Focus on Youth

News for OCES staff working with youth.

4-H is a community of young people across America learning leadership, citizenship and life skills.

oklahoma4h.okstate.edu

May/June, 2006

Roundup is upon us!  In fact, by the time many of you get around to reading this, it will have come and gone. We are anticipating a great conference, and the weather forecast seems to be in our favor.  While we still need rain, we will be glad to have it dry for the youth as they walk around campus.
 
The timing of the school year and Roundup continues to be an issue.  We have little control over the time schools are out and the availability of Gallagher Iba Arena.  I hope you share that fact with your unhappy members and parents.   Our only alternatives are to move Roundup to another location, such as OKC, and stop having as many small group workshops, or to have it later in the summer on campus but not have a location for large group functions except the stands of the stadium. Gallagher Iba Arena is in use from June1 until school starts in August.  We will continue to wrestle with this issue and would welcome your feedback!
 
We have begun holding 4-H updates on the 4th Friday of each month using the Centra Symposium System. Please watch for announcements from the IT staff about these calls, and consider joining us, as we will be using this as a tool to share details about upcoming 4-H events and also as a way to get your rapid feedback.
 
The 4-H program in Oklahoma continues to grow.  Our enrollment numbers were up this year, and the number of youth competing for state project awards and scholarships was also up.  These trends are a direct result of your efforts.  The 4-H program is local. There is very little we can do in Stillwater to impact the overall program. It is up to you to make the program grow and thrive.   You are doing a great job. You are valued!

Sincerely,

Charles Cox
Interim Assistant Director, 4-H Youth Development

2006 Home Baking Association Educator Award

Do you teach baking in a classroom or community program? You may be eligible to WIN $1,000! Classroom and community organization educators are invited to submit entries. Youth who have developed baking programs that teach other youth to bake also are invited to submit an entry and are eligible for the award and trip to the 2006 Home Baking Association Annual Meeting. Entry deadline is May 15, 2006. For more information visit: www.homebaking.org or call the Home Baking Association at 785-478-3283.

4-H Clubs Eligible for Grant

4imprint is donating $500 per day, every day, with their new one-by-one corporate giving program. Every local 4-H chapter is eligible to apply for this grant. For details, visit onebyone.4imprint.com/default.aspx

Social Skill Resources Available

The "Cool Kind Kid" Camp Kit is a fun way for kids, ages 7-9, to acquire social skills. The materials are an effective means of helping kids understand that "Kind" is "Cool" and "Cool" is "Kind," and that the "Kind" kid is the "Cool" kid, not the bully. Visit www.tannersmanners.com to see sample activities and listen to song clips.

Create a Magazine Ad and Win a Prize

“Teen People” and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy are teaming up for its seventh-annual contest to design the best public service announcement. The assignment: Create a magazine ad with a snappy slogan and an eye-catching image that will help spread the message of teen-pregnancy prevention. The purpose of the contest is not only to encourage young people to stop and think about the consequences of teen pregnancy, but also to promote teen’s messages to one another about pregnancy prevention. The winning design will appear in “Teen People” and be seen nationwide. View more details, official rules and eligibility requirements.

GIS Source - My Wonderful World

National Geographic and leaders from the business, nonprofit and education communities, including 4-H, have unveiled a public engagement campaign designed to give US youth tools to become more informed global citizens. The goal of the five-year, multimedia campaign — "My Wonderful World" — is to improve the geographic literacy of young people, ages 8-17, by motivating parents and educators to expand geographic offerings in school, at home and in their communities.

A Web site at the heart of the campaign, provides resources for parents to help kids be more geo-savvy. It includes suggestions for simple, outdoor family activities and ways that parents can work to get more geography into the classroom, links to geography games and online adventures for kids and teens, classroom materials for educators, and ways for young and old to test their global IQs. The site also provides tools for communicating to policymakers and education leaders the importance of geographic literacy.

Jeff Sallee

NRA to Sponsor 19th Youth Wildlife Art Contest

The NRA is now accepting entries for its 2006 Youth Wildlife Art Contest. The contest, the 19th in the annual series, is open to students in grades 1 through 12 (including home-schooled children).

NRA membership is not required. The deadline to enter is October 3, 2006.

