This is Behind the Clover: Real 4-H Talk with Real 4-H Pros. A look at 4-H from the perspectives of 4-H professionals from Illinois and beyond with your hosts, Henry Craft, Amy Henschen, and Ryan Littlejohn.
Amy Henschen: 00:36Thanks for joining us today for another episode of Behind the Clover. I'm Amy, and I'm here with my cohosts, Henry and Ryan. We've got an exciting episode for you today as continue having illuminating conversations with 4-H professionals from around Illinois. We've made it to the top on our journey through different 4-H positions. Today, we're going to talk to our fearless leader and passionate advocate, Illinois 4-H's Assistant Dean and Director, Lisa Diaz.
Amy Henschen: 01:00We're super excited to have Lisa with us. We'll introduce you to her fully in a bit, but we'll include her in our roundup here in a minute. So we're gonna kick things off with our normal check-in with our crew on what's up in our lives. That could be either personal or professional. So this week, we're gonna start with Henry.
Amy Henschen: 01:15Henry, what do got going on in your life?
Henry Craft: 01:18Oh, man. I feel like every week I'm completely stumped. Like, I'm not anticipating this on my calendar that we're gonna talk, and then I just, like, kill time while I think about what's actually happening in my life. Yeah. So honestly, this has been the I think one of the craziest weeks in my time here with extension.
Henry Craft: 01:37Just so much going on, Paperwork. Yeah. That's that's been me and Amy have been having some chitchats about that. But yeah. I mean, personally, how just my kids got new glasses today, and they're looking super cute.
Henry Craft: 01:52I got to have lunch with my parents, and that was that was great. But, yeah, just just the basic life stuff. I've been working on this tabletop gaming series still and starting to put some feet on it. So I'm pretty excited to get into Canva because I kinda like that stuff too. But, yeah, just been doing that and podcast editing and all sorts of fun stuff, but it's just staying busy.
Henry Craft: 02:22So, Ryan, what you got, man? What's going on?
Ryan Littlejohn: 02:25I feel like you, Henry. It has been a week, a busy week, which is good. It's it's been great. I finished up today my second of five signature programs this semester. So I've been very busy doing those and getting ready for those, which I'm excited about.
Ryan Littlejohn: 02:43I'm adding robotics. I have a robotics team this year, and we're doing that. And then I got Kurt's bass fishing stuff in the mail. So I'm gonna be fishing the next two weeks to try to get ready for the program I'm doing. I'm I'm excited to have some fun.
Ryan Littlejohn: 03:00But on top of that, I'm doing a lot of networking in our community and making good relationships. We're actually located on Frontier Community College campus here in Wayne County, and I'm actually meeting with the college next week to figure out how they can help provide workshops for my kids with their professors and different things like that. So I'm staying busy trying to find some new things, some fun things, and I think that's all I'm gonna be doing until fair starts, which is, like, a hundred days away or something like that. It's crazy, but it keeps going. So what about you, Amy?
Amy Henschen: 03:32Well, I have to say, Ryan, I love when our job can be like, well, I have to fish to practice fishing for teaching fishing. Like, ugh, my life is so hard.
Ryan Littlejohn: 03:41Exactly. Right? I gotta I gotta go out, and I gotta make different knots, and, you know, I gotta see if they work. I mean
Amy Henschen: 03:47Yeah. You don't want you wanna make sure you can tie them and they catch fish so that you're not disappointing those kids. So I love that. I miss that. As a state staff person who deals with staff development, I have less of that in my life now, but still great.
Amy Henschen: 04:01I did have an amazingly recharging day on Tuesday this week. We had regional trainings and an educator, an EPC and I, like, co taught a training on program planning. It was mostly EPCs who came, and it was fantastic. I just felt really energized. And, like, I think we, like, blew a few minds.
Amy Henschen: 04:21Some in a good way, some in bad ways. Was like, did we overwhelm you? We didn't mean to. But I think a lot of people we got some really great feedback, and it just made some more connections for me of, like, things that are missing. And that's, like, my favorite thing is being, like, how can we do better?
Amy Henschen: 04:35So I like, clearly after that day, I was like, okay. I need to make some, like, one sheeters about, like, EPC first year, like, things to focus on, things you don't need to worry about. Just, like, some, you know, just connecting dots. So I love kind of when a meeting is, like, good for me in that way and, like, I leave with lots of ideas of things I could be doing to help make other people's jobs easier. So that was, like, really great.
Amy Henschen: 04:57So I'm excited about that and just jazz to, like, see. Oh, I have a lot of family time coming up in the next week. So taking a few days off, just gearing up for some family fun. So, like, that's always the best. So that's kind of what's going on with me.
