Table of Contents

Clover Corner News

Focus on Youth

News for OCES staff working with youth.

oklahoma4h.okstate.edu

August, 2009

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

Dear Extension Family,

Great things are happening around the state related to the 4-H Centennial year. All but three counties have provided stories for the history book, and we are excited about all of the interesting information that will be in the book.

The plans for the Gala are coming together and we can't wait to see the 4-H Centennial Maze at the P-Bar Farm near Hydro. We will have a BIG 4-H party at the farm on October 10. This will be a fun day for families to come and enjoy the maze and to fellowship. There may even be a barn dance that night, because we know that it is hard to have a 4-H event without a dance! The cost per person on this event will be affordable for most everyone.

The 4-H Garden is looking great, and if you have not had a chance to see it in real life, you can check it out on Oklahoma Gardening on July 25. The young people have learned a great deal through this wonderful youth and adult partnership, and the garden has brought a great deal of visibility to the 4-H program.

We are looking forward to seeing many of you at Roundup in a few weeks. The event, as always, will be a great time to learn and have fun.


Charles Cox
Assistant Director, 4-H Youth Development

Oklahoma 4-H Launches New Healthy Living Program Through Wal-Mart Foundation Grant

Oklahoma 4-H has received a $50,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation to launch Youth Voice: Youth Choice, an exciting program created by the National 4-H Council that encourages young people to develop and maintain healthy, active lifestyles. The program will tackle wellness issues such as nutrition, physical fitness, and safety.

Youth Voice: Youth Choice participants in Oklahoma will work in tandem with land-grant university experts and 4-H volunteers to mobilize other young people and get them excited about living healthy lifestyles. 4-H teen leaders will participate in District Youth in Action conferences in October, then with adult partners, will create action plans to share with their county commissioners, school boards, health caucuses, and state legislative offices. The action plans will identify and work to overcome the barriers to healthy living and raise public awareness for wellness, as well as encourage the development of partnerships with local stakeholders to expand wellness initiatives across Oklahoma.

“Health is the fourth ‘H’ in the 4-H pledge,” said Donald T. Floyd, Jr., National 4-H Council President and CEO. “As a national leader in health-related issues, 4-H is already reaching 2.5 million youth in all 50 states with nutrition and wellness programs, providing opportunities to build confidence and healthier lifestyles. With this generous new grant, we will be able to reach even more young people with these important messages.”

A major emphasis of the local action plans will be to engage 4-H youth in Governor Brad Henry’s initiative to encourage all Oklahomans to eat better, move more, and be tobacco free where we live, work, and learn.

 “The Wal-Mart Foundation is committed to improving the lives of young people and the communities in which they live,” said Margaret McKenna, President of the Wal-Mart Foundation. “The Foundation is proud to support the inventive programs Oklahoma developed for 4-H and the impact those programs will have on the health of both participants and their communities.”

Participants to the district leadership conferences this year will be asked to assess the health issues and barriers in their community before the conferences.  Then they will be asked to create action plans to address those issues.  Mini-grants will be provided to up to 35 counties to assist in carrying out their action plans. Grant applications will also be available prior to the conferences but cannot be completed until after the conferences take place in October.

Charles Cox

From Cow to the Cone: Homemade Ice Cream Contest

Dairy MAX is sponsoring a "From Cow to the Cone: Homemade Ice Cream Contest" at the Oklahoma State Fair this year on Sunday, September 27, at 2pm.  Entries are due August 15, and are now available online.  This is obviously a great opportunity for kids with dairy, foods, and other projects, as well as for adults.

Look for rules and guidelines here.

Susan Allen, Dairy MAX

 

Operation Military Kids Events

We have three events coming up in August for Military families:

Please inform the military families in your county. They can have a great time plus have the opportunity to meet other military families.    

Ryan Moehle

National 4-H Conference – Nominee and Portfolio DEADLINE Extension

National 4-H Conference is a working conference and a training ground for youth who are focused and committed to working for the Oklahoma 4-H program.  Funds are being invested in training delegates to return to Oklahoma for the maintenance and implementation of 4-H programming.  The application for 2009 delegates is attached and available on line and has been extended to September 1.  http://oklahoma4h.okstate.edu/awards/handbook.htm.

Four-H members must be a freshman, sophomore or junior in high school on September 1 of the year of nomination.  If the delegate of choice is a high school senior on September 1 of the year of selected, he or she will be expected to complete up to a two-year commitment to the program.  He/she is encouraged to reside in Oklahoma during that time.
CHANGE - We seek individuals who are actively involved in identifying and addressing community/school/organization needs and issues through Civic Engagement.  They have learned to demonstrate leadership qualities through the organized efforts which involve others (youth-voice, community leaders, government/social-service agencies, businesses, schools, etc.) in significant roles and opportunities.

