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.
Ryan Littlejohn: 00:35Welcome back to Behind the Clover. This week, we're continuing our conversation on transitions with Andrea Farrier, youth development educator in unit five. Take it away, guys.
Henry Craft: 00:46This is about Andrea. This is why we're here, and we're talking about transitions. But we wanna know we wanna continue the story here with Andrea and ask, what is your favorite 4-H story or experience that you've had around the program?
Andrea Farrier: 01:04Oh, goodness. There's so many that popped to mind. My favorite. When I think about something as little as the girl that yells my name, you know, across the midway and she's so excited to show me her blue ribbon for, her first year four h. And then I think about the community member who gets excited to see me when I walk into the YMCA, and, you know, she remembers exactly what we did to calm down in the last program, and she wants to do that again because she's had a hard day, or the time that those kiddos got to experience talking to a government official.
Andrea Farrier: 02:01So many of these are such great memories for me and so so impactful for a four h story. And they're not necessarily mine, but they are still part of what make my four h story. You know, they it all rolls into one. My 4-H story just continues to roll into theirs and vice versa, including my own kiddos. I love watching my kiddo grow through 4-H , and I can tell you firsthand that watching my kiddo grow in 4-H is one of my favorite things, because general projects isn't her her strong suit.
Andrea Farrier: 02:48And I can tell you that last year's four h fair experience in her first four h general project experience was quite the experience. And if you would have seen her very first dog, dog science project, you would understand that as as a parent that works in four h, I looked at her and I told her that was going to get a white. And then I followed it with, kiddo, your mom works for four h. You cannot take that project looking like that. And she said, you told me I could do it any way I wanted, and it's my project and I like it this way.
Andrea Farrier: 03:35And she said, all of that to me in the most assertive tone. And I said, can we just make it a little bit better? And she said, no. I printed it. I glued it.
Andrea Farrier: 03:50It's my project, and it's done. And I said, okay. And what do you know? The kid got a blue ribbon, but the kid got a blue ribbon because she knew her stuff. Right?
Andrea Farrier: 04:07She learned. She can speak, and those are all skills that she mastered through four h. So watching that story, watching her develop that, and make her own story is part of mine. So I'm really excited about those.
Amy Henschen: 04:25I love that so much, and I love that you mentioned all these little moments. Right? Because the that's what I think those little moments, that kid who's excited to see you, someone who, like, learns from something you taught them and values that, like, that's what makes this, especially when we're having a rough week or a rough day, like, that's what makes this job worthwhile. And those little interactions really add up, like you said, to a bigger story and your story and the program story. So that's really cool.
Amy Henschen: 04:55And it's nice to see that your daughter is now creating those little moments for herself and for you and for those around her. Love that.
Henry Craft: 05:04Students' speaking skills cannot be undervalued in the 4-H program because, honestly, this was really funny. My son was convinced that his project he made a bench out of an old twin bed frame. And he was like, this is awful. I'm not even gonna take it. And by God, if he didn't win grand champion at state fair, and it was I mean, he painted it beige.
Henry Craft: 05:34It was, like, it was it was just whatever. But, like but when he was explaining it to the judge, he totally, like, hit all the high points, and then he used shabby chic. And I was like I'm like, dude, like, you could talk yourself out of of anything. But, yeah, that's the value of you could bring your project because because we're about the learning process. Right?
Henry Craft: 06:00It's it's about presentation. Those are points in it, but it's also about how well you know it and how well you can communicate it. And I think that gets undervalued sometimes. And, yeah, that's just a great example. So and it's really cool to see how you've kind of come alongside your your daughter to to make that happen.
Henry Craft: 06:19I I appreciate all that story. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Amy Henschen: 06:22I just wanna tag on to what Henry said because I I serve as a judge a lot. I'm sure you guys have judged too either, like, in another county or neighboring county. I much rather see a less polished project, that you can tell that Kidd did all of it, then a more polished product where, you know, it's not as clear if all of this work was done by the kid. So I love when the kid is just like so excited to tell you about what they did and you could tell from how they're talking about it and how it looks like they did all this work. Because then that's growth.