Winners in each grade category will receive $500. Second-place finishers will receive $250, and the third-place award will be $100.

Entries may be submitted in one of four categories, based on school grade. Category I includes grades 1 through 3. Category II is for grades 4 through 6. Category III covers grades 7 through 9, and Category IV includes grades 10 through 12. Entries may portray any North American game bird or animal that may be legally hunted or trapped. Endangered species and non-game animals, such as eagles and snakes, are not eligible subjects. Call (703) 267-1531 if you need to confirm whether a certain animal or bird is eligible.

Contestants are limited to one entry each. Entries may be in a medium of the artist’s choice (oil, water color, pastels, pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, etc.). Submissions should be on good quality bond or drawing paper, or illustration board. Preferred sizes for the image are 8-1/2\" x 11\" or 11\" x 14\"; matting is optional. Entries need not be framed. Composition must be original. Photographs may be used for reference, but artwork determined to have been traced or copied from an existing photograph or work of art will be disqualified.

Entries must arrive at NRA by October 3, 2006, and must be accompanied by a brief statement signed by the student’s parent, guardian, or teacher attesting to the originality of the work and verifying the artist’s grade level as of October 3, 2006. In addition, the artist’s name, age, home address, phone number, and grade must be printed on the back of the entry or on a note attached to the back of the entry.

Entries will be judged on effort, creativity, anatomical accuracy, and composition.

Send entries to: NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest, 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030. Entries will be returned only if accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. NRA assumes no responsibility for lost or damaged artwork, and reserves all rights to reproduce entries. The immediate families of NRA staff members are not eligible to enter. Questions regarding the contest may be directed to  (703) 267-1531.

See http://www.nrahq.org/youth/wildlife.asp for photos of last year’s winning entries.

National Gardening Association Youth Garden Grant Program

The National Gardening Association and Home Depot have announced the 24th annual Youth Garden Grant Program. Over the last 24years, NGA's Youth Garden Grants program has helped more than 1.3 million youngsters reap rewards and vital life lessons from working in gardens and habitats. Schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities, and intergenerational groups throughout the US are eligible to apply. Applicants must plan to garden in 2007 with at least 15 children between the ages of three and 18 years. Previous Youth Garden Grant winners who wish to reapply must wait one year and have significantly expanded their garden programs. Applicants should demonstrate a child-centered plan that emphasizes children/youth learning and working in an outdoor garden. Areas considered for support include educational, environmental, or social programming; leadership; community support; sustainability; innovation, and need. Each winning program will receive educational materials http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10002072/kidsgardening

Work In Progress Conference – Postponed until 2007

In December 2005 we announced that the State 4-H Leadership team would be introducing the W.I.P. Conference in Stillwater, OK.  A program designed for county officers, teen leaders, ambassadors and an adult volunteer advisor.  The conferences purpose is to provide a county leadership team(s) with the training necessary to fulfill their role and responsibilities to the county program and provide the materials and guidance for training local club officers.

Because of the importance of this event and the magnitude of coordinating a quality program the committee believed it in the best interest of the participants to wait until 2007.

Karla Knoepfli

State Recognition of County and Lifetime Volunteers

The State 4-H Volunteer Board is extending the deadline for counties to recognize their volunteers during the Volunteer Recognition Luncheon at the Leadership Development Conference July 22, 2006. The Oklahoma Farmers Union sponsors lunch for the recipient and one guest.

Please understand that this individual(s) is not being considered for the district and state awards, since this is an extension of the original deadline.

Please use the attached form for county volunteer(s) who you want recognized at the luncheon.  The form and a photograph must be received electronically in the state 4-H office on or before June 1, 2006.  This deadline is firm.

We look forward to honoring the outstanding work our local and county volunteers provide the 4-H program.

State 4-H Volunteer Board

A Bag of Tricks in 2006

Conference program and enrollment form are now posted at http://oklahoma4h.okstate.edu/volun/eduopp.htm.  The program and enrollment form were mailed directly to 780 volunteers whose names and addresses were submitted to the state office as club leaders of “chartered” 4-H clubs.  Please assist the State 4-H Volunteer Board in promoting the conference to all other parents and volunteers in your county.