Amy Henschen: 05:09Like, I wanna invite Lisa in this conversation. Lisa, what do have going on with your life?
Lisa Diaz: 05:13I was listening to all three of you. I haven't had any opportunities or good excuses to build my fishing skills lately, although that sounds like a blast. I've had some riveting campus discussions around things like scholarships. Scholarship is a practice of being a 4-H professional. But I think the things I've been most excited about, I just am on the heels of coming back from our once a year opportunity for 4-H directors from across the country.
Lisa Diaz: 05:48And that includes we had someone from Guam and from Micronesia there. So it's all the territories, all of the 4-H leaders from around the country once a year who get together. And it was just so inspiring to to look around that room and see the shared commitment to helping all of our young people thrive, elevating their voices, opening opportunities for them, wanting to see them successful post high school and feel empowered in, you know, that whole journey to post high school. It just left me with the feeling of possibility. And then the spring break last year, I still have one kiddo at home.
Lisa Diaz: 06:33He's a sophomore in high school. And for his spring break, we had a lot of staycation things, but we took a day together and went to go see a performance of the musical in the hype in a theater in the round, which was this incredibly intimate experience where you're looking at other audience members on the other three sides of you, and no one is more than four chairs back from the theater. And just the power of the singing and the performance just envelops you. I knew I was in trouble when I got teary eyed. Just the motion of the it wasn't even, like, a particularly sad opening.
Lisa Diaz: 07:17It was just the vibrancy of it and the intimacy of it. And I you know, I'm feeling the tears come, and I look over to my husband and my son, and they were exactly in the same place. And I'm like, oh goodness. This is gonna be a powerful three hour performance experience, but that was an incredibly refueling thing that was a highlight of my last week.
Henry Craft: 07:43Not crying. You're crying. I'm not crying.
Amy Henschen: 07:46I just love that, like, you just had, like, two shared experience. Totally different things. One work, one one, you know, personal that we're, like, just that shared experience of feeling like we're all feeling this together. We're all in this together. We're all on this team together.
Amy Henschen: 08:01And that's just so, like, powerful in your life to experience something and have the people who are with you experiencing in the same way and be on the same page about it. Love that. And that's like I don't know. What gets me through work and life a lot of the time is just knowing that there's people here with me who are ready to cry
Lisa Diaz: 08:17through their musical with me in a good way, cry in a good way.
Amy Henschen: 08:22And that one's spectacular. I've been I'm jealous. Loving the hype.
Henry Craft: 08:25You said something earlier, your first part about your your big consortium or your group meeting, and I I I don't wanna loop miss that because we as we started ideating this podcast, one of the the goals is actually once we kind of feel like we've done some justice to the Illinois landscape of 4-H, we really wanna mix in what 4-H looks like on a national scale, and we even teased out international as well. And so we've got big dreams for this podcast. And you just stay tuned because we might just be picking your brain on those contacts because we, gosh, hearing from this the director from Guam, that would be so cool.
Lisa Diaz: 09:14I would be happy to hook you up. I I think that would be super exciting to see the the scope of who you're innovating and voices that you're bringing to the table growing at that level. That would be exciting to see.
Ryan Littlejohn: 09:28I just find it like, when this concept even first came up and I told Henry about it, that was I mean, that was one of our first things. We're like, we wanna go national international on this. Like, we want people to know Because it looks different, but we can all pull these great ideas. Because it's not just Illinois that has these great ideas. Right?
Ryan Littlejohn: 09:45There's other states that are doing just as much as us, and they were all contributing to this larger scale. And, hopefully, all of us will be around long enough that we get there. I mean, I'm planning on it. I know, hopefully, Henry and Amy are too planning on it. I mean, I can't let this podcast go.
Ryan Littlejohn: 10:01I'm having too much fun now. So well, Lisa, I always try to do a round table topic. Something that's fun. Maybe it's this or that. Would you rather have, you know, spaghetti hair, different things like that.
Ryan Littlejohn: 10:16But this week, we're gonna talk about movies. And we're trying to figure out what is the best movie trilogy of all time. Is it the original Star Wars, Back to the Future, Lord of the Rings, The Godfather, or something else entirely? And I'm gonna I'm gonna start because none of these is, like, what comes to my mind as a movie trilogy series. So for me, when I think movie trilogy, I think, like, all of the Marvel Marvel movies.
Ryan Littlejohn: 10:43Right? You start from the first one and work all the way to the most recent. Like, that's the trilogy. That's a story building on top of a story in each of those places. So that's where I'm going with this one.
Ryan Littlejohn: 10:54Amy, what about you?