Amy Henschen: 06:56That's how they're gonna learn and that's how they're gonna grow, and that's gonna be a better experience overall long term for that kid. All right, y'all. Well, we brought you on, Andrea, also to talk about transitions because that's our new theme for our next couple episodes of the podcast. And, you are currently a youth development educator in unit five, and you've been in that role just over a year, I think, at this point. But previously, you served in as an EPC in the same unit.
Amy Henschen: 07:22So we're really, curious about that transition between those two jobs and what kind of has surprised you in in changing those between those roles.
Andrea Farrier: 07:34Well, I can tell you I will be the first one to admit that I had no clue what an educator did as an EPC in the EPC role. And now that I'm in the educator role, I look back and think to myself, oh, how naive you were, because I am busier than ever, and I thought I was busy as an e as an EPC. It's just a whole different kind of busy. So my expectations going in to the educator role, I I guess I didn't necessarily have set expectations because we had had a lot of transition in our unit prior to me taking on this role. So when I came on, our county director had just transitioned out of the educator role and into the county director role.
Andrea Farrier: 08:35And Amy actually was our educator at that time. And then Amy had transitioned out of the educator role and into the position she currently serves, and a new educator came on. And so we had had three different kind of levels of expectation or or three different perspectives at that time, and we still have a metro educator. So there's just a very different there's just different perspectives, and that was it's a it's been an interesting transition and trying to forge, you know, forge our way through has been exciting adventure.
Amy Henschen: 09:18Can you give me a read on like what is the biggest thing you spend time on in a week? Like big bucket as an educator versus as a program coordinator.
Andrea Farrier: 09:29Programming. Programming. Programming. And I was doing some programming prior to, this position, as a EPC. Our county director is really great and provided us a lot of autonomy.
Andrea Farrier: 09:49She allowed us to do what really makes our heart sing. And if that was something that allowed us to be happy in our position as long as our jobs were done and we were able to, you know, add in additional pieces and we were able to program and make partnerships and help out our educators in in ways like that. We were able to do that. So I've made some connections prior to this, and my position when I first came on was slightly different. So, again, we had had some other transitions prior to me making this role or coming into this role.
Andrea Farrier: 10:31Excuse me. But it yeah. Programming is constant. I'm programming almost three full days out of the week.
Amy Henschen: 10:40And then how do you identify where you're doing those programs?
Andrea Farrier: 10:45That is a really great question. We're an urban metro area, so we have a lot of areas of needs or target areas that we can identify. So for instance, we've had success with some county forums here in our unit recently, and we've been able to utilize a lot of connections from those county forums as well as our snap partnerships. So I've been able to utilize partnerships through those situations as well as make connections outside of that in, various target areas to focus on those programming efforts.
Ryan Littlejohn: 11:33Can you explain what a county forum is?
Andrea Farrier: 11:36Yeah. Absolutely. We have been able to invite different organizations, county board members, partner organizations. So for instance, we may invite, again, the county board members, partnership organizations that partner with SNAP. We might invite people that we've worked with previously or people that we would enjoy working with that we haven't been able to work with yet.
Andrea Farrier: 12:10We would serve them light snacks. So from one to three maybe or from nine to eleven in the morning, beverages, snacks, and we would have lists of questions, maybe four questions. And we would have just general questions and and break them into different groups. And that kind of serves as our needs assessment for the unit. And we do that in each one of the counties.
Ryan Littlejohn: 12:36For those of you who don't know, you have to have a master's degree to get an educator position here in Illinois. You earn your degree while working as an EPC here. So tell us a little bit about that experience, what you did, how you studied, and how you balanced your work life, with your home life with that as well.
Andrea Farrier: 12:55Well, I will say that I'm very grateful for that experience and and that opportunity. That is a great benefit to employees of the University of Illinois and University of Illinois Extension that I think more people should take advantage of. So I really do think that that is something that is beneficial to all in no matter where you are in your level of education. I think continuous learning is always important. And so I would recommend taking a class here and there even if you're not on a traditional education track.
Andrea Farrier: 13:40With that said, yes. I feel like I was crazy for taking on getting my masters when I did. I jumped into the deep end. It was definitely one of those things where I took a class and I was like, heck, yes. I can do this.
