Virginia Cooperative Extension Mecklenburg County Office 311 Washington Street Mark I. Burnett Building P.O. Box 420 Boydton, Virginia 23917 434-738-6191 ext. 4371 Fax: 434-738-6032 email: [email protected] www.ext.vt.edu

Fall 2017 TO:

Mecklenburg 4-H Members, Parents, and Supporters Mecklenburg County Families

FR: Jennifer Bowen, Sr. Extension Agent, 4-H Youth Development RE:

Local 4-H Programs

Once again, a busy summer has come and gone and a new school year is upon us! For those of you who are new to 4-H, you may wonder what makes us unique? We are the youth development program offered through Virginia Cooperative Extension. We bring researchbased information from our land grant universities – Virginia Tech and Virginia State University – to the youth in our community. The mission of 4-H is to develop leadership, citizenship, and life skills. We offer programs for youth ages 5 – 19 that are designed to meet the identified needs of Mecklenburg County residents. Extension Agents are educators who provide handson learning experiences. Last year, the Virginia 4-H program reached over 185,000 youth. This newsletter is designed to give you an overview of the Mecklenburg County 4-H program and our plans for the 2017 – 2018 school year. Mecklenburg 4-H offers a wide range of programming options to reach youth with diverse interests. We offer in-school and after-school programs, special interest workshops, competition-based programs, and volunteer-led clubs. In the summer, we offer both residential camps and day camps. We want to continue growing our program as we move into a new school year and new 4-H year. Read on to find out how 4-H is for YOU!

Opportunities to Participate in 4-H during the 2017-2018 School Year 4-H In-School Programs On the national level, 4-H has three Mission Mandates: STEM, Healthy Living, and Citizenship. This year, our 4-H in-School programs will address all three areas. Many 4th and 5th grade students will participate in in-school 4-H clubs. Each class will become a club through the election of a president, vice president, and secretary. They will use parliamentary procedure to Invent the Future V I R G I N I A

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Extension is a joint program of Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and state and l ocal governments. Virginia Cooperative Extension programs and employment are open to all, regardless of age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. An equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

run their meetings each month. The program portion of each meeting will focus on science enrichment. Students will participate in a hands-on activity designed to reinforce the concept currently being addressed in science. Healthy living is addressed through Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Family Nutrition Program. This program teaches basic nutrition, food safety, germ awareness, and the importance of physical activity. We also partner with schools to offer Kids’ Marketplace for 5th grade students and Reality Store for high school students enrolled in Economics and Personal Finance. Both of these programs ask students to imagine themselves as an adult for a class period. Each is assigned a career and an income. They then visit a number of stations to make a month’s worth of financial choices. The goal is to have money left over at the end of the month. This program is a great opportunity to teach basic economic concepts. We need volunteers to staff each station during Kids’ Marketplace and Reality Store programs. If you are interested in volunteering for a few hours, please contact us for available dates and locations. Call 738-6191 ext. 4371 or email [email protected].

4-H After-School Programs Mecklenburg 4-H partners with local schools to offer after-school programs through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant. Keep an eye out for registration information from each school. Please feel free to contact the Extension Office for more information on any of these offerings.

Volunteer Led 4-H Clubs Mecklenburg is fortunate to have dedicated adult volunteers who run several special-interest clubs. Each of these clubs will be gearing up for a new 4-H year in October. If you are interested in any of these clubs and would like more information, please contact the Extension Office. 

Mecklenburg 4-H Livestock Club – Members (ages 9 and older) work on beef, swine, sheep, and goat projects to show at the Piedmont Area Junior Livestock Show held each spring in Blackstone. The club is currently meeting on the third Wednesday of each month (September – May) at 6:00 p.m. at the Extension Office in Boydton

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Sewing Club – Members (ages 9 and older) meet to learn the basics of machine and hand-stitching. Projects have included aprons, bags, embroidery, and quilting. Sewing machines are provided during club meetings. The club is currently meeting on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Extension Office.

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Freeland 4-H Shooting Education Club – Members (ages 9 and older) meet at Arrowhead Gun Club and compete in shotgun events with a focus on safety, sportsmanship, and responsibility. The club is led by 4-H Certified Shotgun Instructors.

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Fur and Feathers 4-H Club – Members (ages 5 and older) meet monthly to learn about the care and keeping of small animals. Each club member chooses a project to work on throughout the year based on his or her interests. Club events include educational programs, fundraisers, and service projects. This club currently meets on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at Community Living in South Hill.

