Blog Archives
National 4-H Week and Reflections
Happy National 4-H Week! Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters that make 4-H in our area counties and the State a success; we wouldn’t have the 4-H program without numerous volunteers such as many of you reading this!
A few weeks ago, I was attempting to explain not only Extension but 4-H to a group of people who didn’t understand either. A
survey found that nearly 96% of people recognize the name 4-H but only 35% recognize Extension. That’s why at our County fair, I put up the large red flags to help people make the connection between Extension and 4-H. I think many in our county are familiar that 4-H has to do something with the fair, but it’s so much more than that! Essentially 4-H is a youth development program coordinated by land grant universities such as UNL through the Cooperative Extension System. The National 4-H site at http://4h.org states that “4-H fosters an innovative, “learn by doing” approach with proven results.” A study conducted by Tufts University found that youth involved with 4-H are nearly two times more likely to get better grades in school, are nearly two times more likely to go to college, 41% less likely to engage in risky behaviors, and 25% more likely to positively contribute to their families and communities.
The 4-H pledge explains what the 4 H’s stand for including pledging our:
*Heads to clearer thinking
*Hearts to greater loyalty
*Hands to larger service
*Health to better living….for our clubs, communities, country, and world.
I remember reciting this pledge at every monthly meeting at a 4-Her. I’m so thankful for the numerous volunteers-particularly the amount of time our club leader invested into the youth in our club-teaching us to sew and the importance of straight seems, cook the 4-H way, model sewn garments, importance of volunteering and community service, and teaching us parliamentary procedure by empowering us as youth to run and conduct meetings. I’m thankful for volunteers who spent each week during the summer teaching me about weeds, trees, and horticulture ID….skills I use nearly every day of my Extension career and as a homeowner. While we often worked on them last minute and weren’t thrilled about doing them, I’m thankful my mom required us to do 4-H presentations each year to develop public speaking skills. I’m thankful my grandma taught me how to make homemade bread and rolls and that so many volunteers worked with me on my 4-H Jr. Leader projects to help me develop leadership skills. I’m also thankful for the Extension staff at the office while I was growing up-they were always so friendly and helpful and modeled the way for me in my career today.
Thinking about my 4-H experiences reminds me that you are encouraged by the Nebraska 4-H Foundation to share your 4-H story! Some have asked me what this means. Essentially, any of us who have went through the 4-H program or volunteered with the 4-H program has a story to tell about how 4-H has benefited us or how we’ve seen the program benefit others. It may be a funny story or a serious one. The best part is that it’s YOUR story and the 4-H Foundation wants to hear them to help with promoting 4-H! The deadline is November 30th and you can find more information at: http://www.ne4hfoundation.org. Thanks again to everyone involved with helping or supporting the 4-H program and to the 1 in every 3 Nebraska youth currently involved with the 4-H program!
Inspiring Young Nebraskans-HHD 2011
Last week was busy with Husker Harvest Days-the coldest one I can remember! It’s always fun for me to see many familiar faces-like a big reunion! The theme at the IANR booth this year was “Inspiring Young Nebraskans”. This theme was important
to showcase how IANR is influencing our youth from early childhood development to entrepreneurship activities and future careers. A statistic that may surprise you is that over 144,000 Nebraska youth (nearly every 1 in 3 youth in the State) is involved with 4-H. That’s something we would like to continue to grow as I think any of you who have been involved with youth programs whether 4-H, FFA, or scouts can attest they build life skills! The goal of this year’s exhibit was to show how IANR is impacting youth to hopefully keep more local youth here in Nebraska.
The first exhibit dealt with UNL Extension’s focus on Early Childhood Development which focuses on youth ages 5 and under by helping childcare providers, babysitters, and parents understand brain development and UNL’s research in this area. An alarming statistic is that up to 25% of children are not ready to begin school. The second exhibit was Teaching Science through Soybeans in which an iPad app was created for youth to drag and drop items into grocery carts to learn from where their food comes. There are many additional activities involved in the partnership between the College of Ag Sciences and Natural Resources, UNL teacher education, and local schools.
