PRYDE welcomes the 4-H work team to campus
PRYDE staff and scholars with the PRYDE 4-H Work Team
The PRYDE 4-H Work Team members all gathered on campus recently for their annual meeting with PRYDE-affiliated researchers. The series of meetings ran in Beebe Hall from September 18-19th and proved to be extremely productive for the various projects that PRYDE is currently working to support. Members of the work team have diverse backgrounds in youth development as educators, issue leaders, and directors of various programs such as the 4-H Youth Community Action Network.
Consulting and seeking the wisdom of experienced practitioners is one of the fundamental ways in which PRYDE aims to deliver cutting edge research to youth in 4-H. Dr. Jennifer Agans PRYDE’s assistant director, who facilitated the meetings, says that “creating opportunities for Cornell researchers to get feedback from our 4-H Work Team on their project ideas is an essential part of how PRYDE connects research and practice. The insights, advice, and questions raised by practitioners improve the research considerably and make it more easily applicable to 4-H programs”.
Not only is the feedback from practitioners beneficial to the collaborative process, but inviting practitioners to campus to meet with researchers in person creates valuable opportunities for networking. Fostering positive relationships between faculty and the work team leads to improved communication and increases the likelihood that programs will be more successfully implemented in various counties across New York State. Even the casual conversations that occur during social events and lunch breaks can spark the interests of researchers and lead to new ideas for projects that can address the needs of communities.
And while the annual meetings are over, PRYDE continues to engage with practitioners throughout the year and encourages affiliated researchers to connect with practitioners through each step of the translational research process.
By Esther Kim
