4-H Impact Highlight
Alumni Spotlight: Colorado 4-H Youth Development
Building Community and a place for everyone
2025-2026 CSU Collegiate 4-H President Aya Elhemri
By Mike Hooker
For Aya Elhemri, leadership is about “participating confidently” in a community.
As the outgoing 2025-26 president of Collegiate 4-H at Colorado State University, Elhemri is heading into her third year of undergrad with a clear understanding of who she is, and the power of youth to make a positive difference in the world.
“In my head as a kid I always thought a leader is super confident, public speaking, always up on the stage,” she said in an interview outside a coffee shop at CSU’s Lory Student Center. ”It was always the older kids at the microphones and that’s what I thought leadership was. But 4-H shows you that there are different ways of being a leader.”
Elhemri’s story is a 4-H leadership journey that started as a shy, horse-loving fourth grader growing up in Fort Collins.
A Place for Everyone
“When I was younger, I was really obsessed with horses and archery, and my mom was trying to get me more involved in stuff like that.”
Elhemri says horse-riding lessons led to learning about 4-H, the youth development organization that would shape how she saw herself, starting when she joined 4-H in fourth grade.
“I was super shy. I hated anything that had to do with showing (animals), anything that had to do with presentations,” she remembers with a smile at her transformation since then. “I was the kid in the 4-H club meetings sitting next to my mom in the back with the parents. I wasn’t sitting with the rest of the kids.”
Not comfortable in the spotlight showing animals and presenting, she quickly found other activities that fit: photography, cake decorating, and learning about leadership. Elhemri was in eighth grade when COVID hit and – doing 4-H online – leadership opportunities began to emerge.
Finding her Leadership Type
One thing led to another and Aya found herself at national leadership conferences including Ignite, Citizenship Washington Focus and National Congress. While at Poudre High School in Larimer County 4-H programs, she spent enough time in Washington D.C. that she now laughingly describes the area in D.C. where 4-H gatherings happen as being “like a second home.”
“I got to present at the Peace Corps about language and AI with a group of other random 4-H’ers. I was just assigned – random 4-H’ers in DC – and we got together for a week. We did research, we made a presentation, and they drove us down to the Peace Corps headquarters, and we got to present to the CEO there and a whole bunch of other staff there. It was so cool.”
Now the 2024 Poudre High School graduate is midway through her undergraduate studies at Colorado State University, majoring in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Anatomy & Physiology.
Collegiate 4-H
Going to college is a big change for most young people. For Aya Elhemri, the opportunity to help restart CSU’s Collegiate 4-H meant she didn’t need to say goodbye to something that has shaped who she is today.
“It’s really nice. I feel like 4-H has been a big of part of my life for so long – since I was in elementary school,” she said. “So, it was kind of fun to have a part of my childhood come with me to college”
After rekindling the club in 2025, CSU’s Collegiate 4-H is now becoming more involved in the community and building membership.
“We just hope to see more people join, maybe get involved. I feel like there’s a lot of cool opportunities we’re doing, even if you’re, like, not fully involved, and you just participate in some of the meetings. We have cool, fun volunteer opportunities where you can still be involved with 4-H and youth leadership.”
For Elhemri, she’s grateful for the opportunities Colorado 4-H has provided to continue finding community solutions to food insecurity and other challenges.
“4-H has shown me that being a leader doesn’t just mean you’re ‘in charge.’ I feel like it gives people – especially youth – a lot of different avenues to pursue leadership at their own pace and in their own way. I feel like I wouldn’t have been able to do any of the things I was able to do if I hadn’t figured out a path on my own of how you can be a leader just by showing up. And I feel like that’s something that 4-H definitely teaches you and shows you.”
Colorado 4-H Youth Development celebrates the stories of impact 4-H has on lives across our communities and state. Thank you to our youth leaders, volunteers, and all the families and supporters who champion them. To learn more and find your place in Colorado 4-H, visit https://co4h.colostate.edu/.