The third exhibit showcased the Unique Role of Teachers in Rural Communities and a research grant obtained by UNL to study the best strategies for supporting rural teachers in reading (K-3) and science education (6-12). Robotics is a curricula exploding with interest amongst youth in the State and was the fourth exhibit. “Bots are Hot” but they’re not only toys, they’re teaching technology to our youth with Nebraska being the leader in this National Science Foundation initiative. The fifth display showcased Youth-Adult Partnerships in which youth are encouraged to define and address community issues in addition to helping provide youth a voice and responsibility in their communities by working with adults. Connecting the Dots for Nebraska Youth was the sixth display in which an iPad app was developed for youth to link actions and personal choice to his/her future success in a college or career. So often we showcase projects in 4-H, but we’re striving consciously link them with future careers-to show youth how their 4-H projects truly are their first class at the University of Nebraska!
The seventh exhibit showcased Public/Private partnerships in which UNL Extension is working with Nebraska businesses to create opportunities for young Nebraskans across the State. Entrepreneurship was the focus of the eighth display with the goal of building a strong root system for homegrown Nebraska businesses. Reid Ely was front and center on that display banner with his asparagus and Ashley Nunnenkamp helped in the booth as part of the Paul Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program at UNL. Market Journal taped their latest show there and the Mobile Diagnostic Lab had interactive displays this year on Soybean Cyst Nematode kits for FFA youth, Pine Wilt Nematode, Biological Invaders, and Crop Science Investigation (CSI) for youth. I was thankful for the Clay and Fillmore County youth who helped us in our CSI display as youth can better inspire their peers to be involved!
Like in the past, a Web site was developed and rolled out at Husker Harvest Days. To find out more about what UNL Extension is doing in the child and youth area, please check out our latest Web site at http://child-youth.unl.edu.
Nebraska State Fair Reflections
Every year I look forward to the Nebraska State Fair. As a youth, that was often our family vacation. We would participate in
the State 4-H Weed, Tree, and Horticulture ID contests; present 4-H presentations; model our sewn garments; and view all the exhibits that made it to the fair in addition to getting ideas for the following year. State Fair was always a memorable family experience for me!
This year, I was so excited for the State Fair to begin! It was exciting seeing so many entries moving into the 4-H/FFA building to be judged and then seeing them displayed! Walking across the Fairgrounds in Grand Island, one can’t help but feel a sense of agriculture and pride in Nebraska’s agricultural roots. The facilities are absolutely amazing and our livestock numbers continue to climb.
The first weekend I enjoyed watching 4-H youth compete in the same plant ID contests when I was in 4-H…contests which provided me a love for plants and ability to identify them which helps me in my Extension career. These plant ID contests build life skills that these youth can use for numerous jobs but also as future home-owners. I was so proud of our area youth who placed so high in these contests-all the practicing paid off and they did very well. But in spite of ribbon placing, the most important fact is that they’re building life skills and learning!
The second weekend started off by catching the end of the Quilts of Valor presentation. The Quilts of Valor project is one in
which Nebraska 4-Hers made and donated quilts to wounded soldiers. Over 40 quilts were made by Nebraska 4-Hers and it was touching seeing them displayed. It is neat seeing our youth develop life skills in quilting and giving back in such a special way!
I also enjoyed working with the swine show again and was also superintendent of the livestock premier exhibitor contest. We were anticipating 60 4-H and FFA youth competing in the 4 large animal species but around half of them actually competed due to so many shows at the same time. Premier Exhibitor allows youth to showcase their skills and knowledge in areas besides showing their animal. For instance, the majority of their score comes from an interview in which they share their knowledge of their livestock project and are asked questions about the livestock industry. They also take a written exam and participate in a skillathon in which they ID livestock breeds, feeds, equipment, and conduct other related activities. I was so proud of these youth for working so hard and participating in these events. Again, these are life skills that they are building-the essence of what 4-H and FFA programs are about.
While many long days and late nights were involved and much walking which was great exercise, the 2011 Nebraska State Fair was a great experience and huge hit with attendance numbers projected to be up 8%! Our 4-H and FFA youth overall did an excellent job representing 4-H, FFA, their families, their knowledge and skills learned, and Nebraska in general. Regardless of ribbon placing, they made us proud and while I’m glad this year’s Fair is over, I will be ready for next year’s Fair when it rolls around!
