wind, water, and animals. Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. Over the last several decades, the decline in pollinator species can be attributed to many causes – pests and pathogens, chemical exposure, loss of species and genetic diversity, changing climate, and habitat loss, degradation, and/or fragmentation. Because humans depend on plants and pollinators for food supply and healthy ecosystems, a balance must be maintained to sustainable life.
Ambassador Activities
After the training weekend, Ambassadors are tasked with completing 6 learning activities and 6 sharing activities for the upcoming year.
A learning activity is an opportunity for the Ambassador to learn more information about their focus area. This could include attending a presentation or workshop, touring a facility, interviewing an expert, or reading credible information.
A sharing activity is an opportunity for the Ambassador to share the information they’ve learned with others. This could be a direct sharing experience, like leading a Project Club, teaching a class or workshop, having an educational experience at a festival or community event, or even mentoring a young person or peer. Indirect experiences like creating educational displays, writing articles, producing videos or other media, can also be considered sharing activities.
Promotion Opportunities
The Georgia 4-H Ambassador opportunity is open to high school students. Consider individually encouraging youth to apply for this opportunity. You may consider trying to align a young person’s personal interest (spark) with one of the content area tracks. This is also a great way for youth to develop portfolio work for the Project Achievement process. The Georgia 4-H Ambassador Team intends for the areas of focus to be broad topics that encompass a multitude of subdisciplines and smaller areas of interest.
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (working cooperatively with Fort Valley State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the counties of Georgia) offers its educational programs, assistance, and materials to all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or protected veteran status and is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action organization.