Andrea Farrier: 14:04I will just jump in with both feet and think about the consequences later. For the most for the most part, it went really well, I will say. There were a few semesters that were crazier than others, and that really depends on an EPC schedule. So the extension program coordinator schedule for 4-H might be slightly different than those in horticulture, SNAP Ed, etcetera. So really look at your own schedule and make those decisions for yourself, but knowing what your schedule is, is going to be very important.
Andrea Farrier: 14:46I have zero boundary making abilities and I now know this about myself and yet I still don't ask for backup when I need help to make big decisions like this. So a lot of times it could have been a dumpster fire being a single parent and commuting, the amount of times the amount of time that I had to commute. But I have a really I had a really great support system in my county director, and she really supported the decision that I made to get the master's degree, and my family supported that. And I really am proud of myself for continuing that. So, you know, it was doable.
Andrea Farrier: 15:34It is doable. I think people are really, have a great opportunity, and it is much easier to do with a very structured schedule. And they've changed a lot of things this semester, I think, or this year after hearing a lot of feedback. So I think that there's a lot of positives coming down the the pipeline.
Amy Henschen: 15:59Andrea, can you tell us what's the name of the program you chose to do? You don't have to get your degree in a specific program. It has to be something related to extension or or what you're working in to continue to get an educator job in extension. But what program did you choose? And then, like, you've given us a few pieces of advice for other people who might do this.
Amy Henschen: 16:17What other advice do you have for people who are trying to get into this degree program or make it work for them?
Andrea Farrier: 16:24I chose Agriculture Leadership Education and Communications or the ALEC program. And I would say find a program that other people you know are going through. That was something that I found the most helpful and the most useful. I would not have near as much success if I wasn't able to lean on a support system. But that's me.
Andrea Farrier: 16:52That's my type of personality. I need that type of support. I'm a collaborative human. And so if I am not forging those types of relationships with people, then I am not going to be near as successful with something that I'm working towards. So that's my piece of advice.
Amy Henschen: 17:11Well, I think you you hit on something really important. When you have colleagues who are taking the same class, not only can you, like, vent, but you can also get advice on, like, has anyone taken this class? How was it? How was the professor? What was the workload?
Amy Henschen: 17:22How flexible are they? Because sometimes you might not take a class in summer if it's not a very flexible class because of fairs. But if you know, oh, this professor really responds to our work schedules, and you might take that on. So that's where it's really helpful to have someone who's going through the program with you that you can get advice from.
Andrea Farrier: 17:43Absolutely. And I found that program really relatable to the work that we do. There were a lot of pieces of information that we were able to bring back into the work, that we do on a daily basis, whether it's a logic model or, just daily problem solving. I think it's it was really applicable.
Ryan Littlejohn: 18:05I know something for me. Like, I finished my bachelor's degree while doing my job as an EPC working for extension here. And I'm I want to go on and get my master's. What would be your piece of advice to encourage someone just to follow through with it? Even if they didn't wanna move up, why should they just continue on and get that degree?
Andrea Farrier: 18:26You can never lose education. It's so important. Whether it is for a career or or not, it's something that is personal value for you and you only. It is intrinsic, and that's where I think we tend to forget that education comes in a lot of forms. And that's what we love so much about 4-H .
Andrea Farrier: 18:57Right? We learn by doing, and we forget that education isn't always so scholarly and academic, but to get to where we need to be, there are that those those points. And without that, we can't continue to be better. So I think it's always important to continue to learn and grow and keep on keeping on.
Henry Craft: 19:27So, Andrea, I I've got it before we move on to my next question, I wanna jump back a little bit. So sorry if I'm keeping you on your toes here. But as an educator, you know, you were making a comment about your schedule and how you're you're, like, you're programming almost three full days out of a week, and that's intense. Right? But I hear that from a lot of educators that they're they're just kind of going, going, going, going.
Henry Craft: 19:53My question for you is, did you get that from somewhere, or did you kind of just snowball your own self into, I'm gonna just work until I die. Because I'm trying to figure out like for me, I mean I've been in for not even a full year yet. Still trying to figure out my sea legs, but I I'm like, oh, man. And I'm not not insinuating anything in this, but for me, I'm like, if I'm programming that much, I'm not gonna provide a lot of quality. And I'm just wondering if you got pressure from from that or, like, or if you were just like, I'm doing this.
