Robeson County 4-H

It was a busy 4-H County Council and Volunteer Leaders' Association Meeting tonight. Not only did we take care of our usual business with county wide program updates, training schedules, etc. We held our elections for our County Council and Volunteer Leaders' Association officers. This is an annual election and the clubs and members at large vote members and volunteers into office that they believe will help shape and move our county 4-H program forward. Of course first we had to thank our outgoing officers for 2010. Those represented last night included: Aljaquan Nixon, President; and Yasmine Washington Secretary-Treasurer of the County Council. Officers from the Volunteer Leaders included: Hazel Sumner, President; Missy McLean, Treasurer; and Larry Russ, Parliamentarian. After introducing the slate of officers for 2010-2011 we broke out into club huddles for each club to cast their vote. When the votes were counted our incoming officers were announced and inducted into offic...

4-H prides itself on offering leadership building opportunities. This past weekend we had the opportunity to chose one Robeson County 4-H member to represent us at the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners ( NCACC ) meeting. Each county in the state had the opportunity to send on 4-H member to this elite opportunity. As part of their responsibilities the youth helped narrow down the top ten issues that are effecting youth in our state and possible ways to solve them. They also had the opportunity to meet with county commissioners and forge adult and youth partnerships that can make a difference right at home. Korina Pittman of the Titans 4-H club was chosen as the Robeson County representative. She travelled to Greenville Friday afternoon to meet with the other delegates and get ready to meet with county commissioners from around the state. Attending the NCACC meeting on behalf of our Robeson County Commissioners were: Noah Woods, Raymond Cummings, Tommy Wellington, Hu...

The monthly meeting of the "Dirty Rascals" Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club was a quick planning session that has some great long term opportunities. Dillon McCartney served as President and called the meeting to order. The first point of business was to introduce and welcome three new members, freshly certifies as Junior Master Gardeners to the club. Rhanoda Drye, Tyson and Tryon Alford all came to their first meeting since their certification. Club members welcomed them and congratulated them for their accomplishment. The group then sat down to plan their fair booth for the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair. Although the group is not giving details about their fair booth they have offered a few clues. One clue is that it deals with youth. The second clue is that it has something to do with their club theme. The third clue is that it will be educational and fun for everyone. The final clue, or should I say challenge, is that they believe their booth may just grow right into ...

Talk about recognition! The leaders of the St. Paul's 4-H Pony club, Libby and Holly Burney just got some fabulous news which will launch their club across the nation. A recent E-mail from Jill Montgomery let the leaders know that their is no need to tighten the reigns on their club programming. The club project for last year's fair, reconstructing a real horse skeleton, is making the American Youth Horse Council (AYHC) newsletter this quarter. The newsletter will be hitting mailboxes and the Internet sometime in October. Below is the story, direct from Montgomery, that will appear in the AYHC newsletter. "Youth horse leaders are nothing, if not resourceful. For Libby and Holly Burney, St Pauls 4-H Pony Club leaders in North Carolina, that description fits them… well... to the bone. Early in 2009, a friend told the Burneys about a horse skeleton deep in the woods nearby. No one could tell how long it had been there, but from the way the bones were scattered, the horse’s r...

As Summer ends 4-H members, parents, volunteers and staff turn their attention to the next big event on the horizon....the fair season. As animal shows kick into high gear it is time to get our youth ready to roll with their animals. Our youth received their animals in May as part of the animal science training . Now we have to check in on them and make sure all is well. Friday afternoon we offered our annual health certificate clinic for 4-H youth who have goats, heifers, steers, or lambs. Health certificates are required for these animals to travel on the road and to get into many of the fairs and animal shows in the area. Bruce Akers, the state vet for our area, helps us with our clinic to make sure our 4-H members are ready to roll. He checks the animals temperatures, lung sounds, and a few other things before issuing an official certificate that says these animals are healthy and ready for fair season. This also offers Michelle Shooter, Extension Livestock Agent, the opportunity t...

Being a teenager is tough. It is hard enough getting yourself through the world much less worrying about others. For three 4-H teens who took the time to not only think about others but act on their thoughts it has paid off. Korina Pittman, Christopher Bullard, and Tierra Troy all volunteered for various tasks this summer and were a great help to the 4-H staff. They did it all for no monetary reward, not a thought of anything at the end, they did it just to help. Christopher and Tierra volunteered to help with the 4-H Summer Fun Day Camps. Each took on added responsibilities and gained leadership skills while being part of the camps. For the 4-H staff Christopher and Tierra were incredible assistants and even helped lead activities. It would have been difficult to have the incredible experience our youth had without them. Korina helped with a variety of projects behind the scenes. Both Korina and Christopher were instrumental in helping to put together our 4-H county scrapbook. With th...

