June 4, 2025 | Carver County, Minnesota
June 4 was already a long day—it was the last day of school—but it also became a pretty memorable one.
That afternoon, Owen, a fellow 4-H youth from Carver County, and I attended the Carver County Extension Committee meeting to give our first presentation about the Metropolitan Council 4-H Climate Action Project.
In the weeks leading up to the meeting, we practiced together several times with Gillian Greenberg from the Metropolitan Council and 4-H educator Bri Hall. We worked on how to explain the project clearly, summarize what we had learned from community interviews across the metro area, and present our findings in a way that would make sense to people who actually work on county and community issues.
At the meeting, we shared how youth had interviewed community members, analyzed their responses, identified common themes, and developed recommendations around climate action and environmental education.
It was also our first chance to present the work directly to county commissioners, Extension committee members, and other county officials. That made the experience feel very different from practicing a presentation in a classroom. We had to explain our work clearly, answer questions, and listen carefully to the feedback people gave us.
The discussion afterward was one of the most valuable parts. Hearing how county leaders viewed the project helped me think more seriously about how research and community input can actually be communicated to decision-makers.
After weeks of preparation, it was rewarding to finally bring the project outside of our own group and share what we had learned with people serving the community.
And after finishing the last day of school and heading straight into a county meeting, I was definitely tired, but also really glad I went.
Thank you to the Carver County Extension Committee for inviting us to share our project and for taking the time to listen, ask questions, and give us valuable feedback. It meant a lot to have the chance to learn directly from county leaders and hear how they viewed our work.
