The Junior Leadership Conference is for 4-H members in 7th and 8th grade. This event is organized and conducted by the State 4-H Youth Leadership Team. Workshops help participants develop leadership skills, learn about 4-H opportunities, and explore 4-H project areas.
Have fun and make new friends at JLC!
Stay tuned for 2024 information!
Sample of Past JLC Workshop Descriptions
Rockin’ the Universe with Leadership: Join us to learn about the rocking world of leadership! Discover the cycle of a leader, the core of leadership, and how YOU can make a lasting imprint. Using themes of Geology, we will explore and show you how to become the best leaders in the universe!
Smart Ag in Space! Are you interested in farming? How about technology? What if…we can combine technology, farming, and space? Learn about how technology and agriculture will collide so we can farm in space and maybe even on Mars! We will create a miniature aspect of important agriculture STEM advancements being used in the real world.
Expectation vs Reality: You can’t be a leader without taking care of yourself first! During this workshop attendees will work as a team to identify healthy food substitutions. This will be a safe space for attendees to feel welcomed to talk about any of their food insecurities or fears, as well as bringing a positive light onto the relationship that food has with our bodies.
Building a Leadership Mindset: Blasting off into the relationship between mental health and leadership through group discussions, trivia, and fun crafts. Young cadets will battle mental health myths and experience various simulations (skits) to learn safe coping strategies and responses to crises. With these enhanced skills, cadets will be ready to rocket off into leadership.
Community Service: Join us to learn more about food insecurity in Illinois and across the globe. We will also be packaging and distributing meals across the state.
Escape Room: “Houston We Have A Problem! Our spaceship is damaged!” Your Spaceship’s Command Center, Navigation System, and Laboratory each must find the clues, solve the puzzles, and work together to fix your ship before it's too late! This escape room themed workshop will get you thinking, so suit up cadets!
Leadership in Practice: The Youth Leadership Team is in OUTERSPACE and the Junior Leadership Attendees are in the COCKPIT! In this workshop, your teams will have the opportunities to lead each other in a variety of icebreakers and team building challenges. Practice being the leaders so that you can bring the activities back to lead with your clubs.
Conference Planning Committee: The Illinois State 4-H Youth Leadership Team plans and leads this conference.
Programming Questions: contact Katie Duitsman, pilcher3@illinois.edu.
Logistic Questions: contact Carla Blue, blue1@illinois.edu
Support: The conference is supported with funds from the Illinois 4-H Foundation and additional sponsors.