Andrea Farrier: 20:35If you can all see what I'm doing right now. I'm covering my face. Do as I say, not as I do. I already told you that I have zero ability to set boundaries. I already told you that.
Andrea Farrier: 20:52So when someone was like, I have this really cool partnership that I wanna do with you, and I'm gonna buy all the consumables. And I just need you, and I've picked out all of the curriculum. I just need you there two days a week to facilitate this, and you're gonna get grab the numbers. And I'm like, yes. Sign me up.
Andrea Farrier: 21:13That sounds great and easy. Right? Well, in hindsight, this is never as easy as it sounds, and it's fun and glorious, but that's two days of my week. And I love it. Should I have given that two days?
Andrea Farrier: 21:34Probably not. But am I going to create longevity? Am I going to create long term program? Am I going to create fall programs or clubs from this? Most likely.
Andrea Farrier: 21:49So from that aspect, yes. Was I given these programs? No. I have forged them myself.
Henry Craft: 22:01I don't ask that to to have it be a shaming thing. That's not what I mean. I'm just like I know there are a lot of us out there that are like, man, it always kinda feels like we're not doing enough. And I just don't know what enough is. And so that's why I'm like, well, maybe maybe we take this time to kind of figure it out.
Andrea Farrier: 22:21No. No. Amy go.
Amy Henschen: 22:24You can't compare. Like, that's the thing.
Amy Henschen: 22:56And, like, how we've set our staff up for success is different. So some people come into a program that's really developed, and some people have to start from scratch. And so it's, like, really hard. And I think it's hard for EPCs too. Like, you look at someone in another county who just seems like they're a baller.
Amy Henschen: 23:13Right? You're like, woah. You're doing like especially, they just seem busy. Even just busy seems like, oh my gosh. They seem busier than me.
Amy Henschen: 23:20What does that say about me? Right? Like, it makes us it's just like we're used to, as human beings, comparison doing comparisons. And I think that is the death of us. It's really hard to not do.
Amy Henschen: 23:33But again, you have to remind yourself, like, what your county looks like, what your unit looks like is just not the same. And what your structure is, what your leadership in your unit is, it's just different. And I do I will say we we live in the suburbs of Chicago. We have a ton of human beings, many of which are underserved. So we don't like, that's, an opportunity that we have here.
Amy Henschen: 23:58Andrea and I work out of the same office that not every unit has. Right? And so that's something that's really interesting. But this is the funny thing. I find it humorous because Andrea has got woo, right?
Amy Henschen: 24:09She is great at just meeting new people, meeting new organizations. But then her energy makes those those organizations say like, oh, we have to do something. And then Andrea is like, sure. And the reminder is she might be crazy busy right now, but it might be just planting seeds, like she's saying, for a future long term relationship. So and that's where I think you have to balance when you have an opportunity.
Amy Henschen: 24:34Can I do something really intense for four weeks if it's gonna get me something long term? Then you take, you make that sacrifice, right? If you're, you know, looking for the future, whereas, like, that wouldn't be sustainable to do two days a week with this organization year round.
Andrea Farrier: 24:49Correct. And, like, being able to transition that. Right? Transition that off and making sure that we're setting people up for success, being able to make sure that we're setting up partnership organizations for success. Do I have time in those other two days besides, you know, checking it with my team or replying to emails or doing general tasks to do work on setting up that transition plan between me and them and providing them with enough information to succeed and, you know, given give them an effective start.
Andrea Farrier: 25:33I don't know. Do I hope so. Right? We all hope that that is the plan. That is everything we work towards in 4-H in general.
Andrea Farrier: 25:44Right? We want to provide our volunteers, all of our volunteers in a club program or in every program that we do with enough foundational information that they can run an effective program, spin club, club program, workshop, etcetera. And I think that that's something that we can all work on all all the time.
Henry Craft: 26:07Well and I think that just it highlights the difficult task that we really have as a host of Behind the Clover is to really represent all the different aspects and how disparate and how unique, I guess, is what really it is. Each county is, and each each area because, man, I mean, things just my spring was nuts. Right? And that's that was my my timeline. But, yeah, I got really quiet there for a while because I was getting very introspective.
