Robeson County 4-H

The weather was nice and May is busy so the Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports Club met for a second time today and focused on one thing...their aim. Getting serious on narrowing their sites...the members who attended the meeting found themselves shooting at small targets. By small what I mean is take a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper. Cut it in half. Cut that half in half. Cut that half in half and that is where they started. From 15 yards the two club members found themselves grouping their shots in a much smaller area to hit the target. Then the paper got cut in half again, forcing them to shoot in a tighter pattern. After all that practice it made the next task seem almost easy and fun. Club leader Larry Russ set up a board that held clays upright. The boys took turns trying to knock each clay down, one shot per clay. Dillon was up first and to his surprise and delight hit each target, which as he said seemed rather big now that they had been shooting at scraps of paper. Then it...

After selling away it was time for the "Dirty Rascals" to live up to their name. The club with parents, and a few Master Gardeners in tow headed down the road (less than a half a mile) and quietly pulled in to the Hospice House. Each year the Dirty Rascals partner with Hospice House to plant a garden area for families and patients to enjoy . This year the Master Gardeners helped placed the plants in the garden area and the youth (sometimes with a little help) dug into the pine straw and made sure the plants had a new place to grow. At the end of the planting the Dirty Rascal JMG club members gave a representative of the Hospice House a piece of garden art, a glow in the dark frog stake. One of the logos for this club include a frog and the club members thought this would be a nice way of leaving their mark, and hopefully a smile on the face, of those who enjoy this lovely garden. The activity is actually one of the first United Way, Day of Caring activities that take p...

The last Saturday in April is a tradition for the 4-H Junior Master Gardeners. Not holiday where they kick back and relax but a tradition where they work to better their club and the community. About four years ago the "Dirty Rascals" Junior Master Gardeners 4-H Club joined forces with the Robeson County Master Gardeners Association to offer something that the Master Gardeners were not offering as part of their plant sale, herbs. For years the Master Gardeners have held an annual plant sale where everything is priced at $2. Long time patrons have bought flowers, fruit bushes and even trees (such as Japanese Red Maples) to beautify their spaces, and supported the Master Gardeners in their educational efforts. The one thing they did not offer were herbs and the JMG's stepped forward to fill the void and raise money for their educational activities. It is not easy as the set up team is on site at 6:30 am and other club members arrive by seven when the sale starts. As...

As you can tell from the blog I am a real shutter bug. Not an actual bug but someone who like to take pictures. Photos are a great way to document history and remember stories. That is one reason Robeson County 4-H has a blog. Another thing we try to do is create a scrapbook each year that goes into district level competition. Last year, thanks to the guidance of volunteer Libby Burney Robeson County 4-H won the district scrapbook award. Which means we are now in the difficult position of defending our title. However to create the 10 pound book takes lots of photos and lots of work. So Christopher Bullard our 4-H County Council Reporter worked with Libby Burney our 4-H Volunteer Leaders Association reporter to start working on the book. they created two workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and asked 4-H members to come in and put pages together. We had lots of hands involved in this year's book. Helping during the workshop were, Libby Burney, Christopher Bul...

Members of the Titan's 4-H Community Club met yesterday to be creative while exploring leadership. Club members used dry pasta to decorate shoe boxes to be used as their own "Treasure Box" during their May 4-H club meeting. Aggie Rogers, 4-H Program Associate conducted the workshop and Emmarld Jackson and Debbie Rogers conducted the club meeting. While making the ir shoe box treasure chests the members talked about various things they might put in their boxes. This lead to a conversation on other treasures people have that may or may not fit in a box. Things such as character, ethics, values and morals. The conversation carried on through the project which offered some very fun and creative treasure boxes that expressed each person's unique character. Members attended the meeting included;Sicily Ekwunoh, Darian Ekwunoh, Maurice Rogers, Darius Brown-Rogers, Amaria Rogers, Sky Robinson,Tyshantae Barnes, Taraya Broadway,LeeTrrione Barnes, Natiya Barnes, and Javon...

It was high tech, something new, something that will make a difference in our community and our 4-H members were a part of it. "Lights, Camera, Active!" was a state wide initiative with the Health Department allowing youth to start a conversation with adults about the issues they face getting active. The purpose of the event was to help youth understand the link between their physical environment and their ability to lead healthy lives. The youth had a chance to make video messages with the best being chosen to be part of a documentary and winning gift cards to a retail athletic outlet. Each organization received a free video camera and tripod for the youth to use to video their message. The videos were then uploaded and a panel picked the best entries from across the state to be part of the documentary. The documentaries premiered in each district and we were lucky enough to have the premiere for our district at our own Carolina Civic Center in downtown Lumberton. ...

