A Jackson County High School senior and 4-H member back from Washington D.C. with new leadership and wellness strategies for her local community.
Jackson County 4-H Healthy Living Ambassador Esme Smith joined about twenty other participants from Tennessee at the 4-H Ignite summit. The conference gathers youth from across the United States to share ideas and develop programs that benefit their home counties.
“The things that 4-H teaches you, especially the communication, you know, the public speaking, the leadership, all that, those are skills you’re going to need for the rest of your life, whether it’s a job interview or just, you know, interacting with other people, it’s so very beneficial,” Smith said. “And then with healthy living, I mean, our bodies, we have to take care of them, you know, this is the body you’re going to have for the rest of your life, and the sooner you start taking care of it and, you know, treating it as best as you can, the better that your life is going to be and the better you’re going to feel.”
Smith said her primary responsibility is teaching youth how to make small, manageable changes to improve their daily health. People often have the misconception that living healthy requires changing everything at once and always making perfect exercise and dietary choices.
“So a big thing that I learned is really just thing, we need to incorporate more things into the community to encourage leadership,” Smith said. “Not only just for the youth but also for our other 4-H participants, it’s such an important thing to be able to lead and communicate, so I think anything really that just gets kids and teens and adults involved in making decisions and being involved with each other.”
Smith said she serves as a team leader for the Healthy Me program, which launched this year to teach first-grade students about empathy, compassion, and making informed decisions.
“I would absolutely say do it,” Smith said. “You don’t have to immediately jump in with like a very involved role if you’re a little unsure about it. We have lots of like small little projects and things that youth can do to see, you know, what they might be interested in because 4-H is so incredibly broad, there’s all kinds of different things that you can do. So like even if you’re a little nervous, you don’t have to immediately jump into being a healthy living ambassador, you can start small and work your way up.”
Smith said the organization offers a wide variety of opportunities for students to explore their interests at their own pace. Participants can gradually increase their involvement as they become more comfortable with the programs.
“I definitely think maybe just getting like getting out of your head,” Smith said. “Like I think especially like a lot of kids my age we struggle with anxiety, and that’s why I think sometimes kids don’t join things like 4-H is because they’re nervous. And I just, I have never met a single person in the 4-H community that is not so kind and so understanding and so very helpful. So I really think that just getting out of your head, getting out of your comfort zone, and going for it anyways, you’re going to find so many amazing people that it’s really just, it’s going to be a great impact on your life.”
Smith said she hopes to soon participate in teaching local teens and kids about cooking and knife safety.