Henry Craft: 26:36So thank you all for throwing me a lifeline. It is. It's that comparison game.
Andrea Farrier: 26:40So It's 100% the comparison game, and you can do it at an EPC level. You can do it as an educator level. You can do it as a county director level. I have you know, we've talked amongst other counties where it's like, you know, it's just like the different amount of programs and things like that that, you know, it's just every county is different in extension, and that's okay. That's the beauty of Illinois.
Ryan Littlejohn: 27:09I wanna jump in there on that because as an EPC that is down south, my county looks very different than a county up north even. And I know it's easy to look at the things that I do and be like, well, why is that going over well for him? Or, like, I can look somewhere up north. Like, how are you guys reaching so many kids in workshops? And I can get barely 15 kids to show up.
Ryan Littlejohn: 27:35Maybe I'll have 20 sign up, but maybe 15 show up. But you have to remember it's two different worlds. Almost like there are so many things that are select up north, whereas down south, our kids are involved in everything. I I mean, because there's not a lot of kids in their school. So they they don't have to choose just one thing or and I I get that mindset.
Ryan Littlejohn: 27:58Like, it's there's this one way, but that's not what it's about. I think in hearing that too, you know, it's not just me as an EPC that struggles seeing that. You're not bad at your job because you can't do what the person in the county next door to you is doing.
Henry Craft: 28:12Well said, Ryan. Well said.
Andrea Farrier: 28:14The old adage of it's always been done this way. You know? You have to remember sometimes change is good. Change is good.
Henry Craft: 28:26As I say often, if 4-H isn't evolving at a hundred years old, it's it's dying. So let's let's lean into that. But all that to say, thank you so much for that. Let's shift gears slightly. I promised a new question, and here we go.
Henry Craft: 28:47So, Andrea, we've established you guys you and Amy are up in the in the suburbs of Chicago where kids have an endless cornucopia, yes, I said cornucopia, of options, to choose from to fill their time. How do you sell or pitch 4-H as the things suburban families and partner organizations should choose as the premier go to for youth development programming?
Andrea Farrier: 29:18This is the hardest question in America. I don't know why y'all ask me this. How do you sell it? How do you pitch it? And my answer is actually different every single time because it really depends on the family.
Andrea Farrier: 29:35It depends on what they need. It depends on what they want, and it depends on what the organization needs and wants. And so mine changes and varies a bit, every time I I provide it, because I'm truly trying to sell to what they have given me. But I also want them to know that this is not like boy scouts and girl scouts. This is a choose your own adventure type experience.
Andrea Farrier: 30:10This is a learning on their own type of experience depending on their club and that they can have experiences in multiple ways, whether that's through workshops, special interests type niche, club experiences, or multi project work with a community service type club throughout the year.
Henry Craft: 30:36Spoiler, this was my question. And, for those that haven't listened already, our very first podcast, Amy, Ryan, and I all shared what our 4-H h elevator pitch was. So we have done it. We we did it first, so we could ask you, with integrity. So there you go.
Amy Henschen: 30:58And we think it's I think one of the things we wanted to do with this podcast is just hear about how other people sell 4-H because we have to talk to, as you hit on, so many different audiences. And so having different language and ways to talk about what this program can do for you, I think it's so helpful to hear those perspectives from more people because then it helps you, like, broaden your ability to sell it to each different person and organization.
Henry Craft: 31:25And your answer is not cheap. Right? Because a lot of people have said that as well is that it changes. And I think that's a valuable point to be said, which is don't have one elevator pitch. You need to mix it up because everybody's getting something different out of 4-H .
Henry Craft: 31:44So it's not a cheap answer. It was perfect. So, yeah, lean in on that because it totally is. It's different.
Andrea Farrier: 31:52And I always go back to my sister's experience in 4-H was not the same as my experience in 4-H . And my daughter's experience in 4-H is certainly different than what mine was. So, you know, it's very it's very different. It's very different between our interests and what type of environment, you know, they choose to continue to lead.
Ryan Littlejohn: 32:21I wanna jump in there because you I think you make a great point how your sister's experience at four h and yours was different and yours and your daughter's was different. But also the four h program is a different program than it was when you were in it and your sister was in it. Now that your daughter's in it. And I think EPCs definitely need to hear this, that there are parents that'll say, well, that's not what four H is. Well, that's because that's not what their four h was when they were in four h.