In case you missed it, Robeson County 4-H's County Activity Day was a flurry of success. We dodged storms (and later found out tornadoes) to give our 4-H members the opportunity to compete for a chance to go to 4-H District Activity Day. Our 4-H members brought out some of the best speeches and informative as well as tasty presentations ever, making the day a big success. In Public Speaking we had nine competitors who gave original speeches ranging from diabetes to how to play the piano. In our cloverbud division, which is non competitive and made up of 5 to 8 year olds. Patrick McBryde of the United We Stand 4-H Club spoke on the Seven Wonders of the World. He received a participation ribbon and a five dollar gift card for his hard work. In our 9-10 year old Junior Division D'Myaia Stribling of the Young Leaders 4-H Club took first place and Elizah Leach of the Voices in Praise 4-H Club took second place. In the 11-13 year old Junior Division judges had some difficult d...

The second Tuesday of each month means it is time for the Dirty Rascals to sprout out and create something new and fun. This month with all the hub bub surrounding the Royal wedding this craft couldn't have been more fitting. You know how the British love their tea and a proper tea time? Well club leaders Missy McLean-Wright and Tanya Underwood took a great spin on the proper event by offering it up to the birds on this side of the pond. Actually what took place was a quick trip to a local thrift store to purchase tea cups and saucers. After a good cleaning the youth picked which of each they wanted (sometimes it is even more creative when they don't match) and the adults super glued the cups to the saucers. This was not a late April Fool's Day Joke, but a necessary step to make sure our winged friends were not hurt. After securing the two to each other, a rubber cap (usually used for PVC pipe) was super glued to the bottom of the saucer. This is an important step...

Were you at Biggs Park Mall on Saturday? If you weren't you were one of the few, and missed an incredible event. The Robeson County Partnership for Children puts together Smart Start Day to highlight the agencies in the county that can help families in the county. Smart Start works with families to that have children under the age of five to prepare them for school. Of course Robeson County 4-H works with youth between the ages of 5 and 18 years of age to prepare them to be successful adults in our ever changing global society. So can you imagine two organizations better suited to work together? Smart Start day is an annual event which brings more than 20 agencies together for families to see the resources available to them. Robeson County 4-H is part of the event, and took the opportunity to do a little science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activity with the youth that attended the event. They also learned about recycling and ecology while we made plant ...

Two members of the St. Paul's 4-H Pony Club had no idea they would be on the front page of today's paper when they went for a ride. Granted it isn't like they got in the car for the ride, or even on the back of a horse. Instead they took their club leader, Libby Burney's, pony out for a stretch with a buggy attached. Turby, as he is fondly called, was minding his own business chauffeuring Megan and Brianna up and down the street when someone decided to take a shot of the sight. Next thing you know they are the featured photo of the day in the St. Paul's Review . Way to make 4-H hit the front page.

It was a full house at the gym that is part of Indian Education last night as parents and youth development specialists for the organization came out to hear about the various summer programs being offered to youth in the county. Indian Education puts the meeting together to share opportunities with parents, and to let them know there is some financial assistance available through their organization. The University of North Carolina Pembroke (UNCP) offers several summer programs including an upward bound program that gets youth ready for college. The Boys and Girls club of Pembroke offers a variety of programs for youth of all ages. Southeastern Regional Medical Center has a compeititve volunteer program for youth between the ages of 14 and 18. Of course our own 4-H Extension Agent, Shea Ann DeJarnette was there to talk about all the summer opportunities available through 4-H . She even took a slide show from last year's camp for youth to enjoy. For more information about the oppo...

The Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports Club met at the range for their April meeting . Although the wind provided a new challenge members had a great time . Below is the report on the club meeting submitted by 4-H Club leader Larry Russ. "It was a really great club meeting, not to cold, not to hot, plenty of sunshine and ammo. What better way to spend a Saturday than getting in a little target practice at the range. Allen, Dillon,Jed and Christopher were the only members that were able to attend so they got plenty of trigger time. They worked on sight alignment, sight picture and breath control. Now if they could only put all three together at the same time. Guess that means they will have to practice even more. Our next club meeting will be held on Saturday, April 30th. at the range, (weather permitting). Hope to see you all there."