County Fair Reflections
A HUGE thank you to all the Fair Board members, 4-H Council, leaders, youth, parents, volunteers, Clay County News Staff, and Extension staff that made the 2011 Clay County Fair a success! 
Words can’t really express my appreciation. Driving home every night, I had time to reflect on each day so I decided (for all you farmers) I’d give you a break from irrigation scheduling : ) and provide some reflections from the county fair.
I love watching the fairgrounds come alive…to see the barns and buildings filling up and the excitement of the youth and parents. 
While it’s a lot of work, I really love fair week and I’ve always appreciated our county fair in Clay County. I appreciate that the focus is on the youth and families-exactly where it should be; we truly have something special here! There was several times in conversation a person this week would say “I haven’t been to the fair in X years” to which I’d respond “Welcome back!”. For those of you reading this and can identify with that statement, I’d really encourage you to come out next year-because you truly are missing out on something special.
Every year different things stand out as I’m sure they do for the youth and parents as well. This year, these are some of my reflections looking back:
*Deanna and Holli working so hard to prepare before fair while Cindy and I continued programming right up to fair. Everything was ready to go and we felt prepared for everything this year!
*The Fair Board Members working so hard before fair, deciding not to run me over before fair : ), and cheerfully picking up trash each morning and doing various tasks throughout fair.
*All the Superintendents, 4-H Council members, and Leaders pitching in wherever needed-how you all organized your volunteers to make the shows, exhibit judging, and the food stand run so smoothly.
*Kurt and Amy-the FFA Advisors from Sutton and Sandy Creek becoming so involved this year-it was great having them as a part of our team!
*The adults and youth who pitched in to clean out horse stalls Wednesday night before the fair.
*The beautiful day for the poultry/rabbit show outside and the youth excited to show their bucket calves and do their interviews on Thursday.
*The family fun night on Thursday night-I love seeing all the
families come out and see what the 4-H clubs come up with each year! Games, face painting, campfire, and all the work that went into pre-cutting the wheels and blocks to make small vehicles out of wood-a really cool and fun night!
*Beautiful morning for the hog show and the horse shows running so smoothly.
*The sheep and meat goat judge working so well with the youth –
frankly all our judges did a great job with this-it’s where the focus should be-but the sheep/meat goat judge was exceptional!
*The beef judge commenting the quality of our breeding beef can compete with any show anywhere; just watching our youth building their herds for
the future with hopes of coming back-that is exciting!
*The awesome buyers at the livestock auction, the excellent job that Bruce McDowell did as always and that Lonnie Stripe did as well, and a smooth-running auction!
*The dedication of the Clay County News staff-especially Tory who endured all the shows in order to capture those special moments and feature stories!
*The way so many swine families stuck around at the end to clean up the swine/sheep barn and help me put things away this year so I didn’t have to do that myself. I really appreciated that!
*There are many moments but for the sake of space, THANK YOU ALL for making the Clay Co. Fair a success!
Llama-4-H Experience
Saturday was a neat day at the Clay County Fairgrounds starting with the 5K and 10K runs in which I heard 65 people ran or walked in! It was exciting to see the crowd that turned out to watch this first year event and hopefully it’s conducted again because it seemed like a success for the first year! After the road race, it was
our Regional 4-H Dairy Cow and Goat show. That’s always an enjoyable show as it is laid back and fun-but it’s also a reminder that fair is just around the corner!
Following the dairy show, we tried something new. Some 4-H families adopted some rescue llamas so they were hoping to show them. While livestock isn’t my strong suite, I know nothing about llamas so we opted for an exhibition this year. A 4-H Club from Polk County generously came down and ran the exhibition for us.
It was interesting watching showmanship as the youth held the halters high but not close to the llamas’ mouths and they never changed sides when the judge walked past. Probably the most
interesting part was watching the obstacle course. Essentially it’s like a glorified trail’s course for horses, only more interesting! Youth had to pick up a hula hoop and put it around his or herself then have the llama essentially walk through it. The llama had to back between logs, walk over bridges, change pace, and in different spots it had to put two feet in a ring laying on the ground and the youth had to do things like show the judge the llama’s hooves or teeth! Needless to say, it was very interesting and I think everyone watching learned a great deal!
JenResources 