Workshops and Special Programs 4-H Food Challenge Are you a fan of Chopped or similar TV shows featuring food competitions? If so, you may want to check out our 4-H Food Challenge program. Based on a model developed by Texas 4-H, this program challenges teams of 4-H members to create a dish using only a predetermined set of ingredients and supplies. From these ingredients, team members must identify and prepare a dish then make a presentation about it to the judges. In Virginia, there is a district level competition for junior teams (ages 9 -13) and senior teams (ages 14 – 18). Winning senior level teams may opt to compete at the state level at 4-H Congress. We want to put together some Mecklenburg 4-H Food Challenge teams! Cost for the series is $35 to cover food and supplies. Maximum number of participants is 20. Our meetings will include workshops and opportunities to practice skills, building up to the full challenge prior to competition. The meeting schedule and a tentative list of topics is below: Meeting Date Tuesday, October 3

Tentative Workshop Topic Kitchen Skillathon

Tuesday, November 7

Monday, February 6

Food Safety, Reading and Following a Recipe, Practice Recipe MyPlate, Nutrition Games, Practice Making Sauces Public Speaking, Planning Your Dish (What can you make with these ingredients?) Cost Analysis, Mini Challenge

Monday, March 6

Full Challenge – Putting It All Together

Saturday, March 10

Central District Food Challenge Competition at Skelton 4-H Center (Smith Mountain Lake)

Tuesday, December 3 Monday, January 8

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4-H InnoVAtive Leadership Academy: Equipping the Next Generation of Citizen Leaders The need for teen community involvement has been identified as a priority issue relating to youth development across the county. We plan to address this issue through the implementation of the 4-H InnoVAtive Leadership Academy. This program will be open by nomination and application only to 12 teens in grades 9 – 12. In addition to incorporating the six modules outlined in VCE’s InnoVAtive Leadership curriculum, participants will be expected to attend a local board of supervisors’ meeting, a town council meeting, and/ or a school board meeting. Teens may also participate in 4-H Day at the State Capitol or other out-of-county opportunities. Participants will work in groups to identify and prioritize issues facing the community. They will then develop goals and strategies to address these issues. As a capstone event, groups will present their work in a public forum. Applications are due September 30. For an application packet, please contact the Extension Office at 738-6191 ext. 4371 or email [email protected].

Summer Programs Mecklenburg 4-H offers a variety of programs throughout the summer. Those planned for summer 2018 include:  

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Cloverbud Camp – an overnight camping experience at Holiday Lake 4-H Center for youth ages 5 – 8 (usually a weekend in mid-June) Junior 4-H Camp – an overnight camping program for youth ages 9 – 13 held at Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center July 9 – 13, 2018; registration begins in March State 4-H Congress – state level competitions and workshops for senior 4-H members (ages 14 – 18) held on campus at Virginia Tech, June 2018 Camp Loud and Clear – a weekend camp for deaf and hard-of-hearing youth ages 9 and older held at Holiday Lake 4-H Center in July Summer Day Camps – look for a schedule of day camp programs in the spring of 2018 to include programs for youth in our community garden in Boydton and more

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Programs Offered at Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center The 4-H Center offers natural resource education programs for school groups, teambuilding and high/low ropes programs, weekend specialty camps for youth throughout the year, and a broad variety of adult educational programs. Adult programs include everything from outdoor survival weekends to decoy carving and banjo making workshops. For more information on any program that Holiday Lake 4-H Center offers, please visit www.holidaylake4h.com.

Volunteer Opportunities Without volunteers our 4-H program can’t grow. If you have a talent or an interest that you would like to share with local youth ages 5 – 13, please consider giving your time to 4-H. Volunteers can participate in many different ways with all levels of time commitment.

Mecklenburg 4-H is currently seeking adult volunteer leaders to run short-term special interest clubs. These clubs, called SPIN clubs, are designed to complete a six-session curriculum. Each curriculum includes detailed lesson plans and suggested activities. They are led by volunteers that have a talent or interest that they are willing to share with young people in this community. There is currently a curriculum for each of the following areas: archeology, the art of math, 4-H Cloverbuds (ages 5 – 8), coding, craft beading, crime and spy science, crochet, dogs, family history, geology, healthy snacks, money mentors, paper crafts, photography, robotics, and theatre arts. Interested volunteers can also design their own 4-H SPIN Club program. The Extension Office will provide volunteer training and logistical support. 4-H volunteers can have a positive impact on the next generation of young people in our community. If you want to make a difference by becoming a 4-H Volunteer, please contact the Mecklenburg County Extension Office today. Call (434)738-6191 ext. 4371 or email [email protected]. SPIN Club materials are also great for homeschool cooperatives or similar groups! If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact Jennifer Bowen, Mecklenburg Extension Office at (434)738-6191 ext 4371/TDD* during business hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to discuss accommodations 5 days prior to the event. *TDD number is (800) 828-1120.

These materials are not sponsored, authored, or endorsed by Mecklenburg County Public Schools.

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