4-H Tech Changemakers began in Arkansas in 2021 with 20 participants from 11 counties. The program trains youth to teach digital skill-building workshops to adults. Participants have given presentations to Extension Homemakers Council clubs, county meetings for Master Gardeners, nursing homes and community centers, all focusing on basic internet safety.
Over the past four years, Tech Changemakers has grown significantly. Seventy-four Arkansas 4-H members from 16 counties attended the program’s Winter Training on Jan. 3. At the training, participants and adult 4-H volunteers learned how to operate recreational drones and test secure passwords. They also learned to use Ozobots, miniature robots that introduce students to coding techniques.
Cindy Phillips, extension Tech Changemakers program technician for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the program has grown, in part, because of past participants’ vocal enthusiasm.
“Our team, and past teams, have been talking to their friends about how great it is to be a Tech Changemaker,” Phillips said. “We have also set up a Tech Changemakers table at several 4-H events, so more kids are seeing us and asking questions about what we do. It’s a great way to meet fellow 4-H members and gain valuable community service experience.”
Community outreach is at the heart of Tech Changemakers. Nationally, 325 Tech Changemakers participants across 18 states reached more than 37,000 adults in 2021. Phillips said that since then, Arkansas 4-H Tech Changemakers have connected with more than 10,000 adults in the state through workshops and one-on-one tutorials.
“Our goal is to help the adults in our communities cross the digital divide,” Phillips said. “As our world becomes more and more driven by technology, Tech Changemakers help adults learn essential digital skills, including basic internet safety, phishing scams and cell phone use.”
Michelle McVay, extension STEM instructor for the Division of Agriculture, said that today’s teens are the perfect vehicles to deliver this critical information.
“These kids are what we could consider digital natives,” McVay said. “Many of them have used computers and the internet from an early age, so these technology skills are very familiar to them. We’re asking them to use their knowledge to help people in their communities live safer lives and not feel so left behind by technology — by connecting with these adults, Tech Changemakers help them connect with the world.”
Phillips said that in 2025, participants will also teach STEM classes in their local schools.
Technology skills for work and play
At the Tech Changemakers Winter Training, new program participants shared their excitement for the year ahead.
Truitt Shaw, a member of Grant County 4-H, said his older brother participated in the program previously, which got him excited to join.
“I thought it would be very interesting to do what my brother did and help people learn how to use technology,” Shaw said.
Shaw, 12, said he’s interested in becoming a professional animator when he grows up, and he’s already sharpening his skills.
“I make stop-motion videos, where you take a picture and then move an item, so it looks like it moves on its own,” Shaw said. “I also do frame-by-frame animation, where I draw a picture and then I draw another picture, and it plays together and makes it look like it’s moving.”
After the training, Shaw said he looked forward to using his skills to help people grasp concepts that may be new or intimidating to them.
“I think that if somebody like my mom or dad, or my grandma or grandpa, needs help with technology and they don’t understand something, I think I’d be able to help them understand it,” Shaw said.
Thyme Spence, a member of Clay County 4-H, said she joined Tech Changemakers because she “thought it would be a good opportunity for me to grow my 4-H experience.” As a freshman in high school, she took a class about coding, which also interested her in the program.
For fellow Clay County 4-H member Claire McKenney, Tech Changemakers presented an opportunity to learn new skills that may benefit her family’s medical practice.
“I thought it would be a cool way to branch out my learning experience and get more life experience with other kinds of jobs,” McKenney said. “I’m most interested in mechanics and coding, because while my family runs a doctor’s office, I want to become something different and learn engineering so I can be independent.
“If a printer breaks, or there’s a computer problem, I’ll know a bit more about what’s wrong with it and how to fix it,” she said.
McKenney said she thinks her Tech Changemakers experience could “definitely go into a career path and future life experiences.”
Learn more about Arkansas 4-H Tech Changemakers online, visit or contact Cindy Phillips at cdphillips@uada.edu.
Mention of product names does not imply endorsement by the Division of Agriculture.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
