Annually, the PRYDE Scholars from the Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE) work on a translational research project with New York State 4-H Youth Development. Last academic year, PRYDE Scholars implemented a version of the Contribution Project for 4-H’ers across the state, modeled after the original project where undergraduates at Cornell and other universities can receive funding to make a contribution of their choosing.
To acknowledge and celebrate those contributions, two PRYDE Scholars — Promise Woods ‘25 and Jennifer Navarro Chavez ’25 — coordinated a virtual showcase celebration that was held on Aug. 18. It was their capstone project as Berns PRYDE Scholars, a summer translational research experience for PRYDE Scholars funded by an endowment from the Michael W. and Roberta M. Berns PRYDE Student Research Fund.
“The Berns PRYDE Scholars summer experience gives us a chance to work closely with students during the summer, understand what they want to accomplish academically, and work with them on projects that really need support, like this celebration,” said Kristen Elmore, assistant director of PRYDE.
The virtual celebration had 4-H’ers taking turns describing their contributions — including why they chose their contributions, efforts to complete the contribution, and their impact. Labeling the event as a celebration was intentional.
“We wanted to create a space where the 4-H’ers who made these contributions were being celebrated, plus, we wanted this to be a little informal, especially since some of them were still working on their contributions,” Elmore said.
Even though the virtual celebration lasted an hour, lots of thought and planning went into creating the celebration. Planning started months before, with PRYDE Scholars providing ideas for the event.
“It went through so many iterations,” said Woods. “At first we thought every contributor would make a physical tri-fold [poster presentation], or possibly post on social media about their journey in the project. But we realized that it didn’t need to be something huge, and the kids can get a lot out of this event by just speaking with one another.”
Six of the 22 4-H contributors talked about their contributions, with most striking a familiar tone — helping others. Some even had personal meaning.
“One contribution that stood out to me was the contributor who built and decorated birdhouses, a lot of creativity went into that,” said Navarro Chavez. “That contributor mentioned that he gave one to his grandfather and that was really heartwarming because it wasn’t just helping the community, it was something personal for someone close to him.”
Originally, the celebration was scheduled for May, but various factors pushed the event to August. But it was a favorable delay, giving Woods and Navarro Chavez time to reach back to what they learned from participants in the Contribution Projects held at Cornell and Uncommon Schools in Rochester to fine-tune this celebration.
“I don’t think this would have been put together as well if we had rushed to get it done in May,” said Woods. “We were able to apply all that knowledge and give kids a great platform to show their work.”
Working with 4-H on this project, Woods and Navarro Chavez said they recognized the different levels of impact that translational research can have, in this case, beyond the 4-H youth.
“Not only can it help further research on youth development, but it can help grow their confidence and make a deeper impact in their communities,” said Navarro Chavez.
But for Woods and Navarro Chavez, this summer experience as Berns PRYDE Scholars was one that made an impact with them.
“Both Promise and Jennifer really light up around this work, and you can tell that this was not just a check on their CV, this was meaningful work for them,” said Casey Adrian, research aide and community outreach coordinator for PRYDE.
“It’s really indicative of how mutually beneficial PRYDE’s work is for Cornell Human Ecology students and youth in 4-H.”