Amy Henschen: 10:56I think if you would've asked me again, like, I was a Star Wars obsessed kid. So if you would've asked me this, like, when I was in high school, maybe I'm in a college, I would have been like, it's the original Star Wars trilogy. But I think as the Star Wars universe has gotten more cluttered with stuff, which not not in a bad way, Like, my love for it has diminished, and my ability to love other things has increased.
Lisa Diaz: 11:20Does that make sense? I could share my love.
Amy Henschen: 11:23And then as a adult who can look at things, I think, a little more with a little less emotion and a little more, perspective, I'm going I'm agreeing. I don't if anyone has seen it. There's a hilarious, Stephen Colbert has a really funny video. It's about the number one trilly is what he calls it. And he's on team Lord of the Rings, and it's a hilarious rap video, and it's really funny.
Amy Henschen: 11:47And I think I agree with him. Like, it it like, the quality level across all three doesn't dip. Like, it's actually, my favorite one's probably the second one. Although my favorite Star Wars movie is the second one either. But, like, Star Wars, like, arguably, like, Return of the Jedi, less good than the other two.
Amy Henschen: 12:05But, like, those Lord of Rings movies, they are high level of quality. I go back to them every couple years when I have a long winter cold day and watch all the extended editions. I'm like, they're great. But I think that's my choice. Does anyone else have strong opinions?
Amy Henschen: 12:19Like, Lisa, do you have one? What's your favorite?
Lisa Diaz: 12:22Well, I have to admit that I hate these, like, favorite questions because I'm just notoriously bad at, like, choosing. But my first reaction was and I and I love love to have some pure sci fi enthusiasts, I would have to make a plea for Matrix because I feel like from the first point, each episode is is giving you this, like, mind blowing insight into a whole different, like, paradigm or way of thinking or understanding it. It's it's almost like that feeling at the end of a really good mystery where you're like you can see the threads of things, but it just blows your mind in in I love a good Star Trek, love a good Star Wars, but I have to make a plug for Matrix.
Henry Craft: 13:18So I when I read this question, I am super literal. Right? So I love the different personalities that are represented here because, Brian, you completely threw me off in my thought process because you're like, oh, well, trilogy equals series. And I was like, wow. This is a whole different game.
Henry Craft: 13:36But series would be Harry Potter for me. I'm I'm not gonna lie. I'm I'm I'm just there. But if I am just in my literal zone, I would go with the hobbit, actually. So I just I don't know.
Henry Craft: 13:51I I'm always by myself, doctor Lisa. I just want you to know, like, I'm always in my own club here for the most part. I've been I've had friends for the past couple episodes, but usually, I'm on an island here. And yeah. So the hobbit would be mine.
Henry Craft: 14:09I will have to say, I can't this is gonna be really controversial. I can't just stay with Lord of the Rings, man. Like, it just is it get like, they just Frodo, like, it's just a long walk, man. Like, I just can't stay with you. It's I know it's a classic.
Henry Craft: 14:29I know it is. But, man, I just can't
Amy Henschen: 14:31You're killing me. You're killing me, Henry.
Lisa Diaz: 14:34I know.
Amy Henschen: 14:34I literally sat through okay. So, like, the I think the original Hobbit came out when I was in Paraguay, I wanna say. So I was in the Peace Corps. I was in Paraguay. So I was like, I'm getting a bus to the capital because this means two and a half hours of air conditioning and modernness.
Amy Henschen: 14:51So I met a friend and, like, I think we watched the subtitled version. I don't know. It was funny because it was, like, in Spanish, so it was, like, a good to hear all the character names is, like, you don't think, oh, yeah. They're obviously gonna change that. If they have, like, a literal name, they'll change that in Spanish.
Amy Henschen: 15:08It was fun. But, like, I don't know. The two of us were, we just like the air conditioning.
Lisa Diaz: 15:14So we left and we're, what are we
Amy Henschen: 15:16gonna do now? So that's interesting. But, I mean, to each their own, I'm not gonna fall. Whatever you like is your jam, but I'm a original original book. I love The Hobbit, the book.
Amy Henschen: 15:26It but it's, like, tiny and short and delightful. And I just that was my thing. Was like, these movies are, like, adding a bunch of stuff that's not in this book and dragging this out where I just want one action packed Hobbit film.
Henry Craft: 15:38But Since we opened up the topic, though, on series, have you seen the rings of power on Amazon Prime?
Amy Henschen: 15:47I'm trying to okay. I know, like, soapbox. I'm trying to on Amazon my life as much as possible. So I once as soon as I moved to civilization I used to live in rural Colorado where, like, we now have a lot of stores. So I was a Prime subscriber, and I've axed them from my life.