Thirty-five workshops are sure to motivate the first time volunteer, as well as challenge the veteran volunteers/educator who already possess their own "Bags of Tricks."  The conference will include door prizes, as well as a silent and live auction.  Proceeds from the live auction will go towards the endowment of a Volunteer Development Scholarship with the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation.

During the luncheon, Oklahoma 4-H will recognize volunteers who have been selected by their counties for Volunteer of the Year and Life-Time Service awards and will announce district and state award recipients.

The early bird enrollment form and $30 fee are due on or before July 1.  Any enrollment postmarked after July 1 will be responsible for the full enrollment fee of $40.

Lola Thompson, State 4-H Volunteer Board President

Cornerstones for Kids

The mission of Cornerstones for Kids (C4K) is to improve the lives and circumstances of vulnerable children. C4K is a not-for-profit organization formed in 2004 and led by the Cornerstone Consulting Group to house and manage the Human Services Workforce Initiative (HSWI). The premise of HSWI is that human services can positively impact the lives of vulnerable children and families, but that we cannot produce better outcomes for these individuals without addressing the workforce charged with helping them. In partnership with key national and state organizations in the fields of child welfare, juvenile justice, child care, youth development and employment service , C4K is identifying the challenges facing this workforce, highlighting best practices, and working towards policy s o l u t i o n s . HSWI is funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.  For more information about Cornerstones for Kids and HSWI, please visit: www.cornerstones4kids.org.

New After School Center

The After-School Corporation (TASC) has launched a new Center that will serve three interconnected functions: professional development, research, and policy.  The Center will integrate courses, workshops, continuing education into professional development program models that will permit tiered access to meet the needs of individual staff.  To complement these models, the Center will support research and policy initiatives that promote professionalization in the field. For more information contact: Millicent Paisley, mpaisley@tascorp.org

Community of Practice

A new Community of Practice (CoP) has been developed by National 4-H Headquarters to further the work of the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition. The purpose of this CoP is to promote the professional growth and learning of youth workers. Designed for those who have interest or responsibility for training, staff development or the professional development of youth workers, the Giving Them our Best listserv uses the 5 key components identified by the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition as the framework for sharing knowledge in an online space. You can subscribe by sending a message to: lyris@lyris.csrees.usda.gov and leave the subject line blank and type the following message in the text area: subscribe giving them our best.

New Youth Work Bulletin

The Next Generation Youth Work Coalition Bulletin is available at http://www.nydic.org/nydic/staffing/profdevelopment/documents/NexGenBulletin2.pdf

4-H Publications

No. 44—Oklahoma 4-H Award is available by calling 405-744-8887.

Nos. 126-127—Volunteer Participation and Leader Certificates are available to print from 4-H website “Literature Online.”

No.  7—Oklahoma 4-H Program Meeting Folder (.15 ea.) can be ordered; these folders have two pockets and are very useful for 4-H meetings, seminars, etc.

No. 607—Progressive Skills Leader’s Guide (no cost) is shelved and can be ordered.  The four Progressive Horse Skills Manuals are on 4-H website “Literature Online.”

No. 569—Basic Swine Project Manual ($1.00 ea.) is an excellent manual to help young 4-Hers with their first Animal Science Project.

Advanced 4-Hers could present a demonstration on county government with the following POD/OSUExtra fact sheets by opening Resource Development/Topical List/Community.  Under Community are the following fact sheets:  F-802-Duties and Responsibilities of Elected Officials, F-810-Why Planning and Zoning?, F-845-Controlling Roadside Garbage, F-856-Groundwater: A Resource for the Future, and CR-953-Fencing-Section 4-Liability and Tort Law.

No. 491—Art of Debating Manual (no charge) is a very good communication project to order along with Beginning and Advanced Communication Project “The Briefs” on 4-H website “Literature Online.”

Two economic ways for 4-Hers to earn money this summer are to work on the Child Care and Lawn Care Projects.  These two topics with excellent information and training are No. 575—Child Care Manual (.75) plus fact sheets (no charge), and the Literature Online Safety Project:  Lawn Ranger Manual.  

Rosalyn Weston, (405)744-8887, FAX: (405)744-6522