The third annual Maize retreat for youth in grades 9-12, hosted by the 4-H program, is set to start on Iowa State’s campus.

The Maize retreat is a youth leadership retreat that provides participants an accelerated experience in the Iowa 4-H Youth Development program while focusing on Latino and Native American culture and provides a great learning experience at Iowa State University.

The 4-H program is housed on Iowa State’s campus and serves as a youth development program as part of the University’s Extension and Outreach for the youth across Iowa.

Program manager Cayla Taylor said 4-H programs service about 1 in 5 youth in Iowa, being 100,000 youth across the state.

“Through programs like these we are trying to build new skills, interests in particular areas and build lifelong passions for future career opportunism and potential majors here at Iowa state,” Taylor said.

The purpose of the program is to gather Iowa youth from across the state to experience healthy living, STEM, citizenship, leadership and communication through a Latino and Native American perspective.

Corn will be symbolized throughout the retreat to represent the coming together of Native Americans, Latinos and Iowa traditions.

The three-day retreat will begin Friday on the Iowa State University campus, where the participants will have the opportunity to learn, develop new skills and celebrate their Latino and Native American heritage.

“They will be able to participate in hands-on educational workshops and learn potential career opportunities by visiting each college and learning from faculty and staff,” Taylor said.

After their visit to the Iowa State University’s campus they will stay at Clover Woods near Madrid, Iowa, for the remainder of the retreat, where they will continue to learn from hands-on workshops, experience traditional camping experiences and enjoy entertaining cultural dances.