Amy Henschen: 16:04And I try to use them sparingly. So I don't have Prime Video anymore. So I have not watched
Henry Craft: 16:09That is a stance. Okay? I just wanna say, like, you are going upstream with that. Okay?
Amy Henschen: 16:15I'm trying. It's I some I sometimes fail. I've ordered those things that Ryan recommended it to us, like, you know, for my cat hair.
Henry Craft: 16:24That's awesome. Alright.
Amy Henschen: 16:26All good. So
Henry Craft: 16:28Alright. Well, now is the time, folks, where we really dive deep with our guest here, doctor Lisa. And so I'm going to do a quick intro, and then we're going to just dive deep on everything doctor Lisa. So she is gonna avail us with all of the knowledge today. So here we go.
Henry Craft: 16:52Lisa Diaz is originally from Grinnell, Iowa. She's worked for 4-H for eighteen years, originally serving as a 4-H STEM specialist. She is the 4-H Director and Assistant Dean here with Illinois 4-H. That role provides programming leadership for the 54 professionals throughout the state. Lisa is currently on special assignment.
Henry Craft: 17:18We do have a big deal in our midst here, folks. As the Director of the National 4-H Work Readiness Initiative, where she'll help 4-H unite nationwide to continue to produce work ready, life ready kids. So doctor Lisa, thank you so much for being with us. It is a pleasure to have you, and it is amazing to be able to have the honor to do your intro. So.
Lisa Diaz: 17:44Wow. That is very humbling indeed, Henry. It's my great honor and just delighted to be here with you all.
Amy Henschen: 17:50Well, Lisa, we wanted to give an intro for you, but we wanted you to have the opportunity to tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started with 4-H.
Lisa Diaz: 17:59So I always struggle to tell this story, and I feel like I have, like, three or four versions that I rotate depending on who I'm talking to. Because it's honestly one of these many moments in my life where I feel like the stars have kind of aligned around me and surprised me with a new open door. So and I can talk about this more later, but I I have to say that my 4-H experience started in Iowa when my mom, who we did a lot of moving in my childhood as my mom was pursuing her education and providing for two little girls on her own. And in one of those towns that we landed in Iowa, mom was taken in under her wing and by an older mom in the community who said, I think your girls could really benefit from 4-H, and invited us to this 4-H club. And we had this amazing experience, and I remember especially being excited about interior design because we just moved from an apartment to a house where the first time ever, I had my own bedroom, and I was super excited to decorate it.
Lisa Diaz: 19:10So that's my, like, passion story about 4-H, but then we moved. And we had no idea that 4-H could have traveled with us. And so fast forward, I was actually a professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Graduate School of Education. So I was teaching, preparing elementary and high school teachers, and my own work had always been at this intersection. So for, like, twenty years, I've been working on various different projects at the intersection of where youth across time outside school and time inside school are disconnected and youth struggling to find a place for themselves.
Lisa Diaz: 19:54So I've always done work with youth at kind of an intersection in classrooms, outside school. And I got this call recruiting for Illinois 4-H, and I said 4-H? I've heard of 4-H, but that was a long time ago. What does that have to do with the University of Illinois? So I was one of those people that just like my mind was blown to realize this bigger thing of 4-H.
Lisa Diaz: 20:23And at its core, it was all about the things that had been at the center professional journey up to that point that were about believing in the power of young people and wanting to elevate youth voices. And to to see the potential for that nationwide and really across the world to elevate platforms for youth was how I came to get started with 4-H. Henry, in your introduction, you you I think you mentioned that I started out as the STEM specialist. And I had a blast because at that point, there were incredible livestock, animal science, horticulture, crop science opportunities. And I got to come in and like it was like a sandbox of being able to listen to young people and communities and envision what other STEM projects we might bring.
Lisa Diaz: 21:25So I got to start robotics as a project that has grown into a pretty big deal here in Illinois in terms of just the number of youth that resonated with youth who wanted to come out and saw that as a place for themselves. But filmmaking and game design and so that's how I that's how I got started in 4-H was bringing that STEM voice and just the passion around youth voice.
Amy Henschen: 21:55I think that's so cool that you came back and found us again or we found you. You're good at you, which is great. But I think the other thing that's crazy to remember, I don't think a lot of people realize, like, you didn't come fully formed into this director role. Like, you you had other positions in Illinois 4-H, and I think you've been here long enough that some people might not know that because they're a fresher perspective. So that's cool that you got to work at that different level to kind of share that and and experience and kind of look at for each a different way.