Day four of Mini-Society Day camp was a mad house. As our youth did their best to make their stores as profitable as possible and then spend as much money as they could they learned about how hard money management can be. After closing their stores they sat down and determined exactly how much money they had. The last auction of the week went for quite awhile as youth picked the items they had been waiting for all week. Each youth had to determine what they wanted and how much they would pay for the item. Some of the youth said they learned to hide their money so no one would know how much they had and not be able to outbid them on items. Others said they learned to save their money becuase they could have bought some things they really wanted if they had versus spending it on stuff that was only useable for a few minutes. By the end of the day each of the youth received a certificate, a folder of information and fun stuff and got to take home some of what they brought and all of what ...

Wednesday started with a balancing act . No joke our youth learned how to balance as part of our Mini-Society Day Camp. Balance a check-book that is. Our friends from the State Employees Credit Union came to visit us on Wednesday. As part of our lesson we learned about writing checks and balancing a check book. It is good information to have as we get ready to open our stores today. After taking care of business and enjoying our lunch of grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries, it was time to get down to business. We mean that literally. The youth had a chance to open up their stores and buy, buy, buy and sell, sell, sell. Many of them learned about price comparison quickly. For example at one store you might be able to get two candy bars for $500. However at Mrs. Aggie's store one candy bar was a $1,000. As a matter of fact many of our youth learned that items at Mrs. Aggie's store might have been nice but they were rather high priced. They also learned the way around ...

We love a day that starts by loading into the vans. That means we are headed on a field trip somewhere. For day two of Mini-Society Day Camp that means a field trip about laws and money. We started the day in the courtroom of District Judge Judith Daniels. As we listened to the court calendar being called the youth had a chance to see how a real courtroom (not the one on Law and Order) works. We then travelled through the back halls and down to the basement where we met the magistrate who told us about legal ages, and that youth can be locked up if they disobey the law. From there were were introduced to Lieutenant Kathy Torry with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office . She heads up the juvenile division. She told our youth that everyday they get phone calls about youth who are not listening to their parents and end up getting locked up. She warned the youth the best way to stay out of trouble is to listen to your parents and to be a part of organizations like 4-H. From the Lt....

How often does an adult ask you to play with food? On Monday that was a requirement in Hoke County as our 4-H Agent, Shea Ann DeJarnette, worked with 4-H day campers to decorate all sorts of sweet confections as part of a cake decorating workshop . The morning was spent doing the prep work. We baked cookies in the shape of Winnie the Pooh's head, we baked cookie lollipops and made candy. Before we took a break to eat some really needed lunch after making these sweet treats we had one more thing to bake. With the help of everyone we made butter cupcakes to serve as a canvas for our creativity. We all tried to get over the really incredible smells and sat down to eat our homemade lunches we made. Thanks to Ms. Shirley, the life skills program assistant who helped today, she and Miss Shea Ann had a gourmet lunch. Ms. Shirley made a wrap with a ranch flavored spread, ham and cheese on a whole wheat tortilla. It was twice as good as it looks. After cleaning up from our incredibly yummy...

Have you ever thought about making your own town, with your own money, and your own laws? That is exactly what a dozen 4-H'ers got a chance to do as part of our Mini-Society Day Camp. On Monday the day campers spent the day organizing their new society. They chose a name for their town, designed a flag and designed the money. Along the way the town voted on which name, flag, and money to use. This year they used "how low can you go" bucks. The youth also learned about the different jobs available in the town. For example there is a county council, similar to a board of commissioners or city council. The youth can serve as the banker, a teller, money cutter, money counter. There are a variety of positions they can serve in and receive a salary. However having a town job is not the only income they may have. The youth create their own businesses and sell items that they bring from home for society money. They also have the opportunity to take part in an auction...

