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.
There were 1,691 school tour guides on the days of February 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
17, and 18, 2004. All school tour guides returning for the afternoon exit-meeting during
the 2004 San Antonio Livestock Exposition were asked to complete the questionnaire.
The questionnaire was a 28-item survey instrument that was based on the scales:
Working with Groups, Understanding Self, Communicating, Making Decisions, and
Leadership.
Conclusions showed school tour guides had developed leadership life skills. The
most influential demographic characteristics were gender, previous leadership
experiences, and ethnicity. Females and those participants who had had previous
leadership experiences had stronger perceptions of their leadership life skills. In
addition, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Anglos all had stronger
perceptions of their leadership life skills when compared to Native Americans.
As a result of this study, the researcher recommends that youth should be
encouraged to participate as school tour guides at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition.
School tour guides had developed leadership life skills. In addition, youth should also be
encouraged to participate in other leadership-development activities through other
programs to further develop and enhance their leadership life skills.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/1332 |
| Date | 17 February 2005 |
| Creators | Real, Laura A, Real, Laura A. |
| Contributors | Harlin, Julie |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | 1144204 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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