PYD Academy: From Cloverbuds to Beyond Ready

February 4 - May 7, 2025

12:00pm - 3:30pm ET

Virtual Conference & Immersions

More Information and Register Here

Early Bird pricing of $50 has been extended through January 31st!

The 2025 PYD Academy learning opportunities are your gateway to engaging with 4-H's transformative new national initiative, Beyond Ready! While Beyond Ready introduces fresh approaches, it is deeply rooted in the principles of high-quality Positive Youth Development (PYD). By participating in these opportunities, you'll enhance your PYD practices and discover actionable ways to contribute to Beyond Ready.

Join colleagues across the country and from Cornell for the conference and immersions—an immersive blend of virtual events designed to elevate your skills, connect you with peers, and empower you to prepare youth for success in work and life. Can't make it to one of the sessions? No problem! By registering, you will have access to all event recordings and resources.

Keynote Speaker Spotlight

We are delighted to welcome experts from University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, Search Institute, and ACT for Youth as our keynote speakers.  

Dr. Camille A. Farrington is a Senior Advisor at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, where she previously served as a Senior Research Associate, Managing Director, and Founding Director of the Consortium’s Equitable Learning & Development Group (ELDG). Her work focuses on understanding how young people make sense of daily learning experiences and how learning structures and educator practices shape learners’ beliefs, behaviors, identities, performance, and development. Dr. Farrington’s publications include: Measuring Learning Environments, Not Just Students, to Support Learning and Development (2020); Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework (2015); Failing at School: Lessons for Redesigning Urban High Schools (2014); and Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance (2012).  

Dr. Joanna Williams, Senior Director of Research at Search Institute, provides strategic leadership on research with youth-serving partners to address opportunities in positive youth development and education. She has had the privilege of working with and for youth in many capacities – teacher, youth development program staff member, and researcher – and in many contexts, including schools, community programs, and child welfare settings. She previously served as a tenured faculty member at University of Virginia and Rutgers University, where she cultivated her research skills with a focus on issues of racial equity and positive youth development. She is a member of the National Scientific Council on Adolescence and of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine's Board on Children, Youth, and Families.  

Dr. Amanda Purington Drake directs Cornell University’s ACT for Youth Center for Community Action and serves as the Principal Investigator of the New York State Center of Excellence for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs. Passionate about using research and evaluation to promote the health and well-being of youth, she is also a research collaborator with the Social Media Lab at Cornell University.  

Michele Luc, MSW, is a youth development consultant, facilitator, and curriculum writer based at Cornell University Cooperative Extension in New York City. As the Training Coordinator for ACT for Youth, she trains and coaches staff of youth-serving organizations across New York State, building their capacity to promote health and positive youth development with quality. Michele is an expert in guiding and engaging participants in dialogue on critical issues such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Following these keynote presentations, you’ll get to participate in interactive sessions to translate insights into actionable practices that enhance youth retention.