Submitted photo Millie Lax (third from L), of the Golden Rose Riders 4-H Club, participates in a team-building activity at this year’s Southwest Building Leadership and Understanding (BLU) workshop.

MARSHALL — Minnesota 4-H held the Southwest BLU and TEEL leadership workshops on Feb. 18 at Southwest Minnesota State University for 58 youth from across the southern Minnesota region.

In February, youth from across Minnesota gathered to participate in the annual 4-H Building Leadership and Understanding (BLU) and Teens Engaged in Emerging Leadership (TEEL) workshops. Four regional BLU and TEEL leadership events were held across the state. BLU was facilitated by youth leaders from the Minnesota 4-H State Ambassador program and TEEL was led by older 4-H youth leaders and 4-H alumni. The events were also supported by a team of adult chaperones.

Using a youth-teaching-youth model, the 4-H BLU leadership workshops are developed and led by 4-H State Ambassadors and Minnesota 4-H youth who have been selected to serve as spokespeople for 4-H.

Millie Lax, a Golden Rose Riders 4-H Club member from Brown County, participated in BLU this year and was able to learn more about the SMSU Agronomy and Theatre departments from faculty and students, and experienced Student Dining in addition to a campus tour.

This year’s theme focused on “Seasons of Growth”. Youth learned about leadership while connecting to their own personal story and experiences through hands-on activities.

Youth also had the chance to learn about the Crayon Initiative, which is an organization that takes used crayons, melts them down and creates new crayons for kids in the hospital. This organization helps bring joy to children who are ill and keeps millions of crayons out of landfills.

To learn more about 4-H in Brown County, contact 4-H Extension Educator Janessa Palmer, at 507-794-7993 and visit the website, extension.umn.edu/local/brown.