Ryan Littlejohn: 32:514-H is evolving to meet the generational needs of kids today, not of people who are 30 or forty sixty.
Andrea Farrier: 33:02It's not. Cows sows and plows, folks.
Henry Craft: 33:05But for some, it still is. Right? Yeah. I mean, it's it's true. Right?
Henry Craft: 33:09Like, in and you're telling me that we can grow and we can change. We encourage our our youth to do that. Like, why can't the program do that? So I think I think that hits it right on the head. We have to be flexible, limber to be able to to bend with the the river.
Henry Craft: 33:30You know? You gotta be able to move with it. Bend rivers flow. They go around bends and stuff. Yeah.
Andrea Farrier: 33:37Pocahontas. Mhmm.
Henry Craft: 33:38Yeah. Where of just around the river.
Amy Henschen: 33:40Just around the river bend.
Henry Craft: 33:42Exactly.
Amy Henschen: 33:43The key here though is you've gotta listen to your audience, and that's what you're saying too. You have an adaptable pitch. You only can adapt your pitch if you know something about the person you're pitching to. So making sure we're taking the time to have real conversations with people, to listen, to hear about their needs, like, that's how we succeed.
Andrea Farrier: 34:04Making those connections and relationships is so important. And you never know when you're gonna find them. Today, I called the shooting sports range or a shooting range in a town in our county because I saw that they had four h shooting sports, connected on their page. And we haven't had a program in, like, five years. And we certainly haven't had this an air rifle program or anything with ammunition in our program in many, many, many years.
Andrea Farrier: 34:41So I called them up and said, hey. You know? Started asking questions, and he was like, yeah. I went through the training several years ago, but I haven't done anything with it. But I'd love to, like, get started, anything to get kids interested in it.
Andrea Farrier: 34:58And I was like, it's your lucky day. Yep. Bingo.
Amy Henschen: 35:04I swear you could talk anyone at anything. You're trouble. You're trouble. Well, I want to switch gears and just talk briefly because it's another thing I think a lot of staff deal with is you're a mob to a very rambunctious is she 10 now? Oh, my gosh.
Amy Henschen: 35:19To a rambunctious 10 year old. And, like, you're also a 4-H staff person, and we all know what a 4-H staff person's schedule can look like, and your kids in four H in a different county than you're working in. So how do you kind of balance that work life with your family life? Like, do you have any tips for other people new to this that might be needing to think about that?
Andrea Farrier: 35:42I think keeping open communication lines with your county director is extremely important. I think having a strong support system with family or friends or other adults in your community is also very critical and key. I know that, like, last year, our fair and my county fair was at the same time. So, like, my work county fair and her county fair were at the same time, which was really, difficult. And there were a lot of times that I had to rely on, like, our leader to feed our rabbits because I wouldn't be able to get there, because I had to be, you know, in in Kane to to work.
Andrea Farrier: 36:26So it was important to just keep open lines of communication and be grateful for all of the help that they provide. Be thankful, grateful. Also, be willing to help. So extend that gratitude into action.
Amy Henschen: 36:46How do you balance all the extracurriculars and the appointments? Do you is that just all communication with your county director?
Andrea Farrier: 36:54Yes. That currently is a lot of communication with my county director. We are as I mentioned earlier, we're going through a lot of evaluative services at this moment with my daughter. So, we have a lot going on with her, and so there are a lot of appointments here and there, as well as a lot of extracurriculars on top of that. And so, just having a really nicely planned out schedule and being able to keep that county county director in the loop as well as keeping, friends and family on speed dial to help drive when when I can't be there, is really critical.
Andrea Farrier: 37:41But I work a lot of odd hours.
Amy Henschen: 37:44Yeah. I gotta say sometimes it's nice that most of us, a lot of us have the flexibility to work from home a few days. It makes scheduling some of those appointments and stacking them right easier. So you can get some of that stuff done in one chunk or push it all to one day. Certainly I've seen you attempt that.