Amy Henschen: 22:24But I I just have to say, I one of the things I love about you so I used work in Colorado for each, for those listening who don't know that. And, like, I came in and interviewed in Illinois, and Lisa was in on on my interview. And I was like, the director comes to the interviews for the educators? And and then I had to, like, talk to her, and I'm like, man, this lady just cares about the kids in this state. And, like, that's something that I think comes across, and it seems like you spend so much time just advocating and being a voice for, like, hey.
Amy Henschen: 22:50These kids matter, we can make a difference in their lives. And, like, I love that you're on that team and, like, that you came to Illinois to help lead our team on that journey because I think that's just, you you're very good at, making me feel like what we do matters. And I think that's what we I mean, that's what I need. Right? I'm like, a lot of you who work for 4-H, that's what we need.
Amy Henschen: 23:11We need to feel we work here because we we wanna make a difference. So I just, like, I love listening to you talk about how you how you found it because it matters to us too.
Lisa Diaz: 23:23That means so much to me, Amy. And you will I I have been known to get a little excited at times. I am just a wee bit passionate about, young people. You'll hear me talk about sparks all the time. And that's really my spark is starting with youth, but then all of the staff and the volunteers and the family and community around the youth, seeing them mobilizing towards something that matters to them, that's when I'm most happy is seeing people feeling empowered in a path toward something new, something not yet discovered or realize the potential of of what can happen when we we come together and and lean into those wisps of an idea or an an aspiration.
Lisa Diaz: 24:17That that truly is my my personal spark.
Ryan Littlejohn: 24:20Something I always stands out to me is you always keep the kids first, and we can tell that as staff. Like, you're you want our kids to thrive. And you may not know how many all of our kids throughout the state, but you want them to get to that next level. And that comes down on our level. I mean, I think that's inspiring even for me as an EPC when I've heard you at our annual meetings talk about those things is, you know, what we do matters.
Ryan Littlejohn: 24:48And it's hard. It's hard. We've learned talking through all the different positions. It gets hard some days. Some days you have very busy weeks.
Ryan Littlejohn: 24:56But in order for us to thrive, we have that support up at the top. And that's what I love about Illinois 4-H compared to some other places that I've been in 4-H, which is hard to realize. It's hard to understand, you know, that one state can be completely opposite than the other. But you look at who is above and leading that and leading the charge. That's what just makes it all come full circle.
Ryan Littlejohn: 25:19And, like, our kids are so successful. And I can't wait to see what happens in the future. I'm I'm a transplant. It's what they call me down here. They I've transplanted to Illinois.
Ryan Littlejohn: 25:29And they're always like like, oh, you haven't been here long enough to know. And I but I hope I am. I hope I can retire in 2067. I did the math the other day, guys. 2067, I can retire.
Ryan Littlejohn: 25:41So I hope I'm here till 2067 to see all of this play out because it's just inspiring. So my question is, I know you're very busy. How do you like to spend your free time? You like a good book? I hear you like theater, and I know your son likes theater because I met him at Illini Summer Academies last year.
Ryan Littlejohn: 25:59But, like, what do you like to do for fun?
Lisa Diaz: 26:02Yeah. I'll say one of the thing well, there's there's two big loves, and one is just any chance I get to spend with my family. And they're all busy, but I love a good family night where it I don't really care what we're doing. I don't care if we're doing board games. You know, sometimes we rotate, like, we cook together, and we have sometimes have a craft night.
Lisa Diaz: 26:25Not that we're all equally crafty minded, but just for the fun of it. One time, we watched, we brought up some of you actually, really none of you would remember. But there used to be this guy on PBS called Bob Ross who would paint a picture, and you would just go on the journey with him while he would add a few little, you know, birds in the sky. Or I think we need a few little clouds over here. So I have this, like, I've always, like, wanting to be an artist.
Lisa Diaz: 27:02I have appreciation for artists, but we bought canvases and some paint for each member of the family. And we watched the Bob Ross video, and it was like on a sunset beach thing. And we had so much fun just seeing the four different versions that came out of that. And if I'm not spending time with family, I'm probably doing something musical. I play the piano almost every day and have a variety of other instruments in the house and just, like, that's kinda my happy place anytime I can bring music into my life.
Amy Henschen: 27:37Okay. I'm just offended that you don't think that I know who Bob Ross is. I'm sure Henry like, Henry and I are ish the same age. I think he's on my team here. But I've never actually so I gotta ask.
Amy Henschen: 27:47I've never I just watched that in the background because he's happy and a delight, and he has the most calming voice of all time. How how good of an instructor did you find him? Because I, like, I've never followed along. Like, was it actually easy to because he makes it look so easy. Just add these happy little trees.
