Wildlife Ambassadors
Wildlife 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 Wildlife Ambassadors do?
The Wildlife Ambassadors focus their learning and outreach efforts around the importance of wildlife conservation, specifically native wildlife Georgia. Youth are trained in the national Project WILD curriculum, becoming Certified Educators to lead wildlife activities related to ecological knowledge, social and political knowledge, and sustaining fishing and wildlife resources. Wildlife conservation leads to biodiversity, climate change mitigation, and ecosystem services, such as clean air and water and nutrient cycling. Plus, humans benefit from wildlife conservation in the areas of food, medicine, agriculture, and natural resources.
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.