CORVALLIS - An Oregon 4-H club known as Web Wizards has received national recognition as a winner of the Congressional NetGeneration Youth Service Award presented at the Congressional Black Caucus Education Braintrust Conference in Washington, D.C.

The NetGeneration award recognizes outstanding success in reaching out to minority youth to help them explore information technologies and achieve academic success. The award citation described the 4-H Web Wizards club as a highly original youth-centered mentoring program that has achieved excellent results in developing youth leadership in underserved minority communities.

The award is sponsored by the Education Technology Think Tank, a national association of business, civic and government-sector representatives seeking to use information technology to empower members of minority communities.

The 4-H Web Wizards club is part of the Oregon State University Extension Service 4-H Youth Program. The club is aimed at Oregon's Hispanic youth community and introduces members to computer technology and web page design with the goal of helping them succeed in school and life.

4-H Web Wizards clubs are active in Washington and Morrow counties.

"This award is a wonderful tribute to all the hard work so many people have done to make this 4-H club a success, especially the mentors from the Intel Latino Network who have volunteered over 2,000 hours with the program since it began," said Lisa Conroy, 4-H youth field faculty in the Washington County office of the OSU Extension Service. "The Web Wizards club has enjoyed a great deal of generous support from many community partners as well as the Hillsboro-based Intel Corporation."

Conroy added that this is the inaugural year for the Congressional NetGeneration Youth Service Award, which will be given annually to honor programs that inspire minority youth to achieve technology literacy, academic success and serve their communities.

The 4-H Web Wizards club was first formed in 1999 as part of an ongoing statewide OSU Extension Service Initiative to increase participation of Oregon's Hispanic community in Oregon 4-H programs.

Source: 

Lisa Conroy, 503-725-2113

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