Amy Henschen: 38:01Not always you don't always have control over that though. Right? But it's so nice that you have a lot of people on your team, family wise, support wise who kinda can chip in and help out to make this happen. Because being a parent, I'm not a parent, guys, but I see you guys and I'm in awe because I can't imagine having just my normal job plus this is insane to me. So props to y'all and know that there's other people out here who are doing this and have done this and are willing to help you out, like give you some advice, give you some tips on how they survive or survived this, especially those really busy years when your kid can't drive themselves places.
Amy Henschen: 38:42You know, those are the, the, the ones where it'll really get you. Thanks for sharing.
Andrea Farrier: 38:47And I also just want to remind people that it's super important to take care of you. You can't pour from an empty cup. So check your, mental health. Use services that we have on campus. Use services that you have in private health care.
Andrea Farrier: 39:09Make sure that you're taking care of you. Every transition can be difficult. There's always growing pains for every transition, whether it's work, whether it's home, and making sure that you're taking care of you is important. Put that air mask on you first and then the next person.
Amy Henschen: 39:35I want every single staff person who starts working here to hear that in their first week and over and over and over again as a reminder monthly for the rest of the time they're here because that's so important. And I think we are yes people. We're people who don't want who feel like we're letting people down if we don't say yes. But you're so right. Like, we have limited bandwidth.
Amy Henschen: 40:03Like, in Paraguay, we say, I have a little battery. Like, my battery is low and, like, there's only so much you can give. So that's such an important reminder, especially we have a lot of blues. If any of you do real colors who will give and give and give without taking the time necessarily to to think about themselves and put their own mask first. So that's such an important reminder.
Amy Henschen: 40:25Thank you for that.
Ryan Littlejohn: 40:27I think it comes to my mind of back in college marching band days. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Right? And hydrate before you die. Right?
Ryan Littlejohn: 40:37Like yourself comes first in this job when you give and give and give, like, if you look, I have this huge jug of water Fairs two weeks away. Right? And I'm sitting here drinking this jug of water to get my body in shape for what's gonna be the most demanding time. And I think you have to remember that too. Like, what you need to do to keep yourself level above the water, especially in a transition.
Ryan Littlejohn: 41:01Right? Because there's a transition throughout life. No matter what, you'll always have some type of transition. And I think you had a really good point there about how you need to keep yourself in check. So my last question is what advice would you give to someone who is making a transition between positions in Illinois 4-H ?
Andrea Farrier: 41:20I think be open to change and be excited about growth and opportunity. I think that we are here for the community and for kids, and we're here because we love what we do. That's why you came to extension. You want to help. And without being open to change, you can't do that.
Andrea Farrier: 41:50So I think all of those things are super critical, and find your people.
Henry Craft: 41:56I like it. Andrea, I'm gonna say it. Top five. Just saying. This one's been great.
Henry Craft: 42:03I love the nuggets that have been in here just to hear where you come from in 4-H , and then just that experience with transitioning from EPC role to the educator role, and just you being transparent about the you know, that it's not always been easy. And I think that's something that we all need to hear. And I think it is it's just one of those that should go on a poster, one of those cheesy ones, but it's not cheesy. You can't pour from an empty cup, you know? And I I don't know what the picture would be for that.
Henry Craft: 42:37You know, they always have those super great landscape pictures. Yeah. Something really, happy. But yeah. No.
Henry Craft: 42:44Thank you so much. I and I and it gave me a lot of time, and I know Ryan as well just to think about what we're doing. Like, what what are we doing here? Like, what's going on? And so I appreciate you being on with us and sharing, those pieces.
Henry Craft: 43:01And it's just really, it's been really great. Of course. But one it's been really great.
Andrea Farrier: 43:04Of course. But one very important question I need to answer that you did not ask because I am who I am. The worst ride at Disney is Dinosaur.
Henry Craft: 43:18Well, folks, that was free. The dinosaur ride. Again, if we had a forum, I'm sure we would hear plenty about it. I I have no context to speak on that. Thank you to Ryan and Amy again for their co hosting superpowers.
Henry Craft: 43:34Thank you so much to Andrea for being with us today on yet another episode. And thank you listeners for sticking with us and coming back to hear all about our new series of transitions. Join us next time for more real conversations with real 4-H pros.