Robeson County 4-H

This article was written by Shea Ann DeJarnette, 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent for Robeson County.  The article was published in the Robesonian and can be located on the Cooperative Extension Web  Site. " Did you know almost half of Americans make a New Years Resolution each year?  Of that only half (or a quarter of all Americans) actually stick with the resolution to fulfill it.  If we apply those statistics to Robeson County residents, that would mean of the approximately 135,500 people living here about 67,750 will make a New Year’s resolution this year.  Of those 33,875 residents will fulfill that resolution. According to the University of Scraton, which has done a study on the top New Year’s resolutions (yes, there is a study on everything now), the number one resolution has to do with loosing weight.  I am sure this is no shocker to anyone.  As a matter of fact, of the top ten resolutions four of them have to do with becoming health...

Day two for 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp came filled with scientific anticipation and the hope that something would blow up.   We started the day learning some principles of science.  Things like capillary refill and wicking as we magically moved colored water from one glass to another then used paper towels to make a new color of water.  It was really cool conducting a bunch of experiments at once.  We also learned about air pressure by using air to squish marshmallows flat (honest we did not touch them we used air to do it).  We also made our own lava lamp that we all got to shake up.  It was really awesome.   After working in physical science we worked in plant science.  Each camper got a chance to make their own greenhouse and plant either vegetables or flowers.  In a week or so there should be sprouts  and our science project will prove a success.  While we were talking about the things that plants n...

  The last week of Summer Fun belongs to our youngest ones.  Not that I am trying to go Suessian on you but rhyming sort of comes naturally after spending the day with our 5-8 year old Cloverbuds.  We changed things up a little this year.   Each day has a theme for this camp and our first day was one that lead to creativity, Arts and Crafts day .   Thanks to the help of 4-H Volunteer Jessica Drake this week we have a whole host of things going on that will make our youngest members, happy.  We started the day getting to know each other and playing a few games.  Then we got ready to have some fun, and perhaps make a mess. Our first project took a little patience and one we would work on all day.  We painted the backgrounds of a canvas in a single color.  This would serve as our backdrop to our nature prints.  We'll explain as we go forward.   While we were being patient waiting for that to dry (and after cleaning ourselves up) we...

  We are so excited to make this announcement!  Robeson County 4-H will be starting an entrepreneurial specialty club.  If you have a child who is interested in money and is resourceful this will be the club for them.  The organizational meeting for this new club (which will be named at that time) is September 17th.  The club plans to meet the first Monday of each month at the Cooperative Extension office starting at 5:30 pm.  If you have a child interested in being a part of this club please contact a member of the Robeson County 4-H Staff at (910) 671-3276 or email Shea Ann DeJarnette at Shea_Ann_DeJarnette@ncsu.edu.

  It is our last day of Mini-Society and today is the big day .  Today we use all the skills and activities we have worked on to make our last day of business the ultimate success.  With all the money we earn today we will be able to bid on big items at our last auction of the day.   We started our day by learning about a recycling project.  In business it is important to be environmental conscious   We would like to use products that can be reused or do not leave an impact on our environment   Sometimes it is as simple as just finding a creative way to reuse the products and an audience that would like to recycle.  As part of this lesson we used old greetings cards and cut the photos and the images in them to make place-mats.  Our collage place-mats were to represent us with the images we had in front of us.  They were very personal, very cool, and environmentally friendly.   ...

  We hammered home a new point today as part of day four of Mini-Society .  One of the goals of Mini-Society is to introduce youth to careers.  Today they were introduced to woodworking or carpentry, birds or ornithology, and art.  Although not careers you might traditionally think about, they are all very important, and it is important to introduce youth to nontraditional careers.  You never know when it might spark something in them to identify a niche and create a job or a business that meets the needs of the world.  Today, thanks to our wonderful volunteer Bobby Rogers our youth had bird houses to paint and express themselves on, and they were able to take them home.  They learned about the construction of these houses, the difference between bird feeders and bird houses, and how to protect their art work in the great out of doors.   After working hard on the bird houses it was time to get paid, and go shopping.  Today the shops w...

  Day three of 4-H Mini-Society day camp started with a trip outside of our society.  We loaded up and headed to Fayetteville to Absolute Fitness.  It is a small personal training business that was started by Brad Austin.  Coach Austin gave our youth a tour of his facility and then spoke with them about what it takes to start a small business.  He is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Pembroke majoring in Physical Fitness and also has a certificate from the small business center at UNCP.  He spoke with the youth about business plans, financial matters, and how important education is.  They spoke about marketing and advertising and the best ways to promote a business in today's technology driven world.   After the spoken motivational session he gave them a workout, literally.  Everyone got up and stretched, jumped and ran relays.  He put everyone through their paces before giving them a break and fixing them protein shakes. ...