Amy Henschen: 28:03And I'm like, I don't think it's that easy.
Ryan Littlejohn: 28:06I was not the Bob Ross age of PBS. I was not. But I will have to say, Lisa, I did not know you played the piano. I've I played the piano, and I actually went to k state on a pipe organ scholarship. So I that's so cool that we have that connection.
Ryan Littlejohn: 28:23I know I know who to talk to now if I need any good pieces.
Lisa Diaz: 28:26Absolutely. And well, I was gonna say about Bob Ross. Well, I'll say both things. Glad to know we have that musical connection. I'm always I I sometimes imagine, like, talent show, like a staff talent show where we can share some of these things with each other.
Lisa Diaz: 28:45And I love playing piano duets and don't have anyone to do them with, so always looking for that. But, Amy, to your question about Bob Ross, I think the output of the four paintings that were supposed to be exactly the same thing are kind of they they're a testament to there's a big gap between, like, watching someone do something. Like, he's more about follow me. Now I'm making now I'm making this color. And you can see how I'm mixing these two colors together.
Lisa Diaz: 29:20Now I'm just doing a little dash. You know? And so his little dash is obviously has a finesse and a technique that we weren't able to immediately replicate, but we were still happy with our outcomes.
Amy Henschen: 29:35I totally have my next, like, hang out with some friends night planned, so we're gonna do it.
Henry Craft: 29:40I'm over here freaking out because I well, one, yes. Clearly, all pop culture should still know Bob Ross. I mean, now I guess it's hipsters know Bob Ross, but, like like, he had a documentary, Ryan. You know Bob Ross. Don't don't play us.
Henry Craft: 29:57Like, you're just too young to know Bob Ross.
Lisa Diaz: 29:59I know. I'm gonna win Zoom. I'm just this old timer. I know. Actually, he's getting a kind of a renaissance or something because I've now found I found at I don't know if we're name dropping.
Lisa Diaz: 30:15I was at a a popular grocery store that had a Bob Ross mug. And I'm like, you've got a Bob Ross mug, like, next to the doom mug and the, you know, whatever's, like, hot and new. But I've also found Bob Ross candy. If you remember those, like, crushed powder with the white hard candy sticks that you, like, lick and then stick in the fun dips. They have a Bob Ross fun dip that, like, has his picture, and so it's like the palette of crushed powder candy, and you can kind of lick it.
Lisa Diaz: 30:53I don't know if you're supposed to, like, also try to pick anyway, there I have seen more Bob Ross in the last couple of years. It is he's definitely coming back.
Henry Craft: 31:05I'm just picturing doctor Lisa, like, licking her finger and, like, mixing the palates. Yeah. That was that's beautiful. Oh, but but also I I'm sorry. I don't mean to go off of the focus on doctor Lisa, but you had a scholarship to Kate?
Henry Craft: 31:22What? On a organ? Oh, I knew you played, but that's a different level, bro.
Ryan Littlejohn: 31:27Like, come
Henry Craft: 31:28on. How do we not do this?
Ryan Littlejohn: 31:30Okay. So we'll I'll take down the stroke because it leads back to 4-H. So I grew up my mom put me in piano lessons. And one of the big things I did in 4-H, we had a thing called club days where I could take a piano solo and get a ribbon, and I can move on to, like, the regional club days and, like, up up. So that was really the only reason I stayed in piano was to keep playing at at club days.
Ryan Littlejohn: 31:58And then I started getting into, like, playing at church. And then I I ended up directing the musicals at my high school. I played the piano and directed the pit. And then I was like, well, what am I gonna do in, like, the future? And I was like, well, I guess I'll learn the organ.
Ryan Littlejohn: 32:14So I turned the organ on one day at church. I just turned it on. I taught myself how to play with YouTube videos. And I actually took an organ solo to Club Days one year by, like, I just recorded myself and took it to the judge. And then I got to high school, I was like, well, I need to find a scholarship.
Ryan Littlejohn: 32:29And they were offering, like, pretty good scholarships for pipe organ students. So I went in, and I told the organ professor. I told him exactly. I said, I've never had a organ lesson in my life. I said, but I wanna audition for the scholarship.
Ryan Littlejohn: 32:42I took two pieces that he recommended. I played them both, and I got a scholarship on playing the pipe organ. So I was in the marching band and played the organ at K State my first two years before COVID happened. And yeah. All because I stayed in because I wanted to play in club days.
Ryan Littlejohn: 32:58Like, that was it. So
Henry Craft: 33:01I was a trombone performance major. I'll just have you all know for three semesters, actually. Yeah. So wait a second. How did you play the organ in marching band?
