Development of Youth Leadership Life Skills of Texas Youth as San Antonio Livestock Exposition School Tour Guides

Abstract

Many youth organizations, including 4-H, FFA, and Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), offer countless opportunities for their members to learn and further develop leadership life skills that are important in becoming contributing members of society as adults. The purpose of this study was to determine if Texas 4-H, FFA, and FCCLA members were developing leadership life skills as school tour guides at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition. Additionally, demographic characteristics were evaluated to determine which of these characteristics affected leadership life skills development. Demographic characteristics evaluated included gender, age, ethnicity, youth organization membership, years of membership, years of experience as a school tour guide, and previous leadership skills training. The target population was Texas 4-H, FFA, and FCCLA members who served as school tour guides at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition. School tour guides referred to the 4-H, FFA, FCCLA members who imparted their personal knowledge of agriculture to elementary-aged students from San Antonio and surrounding area schools that requested an educational tour at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition.

Perceived Leadership Life Skills Developed Through Participation at the Arkansas FFA Leadership Conference: A Program Evaluation

“…There was no relationship found between age, gender and years of FFA membership with YLLSD. This differs from , Real & Harlin (2006), and findings of females having higher scores than males. However it does follow suit with , Wigenbach &Kahler's (1997) findings that there is no difference in age and YLLSD.…”

“…126 An integral part of experiential youth leadership organizations, such as FFA, is leadership education (Real & Harlin, 2006). The National FFA Organization's motto "is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education" (National FFA Organization, 2012d, para.…”

“…Studies have shown that involvement in leadership activities had a positive relationship with youth leadership skill development (Boyd, Herring, & Briers, 1992;Real & Harlin, 2006;Rutherford, et al, 2002;Townsend & Carter, 1983;Wingenbach & Kahler, 1997), that females have higher leadership life skills scores than males Real & Harlin, 2006;, and that there is no statistical difference in leadership life skills and age Wigenbach & Kahler, 1997). However, few studies have determined if individual conferences aid in developing youth leadership life skills.…”

“…Two studies have been conducted (Rutherford et al, 2002;Real & Harlin, 2006) to determine if a specific activity has impact on leadership life skill development. Rutherford et al (2002) conducted a study to understand the leadership self-perceptions of Washington Leadership Conference (WLC) participants.…”

“…Rutherford et al (2002) conducted a study to understand the leadership self-perceptions of Washington Leadership Conference (WLC) participants. Real and Harlin (2006) conducted a study to see if Texas youth who served as San Antonio Livestock Exposition school tour guides gained leadership life skills. Both studies utilized the Leadership Skills Inventory (LSI) developed by Townsend and Carter (1983).…”