Volunteering Creates a Leader and Entrepreneur
My name is Cole Campbell. I have been volunteering for CALF with my family since I was a little boy. First, we started as community gardeners, then helped feeding CALF's livestock and then my family started helping to keep the bees at CALF. As soon as I could, I joined 4-H.
Recently, I was asked to speak about what 4-H means to me. I was wondering where to begin, I started to think about all my years in 4-H. One of the first things that comes to mind is the 4-H pledge, which we all know by heart and can recite in our sleep. At the end of the pledge we talk about serving our club, our community, our country and our world. But saying is one thing and doing is another. I spent the last few years serving my club being our Douglas County Council representative, and President my last year. These tasks guided me into what it means to be in a leadership role and helping me grow in my confidence. Serving in the many roles I did for our club and our county I met so many amazing people along the way that just helped to encourage me in my current life path.
When I think of serving my community, I think of my time serving at CALF. I started volunteering there when I was 7. One of my favorite volunteer opportunities at CALF was working with students and adults with special needs in CALF's gardens. This helped peak my interest in what more I could do in 4-H, and I soon found my niche in aquaponics. For those unaware of what aquaponics is, its growing plants and fish in a symbiotic system. With the close relationship CALF has with our local 4-H clubs I was able to grow in the skills of gardening and working with others.
And now I have reached the task of serving my country and my world. I am currently working on an aquaponics system through Emerge Aquaponics in Colorado Springs and providing education and systems to help feed different communities within the United States and regions throughout the world. I will be leaving for South Africa in December to help grow a system that will eventually help reduce poverty with dignity by working and teaching locals on how to help serve themselves and their community in their work.
All of this wouldn’t have been possible without the skills I learned at CALF, and value 4-H places in serving those around me. These two institutions have truly taught me how to give of myself to others through hard work and guidance. So through the 4-H pledge I have found a path and a purpose and am excited to share these values with the world. So the next time you say the pledge understand the importance of the mission you are driving.
Recently, I was asked to speak about what 4-H means to me. I was wondering where to begin, I started to think about all my years in 4-H. One of the first things that comes to mind is the 4-H pledge, which we all know by heart and can recite in our sleep. At the end of the pledge we talk about serving our club, our community, our country and our world. But saying is one thing and doing is another. I spent the last few years serving my club being our Douglas County Council representative, and President my last year. These tasks guided me into what it means to be in a leadership role and helping me grow in my confidence. Serving in the many roles I did for our club and our county I met so many amazing people along the way that just helped to encourage me in my current life path.
When I think of serving my community, I think of my time serving at CALF. I started volunteering there when I was 7. One of my favorite volunteer opportunities at CALF was working with students and adults with special needs in CALF's gardens. This helped peak my interest in what more I could do in 4-H, and I soon found my niche in aquaponics. For those unaware of what aquaponics is, its growing plants and fish in a symbiotic system. With the close relationship CALF has with our local 4-H clubs I was able to grow in the skills of gardening and working with others.
And now I have reached the task of serving my country and my world. I am currently working on an aquaponics system through Emerge Aquaponics in Colorado Springs and providing education and systems to help feed different communities within the United States and regions throughout the world. I will be leaving for South Africa in December to help grow a system that will eventually help reduce poverty with dignity by working and teaching locals on how to help serve themselves and their community in their work.
All of this wouldn’t have been possible without the skills I learned at CALF, and value 4-H places in serving those around me. These two institutions have truly taught me how to give of myself to others through hard work and guidance. So through the 4-H pledge I have found a path and a purpose and am excited to share these values with the world. So the next time you say the pledge understand the importance of the mission you are driving.