Ryan Littlejohn: 33:11I didn't. I had to pick I had to play the tuba, which I was fine with because I like playing the tuba. But, yeah, I had to play tuba. A lot of people would ask me that. They're like, do you roll the pipe organ out on the football field?
Ryan Littlejohn: 33:22I was like, no. They wouldn't let me do that. I don't think.
Henry Craft: 33:26Yeah. That sounds like a costly risk management issue. Very good. I'm glad we all got to connect on that. Amy, what what did you play?
Henry Craft: 33:33What?
Amy Henschen: 33:35I was piano kid, but, again, I think my I fell victim to the have hit middle school and anything my parents want me to keep doing. I no longer no. Just they wanted me to do it. I am no longer interested. So I was a, like, four year piano person.
Amy Henschen: 33:49It was pretty good. And then just sell in middle school Amy was this was not this was not something she was gonna spend her time on.
Henry Craft: 33:57Sorry.
Amy Henschen: 33:57I can't be in your band, guys. I maybe I can play, like, tambourine. I don't know.
Henry Craft: 34:01You can get it back up. No big deal. You can do the clappers. You can do the castanets. Yeah.
Henry Craft: 34:07That'll be good. Alright. So I'm I'm glad we did that. Alright. So next up, in I heard something I heard a couple things.
Henry Craft: 34:17In your self intro, you talked about introducing game theory. And also, I heard it leaked that you're a big board game fan. So my very important question is, what is your favorite board game? Because these are really hard these are really while you're thinking, it's really important to me because I'm starting this entire series, this program series on trying to get kids excited about tabletop games, and I'm working off of University of California's work on board games. And so that is my question to you.
Henry Craft: 34:58What is your favorite board game? Hard to pick.
Lisa Diaz: 35:00Sorry. Already told you, Henry. These are the hardest questions for me. I just can't choose.
Henry Craft: 35:07You can pick top three.
Lisa Diaz: 35:08That's okay. So I think it's important to know that we've, my husband and I have raised this blended family of six kids together that span a particular age range. So picking board games was sometimes the challenge that all ages and all personalities could be excited about. I would say that the classic clue is a strong favorite in our family. But we also and this is from my mom who was just just the the most delightful, soft hearted social worker who believed in all things cooperative versus competitive.
Lisa Diaz: 35:53We were gifted many, many cooperative games to play as a family. And one of those, and this was pre COVID, was called pandemic, where everyone has to, like, pick their own role and then, like, save the world when a pan so when COVID happened, we're like, we got this. We know this game. So yeah. Right?
Lisa Diaz: 36:17Put put put us at put us at the front line. We think we know how to solve the problem. No. I wish that were true. But we love a good cooperative game.
Lisa Diaz: 36:25So I'd lift up those two. Hard to say they're my favorite. I'm sure if pressed, I could give you several others.
Amy Henschen: 36:33Pandemic pre pandemic was a very big favorite of mine. I haven't played it since because I thought I like, especially during, I was like, I'm just gonna have, like, anxiety playing this. It's too real. And now I'm like, am I gonna get PTSD.
Lisa Diaz: 36:46Yeah. Was like, I don't want
Amy Henschen: 36:47I don't wanna do it. But great game. But I didn't I, like, miss think, like, when I was a kid, like, none of the games we had were cooperative games. So I'm so glad this is, like, a genre that's, like, out there and popular now. And, like, almost every game I bought my nieces is, like, a co op game.
Amy Henschen: 37:01And that way, you don't have, like you know, because sometimes you get in a game and someone is just not fun because they're not winning or they're not fun because they're kicking everyone's butt, and then it's not fun for everyone else. So it's like, I kinda love that this is like a new thing, and pandemic's a great one of those of, we all save the world or we all die. It's great. So I love that.
Ryan Littlejohn: 37:22Yeah. I I'm not a person to play board games with. I like, if I'm playing a board game, I have to win. I yeah. It's bad.
Ryan Littlejohn: 37:31My in laws don't even play with me. They just played with me one time. We played ticket to ride, and that was it. They didn't like it.
Henry Craft: 37:38You flip the table when they when they got their trains finished. No. This is my train board. Speaking of those co op games, if anybody's listening and you want some recommendations, some go to classics, the forbidden series, forbidden island, forbidden jungle, forbidden desert, great co op games. Shadows Over Camelot, if you like the King Arthur vibe.
Henry Craft: 38:01Pandemic is always, but, oh, that's a whole genre. And that's that's one of the things that we're gonna do is we're gonna kinda pick a genre with this program series and just kind of expose people to those kind of games because, man, not everybody starts out just a natural, and I use this term endearingly, a natural nerd like myself. So, anyway, I'm excited. Thank you for bringing that up.