Friday means one thing...our last day for 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp and our last day of fun together. Needles to say it might be our last day of fun but we did not waste a minute getting to all of it. Of course we had our final coloring pages today and then we talked about all of our favorite things from the day before, then we jumped right in. Our teen leaders, Christopher and Tierra lead games before we had another special guest. Bella, a very furry but little puppy came for a visit. Bella is a cockapoo puppy that belongs to Mrs. Kerrie, the Horticulture Agent at the Extension office. We all got a chance to practice what we learned about animals by greeting Bella and petting her before heading for our morning snack. After snack we broke up again. Mrs. Janice was not there today but Mrs. Christy stepped in and took really good care of us. We worked at baking the cookie dough that we made yesterday then we took a fun quiz about measuring cups and spoons and what kitchen tools we should us...

It may seem like long days for our Cloverbuds from 8:30 a.m until 3 p.m. but after finishing a coloring page or two, they are raring to go, ready to do their part for a colorful day, and today was no different. It may be day four of Cloverbud day camp but with all the fun we are having we are starting to lose count. Of course we started our day with our traditional schedule of stating our favorite things from the day before and then settled into a great game of "Mother May I". After our game and our snack we broke into our groups. One went with Mrs. Janice and worked on special cookies. "My Pyramid" cookies use something from each of the food groups. We got to practice our measuring skills, hand washing, and general cooking skills while we made these yummy cookies. After making the cookies the day campers got to play a My Pyramid game with Mrs. Janice teaching her all they have learned about what belongs in each food group. If we weren't with Mrs. Janice we were...

It is Wednesday and that means day three of 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp . We are reaching the halfway mark of this great experience and today will be full of surprises like all of our others. We started with a special coloring page which Ms. Messy Missy made for us. It had a frog and we made him very colorful, just like a Picasso. After coloring we talked about the day before, the good stories, frogs, and games. After a rousing round of the silent game we had snack and headed to the kitchen with Mrs. Janice. Everyone put on their aprons and gloves and watched as Mrs. Janice showed them how she turns wheat from the field into flour. Then we learned to read a recipe and we practiced our measuring skills from the day before by making some not so peanut peanut butter cookies. We used soy butter instead of peanut butter and the cookies were scrumptious. For the group with Miss Shea Ann we got to meet a very special visitor. Miss Shea Ann talked with us about the responsibility of having animals...

We started Tuesday of 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp with a colorful and bright outlook. After working on our camp themed coloring pages, we recapped the day before finding out that many of them enjoyed trying the new creations that they cooked up the day before. They were proud of the cups they made and designed, and really enjoy Mrs. Penny's cooking. They also said they like the games we play to get the wiggles out. So after talking about the upcoming day it was time for a serious game of red light green light. After all that fun we sat down for a morning snack. Then we spilt up to cook and craft. Our crafters got to make pom pom characters that they took home and play games on the stage. While campers were with Mrs. Janice they learned how to measure, what the fractions on the side of the cups stand for, and made some spectacular Jello fresh fruit wigglers. Of course with all that talk of food it was time to think lunch. Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and wigglers made by the first grou...

Today marked the first day of our ever popular and exciting 4-H Cloverbud day camp. In 4-H speak cloverbuds are our 5-8 year old youth, who in our 4-H world get to do many of the activities that our older youth do such as public speaking and presentations but everything surrounding them is noncompetitive until they reach 9, then they become Juniors and start competing and moving up the ladder. Cloverbud day camp was revised this year from 8:30 to 3 p.m. to offer them a shorter day a little more similar to the school day. Each morning we start waking up with coloring something really cool. Then we sit down and recap what we learned and liked about the day before. We talk about the day ahead and then play a game that everyone can have fun with. Today was a little different as we started our day with Mrs. Tameka, our 4-H Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) program assistant. She introduced us to Professor Popcorn and the food pyramid. We got the change to make our mor...

The Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports 4-H club Started their August monthly meeting by welcoming their newest club member, Lucas Collins. Lucas is the 11 year old son of Rolanda Collins. He attends Carroll Middle School and is in the 6th grade. Before cutting their meeting a little short due to the heat and humidity Allen, Caleb, Dillon and Lucas learned the importance of breath control and its affects on proper sight alignment. They practiced their techniques from both the standing and kneeling positions. Other club business included a preview of the club logo and discussion about the upcoming fair. It was decided by the 4 members present that the club would set up a booth this year. Also, Allen's mom, Mrs. Peggy, is putting together everything needed to work on our "Emerald" seal, which they will do at their next meeting. The next club meeting will be held Saturday, September 4th, 2010 from 0900 - 1200 at the range. (weather permitting). All members will need to ...