2025 4-H International Camp United Program (4-HICUP)
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Email4-HICUP brought teens from around the globe together to gain leadership skills and environmental knowledge.
The recent 4-H International Camp United Program (4-HICUP), recently held August 6-13 at the Arkansas 4-H Foundation Vines Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, provided a great forum for meeting 4-H international partners, participating in and teaching sessions, as well as enjoying the great outdoors.
The event was very successful with 51 participants from three different countries (Jamaica, Japan and Taiwan) and four U.S. states (Arkansas, Michigan, New Jersey and Texas) attending to learn about leadership, global citizenship, teamwork, and more. Key objectives of the program are:
- Help participants understand their role in being a global citizen.
- Develop leadership skills among secondary school students from the selected countries.
- Build personal and lasting relationships among program participant teens.
The Vine Center kept all the youth busy during the week, offering many activities such as a high ropes course, archery, shooting sports, fishing, the SeaPerch project, 4-H yoga and AtlAtl. Other educational sessions offered provided cultural awareness, community service, teamwork, future careers and so much more!
At the camp, Michigan State University Extension 4-H educator Janis Brinn had the honor of physically exchange artwork with Taiwan 4-H Lai, Weichung (Daniel), during the Visual Art Letter (VAL) session. The Michigan and Taiwan art exchange is part of the “STAR" (Sharing Traditions, Art and Relationships) Project, which is a simple acronym emphasizing the program's values. Partners include Canada 4-H, Poland 4-H, Taiwan 4-H and Michigan. Co-facilitating the VAL session was Texas 4-H’er Gabi Pardo, who is part of a pilot art exchange in 2025 with Michigan 4-H, Texas 4-H and Norway 4-H.
As the Michigan representative on the 4-HICUP planning committee, Brinn met monthly with other committee members, including chair Alayne Torretta of New Jersey 4-H, who held the first 4-HICUP in 2019. Other members providing support to the 2025 program were from 4-H USA, Arkansas and Texas. International 4-H partners adding value to the program planning were from Azerbaijan, Gambia, Georgia, Jamaica, Liberia, Taiwan and Tanzania. Many members of the planning committee built a friendship when they attended the Global 4-H Network Summit 2023 in Tanzania and 4-HICUP ended up being a wonderful reunion opportunity. During the event closing, Jamaica 4-H announced that they would be hosting the 4-HICUP in Jamaica in 2027 and Brinn agreed to continue serving on the planning committee and hopes to participate in 2027 with 25 youth and chaperones.
Michigan 4-H offers a variety of ways to continue the global journey through international connections, life-changing experiences, cultural learning, and more. To learn more about travel and hosting opportunities through Michigan 4-H, visit the Michigan 4-H International Exchange website.
MSU Extension and the Michigan 4-H Youth Development program help to prepare youth as positive and engaged leaders and global citizens by providing educational experiences and resources for youth interested in developing knowledge and skills in these areas. Other global educational opportunities can also be found on the MSU Extension Global and Cultural Education webpage. For more information about 4-H learning opportunities and other 4-H programs, contact your county MSU Extension office.