Lisa Diaz: 38:25I definitely know who to go to for my board game recommendations now and super excited. So you'll you'll hear from me as a follow-up, Henry. I got you.
Amy Henschen: 38:35Love that. So, Lisa, we wanted to ask we always ask our guests, like, do you have a favorite 4-H story or favorite 4-H experience? Can be like yours or like one you you witnessed or, you know, heard from someone else that just gives you the warm fuzzies or makes you excited or whatever makes you feel.
Lisa Diaz: 38:52Yeah. Again, so the favorites. But I do have to say that I the the times when I get most excited and there's a couple of places where I've seen this happen at the state level, but then I've also seen it on a national level is when groups of kids come together from completely different community contexts and lived experiences, and they're all of a sudden all in the same place. And they're like, wow. We're all part of the same community.
Lisa Diaz: 39:28And and what happens when they come together and the showcasing of the richness of that diversity of interests and perspectives that come together. So I see that every year at state fair. I just walk in to the fairgrounds and to where we have all of 4-H showcase, and I'm just like, wow. This is it. This is just the again, that diversity.
Lisa Diaz: 39:55And then you take a state event like a Linai Summer Academies or junior leadership conference, and you bring together these kids who are interacting with others who they probably would otherwise have no opportunity to interact with. And they they more they walk away with relationships, insights about themselves, and relationships and friendships. Ryan, I know you mentioned getting to know my son a little bit at the Illini Summer Academies. He still has a friend that they're on the phone, and my kids are my teenagers are never on the phone. But he's on the phone and regularly interacting with these friends from other parts of the state.
Lisa Diaz: 40:37I don't even think he could actually tell you where they live in Illinois. It's like it's someplace else in Illinois. That doesn't matter. What matters is that they built this relationship and kinship at this event. And so you're hearing the theme.
Lisa Diaz: 40:53I get excited when people come together in those new relationships and those new connections. So that's one of my favorite 4-H experiences.
Ryan Littlejohn: 41:03So as we're moving along and talking about our different positions, we'd like to know what your role as the assistant dean and director of Illinois 4-H is. What do you do on a daily basis? Or it might be it might look different every day.
Lisa Diaz: 41:19I'm laughing because that's always one of the most common questions when people are interviewing for a 4-H position. What's a typical day? And, of course, the answer is there is no typical day. And I think that's true for anyone in 4-H and even more broadly, anyone in extension, and I kinda love that. So I started, you know, intentionally talking about that in search processes with new people or people who are thinking about maybe exploring a 4-H or Extension job.
Lisa Diaz: 41:51It's like, this will be a great fit for you if you really like variety. And and and I also say if you're looking for a place that's purpose driven, where you know that what you do matters, and that it translates into real impact and benefit for young people. And then the byproduct of that is the impact for the communities in which they live, their families, their siblings, all the people that they're interacting with. So what do I do? I very much think of myself as a servant leader.
Lisa Diaz: 42:31This is not a job that I aspired to when my boss retired. It was kind of like, we really need someone to step up. And the the selling point for me was, do you wanna trust that someone else cares in the same way you do about the people and the purpose? Or do you wanna be that person who steps up and and moves that forward and stewards it? And, of course, I'm like, well, no.
Lisa Diaz: 42:59I care too much. So I I think a big part of my job is I try really hard to get around. I really listening for both needs and opportunities and elevating those, and advocating for changes that can address those needs and opportunities. I think a lot of what I do is also fostering both internal and external relationships, just looking for what's getting in the way of the vision for us all being in coordination toward a greater good, and who are the partners in the community who share that vision with us too to elevate opportunities for young people. And where's the alignment of interest in mutual benefit win win with other organizations?
Lisa Diaz: 43:50So that's a big part of what I do. I think another part of what I do is is wanting to always ask the hard questions, both like, why do we do that and why does it matter? So we never get too comfortable and just doing things because we've always done them. I think it's really healthy to keep asking ourselves. So it kind of in that role as director, I feel like it's important to be asking those questions and then invite people to be a part of the response.
Lisa Diaz: 44:25And and another question that I love to ask is just that dreaming. What if? What can we imagine? What would that look like and how could we get there? And just thinking about possibilities, again, that driven by what would it look like if every young person who currently lives in Illinois could feel equally empowered and prepared for hope post high school success?
Lisa Diaz: 44:50What if? What would it take? How could we be a part of that? So that's another thing that I I spend a lot of time doing is just thinking about those questions that keep you up at night.
Amy Henschen: 45:03Join us next time for more Real Talk as we continue our conversation with doctor Lisa Diaz.