  The first thing we heard this morning was, "when can we open our stores?"  Believe it or not that is music to our ears.   Tuesday marked day two of 4-H Mini-Society.  One of the highlights for our 4-H day campers is opening their stores, but there were a few more skills they needed to learn before that could happen.  After reviewing terms from the day before, it was time to get down to business.   Today they learned about how to write a check, fill out a job application, and interviewing skills.  Each camper took a shot at interviewing for their dream job and critiqued each other on topics from handshakes to volume while answering questions.  The jobs the applied for ranged from dentist, to vet, and even town manager.  After applying for jobs it was time to set up for the big event of the day, the official opening of stores.   After lunch it was time to sell items, make deals, and learn the meaning of a bargain.  The you...

  Today marks the first day of one of our favorite 4-H day camps, Mini-Society.  Mini- Society allows youth to create their own country, learn about government, making laws, banking and business.  Today is the day when the day campers learn to lay the ground work for great things to happen in the week coming up.   First off was coming up with a name of their town, or society.  Each youth had the opportunity to make a drawing with a title.  Each drawing was placed on the board for consideration and the entire group voted.  Each person has two votes to cast so hopefully we do not end up with a tie of each person voting for their own effort.  Of all the choices placed before them, Cash Society, which was created by Jordan was the name chosen for their town.   Next they needed to create their flag.  Everyone worked hard to come up with something that they thought would represent their society to outsiders and explain what they do. ...

  Shooting for a small target is usually the goal of the members of the Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports Club.    The idea being the smaller the target that they hit the better their aim is.  However today they took aim at two really big targets as part of their August club meeting.  The first target is the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair where they are defending their best overall educational booth title.  I was not privileged to their top secret plans for their fair booth this year, but there was a tight huddle along with drawings and measurements going on.  I also noticed that everyone had different assignments for their role as part of the fair booth, so all I can say is these guys are taking this seriously, its no shot in the dark (sorry I could not resist).      The second target was making an impression on the community around them with a different type of ammunition.  Under the guidance of Club co-lead...

    It's hard to believe today was our last day of 4-H Bio-tech Day Camp .  Unlike previous last days we did something a little different this year.  Our youth traveled to Cumberland County and worked on their multi-tasking abilities as they helped make lunch, worked on a community service project and  shot their own videos.   As we rotated groups different youth would head to the kitchen to help prepare our lunch for not just ourselves but also our special guests.  Our youth prepared freshly baked cookies and got ready to serve our guests who would be coming from different counties.   While that was going on another group was working on fleece blankets.  Working in teams they used fleece to make blankets that had hand knotted fringe.  The blankets will be given to military youth whose parents are deployed as part of Operation Military Kids .  Its a great program that lets kids reach out and support kids whose paren...

  The first Thursday of the month?  That means its time for the All Around All Stars 4-H Arts and Crafts Club to meet, and meet they did.  This is a club on a mission, a mission for a fair booth.  With the theme of "4-H Join the Revolution of Responsibility" this club is crafting an awesome booth.  Not only that but they took the opportunity at this club meeting to start clayin' around to have some entries for the youth home exhibit section at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair .   Using a special air dry clay members worked on making a bowl.  Once dry (they are letting them dry not just overnight but for an entire month) they will paint them and get them ready to enter in the fair for competition.  This is the first time in more than a decade that a club has taken on a home exhibits project angle for the fair and we are so excited.   The All Around All Stars will meet again next month and continue working on their fair projects....

  We were buzzing with excitement on day four of 4-H Biotech day camp .  We started by stopping at ComTech.  There we met with Dr. Len Holmes an associate professor in Biochemistry, Bioprocessing, Fermentation, and Technology.  He introduced us to members of the Robeson County Bee Keepers Association; Dr. Reginald Oxendine and Dennis Clark told us all about bees.  They told us that there are laid back bees and aggressive bees.  They showed us how to find and mark the queen bee.  They also told us the difference between queen bees, drones and worker bees.  Mr. Clark told us that the honey you buy in the store isn't really honey, and we should buy local honey from bee keepers becuase it is actually good for us and will help us with allergies, and is a natural sweetener.   From there we went to the dining hall at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP) for lunch.  We had a choice of a variety of items and we ...

  In case you were wondering there is no bull about that title, however there might be a little bison.   On day three of 4-H Bio-tech day camp we focused on animal science with a hint of environmental conservation as we all traveled to Asheboro to the North Carolina Zoo .  It was a gorgeous day to start with as we avoided the big heat wave we had been having.  After entering the zoo we decided to hit the tram and travel to Africa and work our way back.   We started by visiting the Ostriches and learning about the natural environment around them.  We also saw Gorillas, Baboons, Rhinos and much more.  Before hitting the tram to get us to lunch we checked out the helicopter, a tool that is necessary in Africa to study animals in their natural habitat, give them aid, and bring us more information about wild animals so that we can do everything we can as humans to protect them from becoming extinct.  Did you know that there are actua...