Amy Henschen

Amy Henschen is a 4-H Youth Development Senior Program Lead with University of Illinois Extension. She provides statewide 4-H program leadership in the areas of evaluation and staff development. Amy works in collaboration with Extension staff and partners to leverage data to communicate program impacts, identify needs, and improve processes. In partnership with work teams, she also designs and facilitates staff development opportunities that build overall employee capacity.

Amy grew up in Lake County, Illinois, where she was an active 4-H member. She worked as a Marketing Specialist for a regional open space agency before joining the Peace Corps as a Community Economic Development Promoter. After completing her Peace Corps service in Paraguay, she worked as a 4-H Youth Development Agent for 6 years with Colorado State University Extension. She joined the University of Illinois Extension team in 2019 as a Youth Development Educator, before switching to statewide responsibilities in 2020.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Dayton and a master’s degree in Agricultural Extension Education from Colorado State University.

Amy has extensive experience with staff development, program management, evaluation, outreach, marketing, public relations, and new audience development. Her passion is helping enhance the competencies of youth development workers to improve overall program quality and impact. She is a co-host of the staff development podcast Behind the Clover: Real 4-H Talk with Real 4-H Pros.

Certifications

• Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue Certified Trainer – Helps individuals build effective communication skills to achieve more positive outcomes.
• eXtension Impact Collaborative Innovation Facilitator – Facilitates the innovation skill-building experience to help groups generate innovative ideas and programs.
• Click2Science Professional Development Trainer – Assists volunteers and staff working with youth to improve their ability to offer impactful and high-quality hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.
• Real Colors Certified Facilitator – Helps teams and individuals gain an understanding of their temperament types and leverage that information to improve communication and strengthen relationships.
• 4-H Thriving Model Curriculum Trainer – Assists staff and volunteers with understanding the Thriving Model of positive youth development and how to create program environments where youth can grow and thrive.

Awards

National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals

• 2025 Excellence in Peer Professional Development
• 2025 Communicator Award – Radio/Audio Program
• 2024 Communicator Award – Educational Piece Individual
• 2022 Distinguished Service Award
• 2019 Communicator Award – News Story
• 2018 Excellence in Educational Technology
• 2017 Achievement in Service
• 2017 Communicator Award - News Story
• 2017 Communicator Award - Periodical Publication

Illinois Extension

• 2024 Extension Team Excellence Award

Leadership

• ACT Now Leadership Team Member (2023-present)
• 4-H Positive Youth Development Champion (2022-present)
• 4-H Program Leaders’ Working Group: 4-H Enrollment and Data Management Team Co-Chair (2025-present)

Presentations & Posters

• Illinois 4-H Passport to the World Overview Session – National Associations of 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4-HYDP) Annual Conference 2025, Atlanta, GA (with Myla Munro, Alcha Corban and Martha Ebbesmeyer)
• Senior Survey Creates Young Alumni Pipeline Poster  – National Associations of 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4-HYDP) Annual Conference 2024, Bosie, ID (with Cindy Ogwal and Tina Veal)
• “Hi, I’m New Here” A Staff-Driven Onboarding Program Session – National Associations of 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4-HYDP) Annual Conference 2024, Pittsburgh, PA (with Shelby Carlson, Kasey Kemme, Martha Ebbesmeyer, Sara Marten, Myla Munro, Jennifer Peterson, and Mynda Tracy)
• Teaching Challenge-Based Robotics Session – National Associations of 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4-HYDP) Annual Conference 2017, Indianapolis, IN