Please consider nominating individual who may not be the 4-H member who is “actively” pursuing multiple goals in 4-H, school, sports, other youth serving organization, faith based groups, etc.  It is recognized that we have members who gain and regularly share their talents and skills in the name of 4-H, but are not interested in pursuing recognition through Record Keeping or other competitive venues.

The nominee’s portfolio will illustrate the individual’s skills in identifying, planning, conducting and evaluating social/environmental/political issues in their communities, school, 4-H program, faith group, etc.

To be given consideration as an Oklahoma delegate the individual must be nominated by a Extension Educator, club leader, 4-H volunteer, district 4-H program specialist, or state 4-H staff person.  It is expected that the adult making the nomination has seen exemplary self-responsibility and mastery of the life skills necessary for the expectations and duties as outlined.  A county may nominate no more than two people per year.

Karla Knoepfli

Roundup Elections

Linked to the home page or at http://oklahoma4h.okstate.edu/election/ delegates to State 4-H Roundup can review information posted by candidates for administrative positions of President, Vice President, Secretary and Reporter.

President

Vice President

Secretary

Reporter

Julie Bragg

Austin Kindschi

Taler Sawatzky

Shane Jemison

Sam Durbin

Maddi Shires

James Syzemore

 

Clint Maxcey

 

 

 

Dakota Riley

 

 

 

  1. All delegates will hear campaign speeches during the opening assembly.  Voting delegates will participate in the Town Hall meeting on Wednesday evening where they will have an opportunity to ask the candidates questions. 
    The responsibilities of voting delegates include:

  2. With the assistance of the county delegation, prepare questions for the candidates at the Town Hall meeting.

  3. Attend Town Hall meeting.

  4. Without bias, report results of the Town Hall meeting to county delegation.

  5. Facilitate the county delegations discussion of candidates – taking into consideration speeches heard during the Political Rally and the information gleaned from the Town Hall meeting. Following discussion, all county delegates will cast their vote by secret ballot for the candidate of choice.  The votes will be tallied by the Voting Delegates.  The Voting Delegates shall mark the County’s ballot in front of the county delegation based on the votes counted, seal the ballot in an envelope and returned it to the state ballot box. A county’s votes can be split between candidates if agreed upon by the delegation.  For example:  County has two voting delegates and a total of 15 delegates attending Roundup.  There are three candidates for the office of reporter.  At the county meeting one candidate receives 7 votes and another receives 6 and one receives 2.  The county could cast two votes for the first candidate or agree to split their vote for the two most popular candidates.

  6. There should be minimal adult influence or presence in the delegations determination of candidates.  This means adults may attend but are not to participate in discussion but may help to facilitate questions to assure that voting delegates remain unbiased in their report from Town Hall meeting.

Charles Cox

State Council Traveling Workshops for 2009-10


Fall Semester

Spring Semester

Leadership Training – developing quality leaders at the club and county levels

Alumni Video Production

Mentoring new members and/or volunteers

STEP – Students Tackling Environmental Problems

 

 

Cluster Representatives will be contacting county educators and the presidents of the parent-volunteer organizations and county officers/teen leaders during the month of July to schedule fall and spring traveling workshops.

The content of these programs is appropriate for adult and youth audiences.  The Volunteers will receive lesson plans which can be taken back to the local club.

Charles Maloy, State 4-H Leadership Council

Volunteers Needed for Kids Craft Area at OKC Fair

The Theatre and City Arts Center is coordinating a kid’s craft area on weekends this year in the Hobbies, Arts and Crafts Building at the OKC State Fair.  They need youth volunteers to assist children in making crafts. If you have 4-H members who are interested in volunteering and have experience in overseeing and assisting children doing crafts, please complete the attached form.  Four-H members must be 12 years of age and able to work a 2- to 3-hour time slot. The dates available are September 19, 20, 26 and 27. Tickets will be available for those who are selected to work.  If you have questions, please contact Chelsi Fitzgerald at the Oklahoma State Fair at cfitzgerald@okstatefair.com or (405) 948-6700.  Applications are due September 4, 2009.

Tracy Branch Beck

Interactive Displays at OKC Fair

At the Oklahoma City Fair, there are opportunities for groups to do interactive displays in the 4-H exhibit area on the weekends. The guidelines and application form is attached.  If you need additional information, please let me know (405) 744-8891. The deadline for being considered is September 1, 2009.

Tracy Branch Beck

Septemberfest at the Governors Mansion

September 12th, Septemberfest will be held on the Governor's Lawn. Septemberfest is coordinated by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and sponsored by Oklahoma Farm Bureau. The purpose is to give youth serving organizations and agencies the opportunity to interact with urban families. This is a great opportunity to showcase 4-H to over 20,000 youth and adults in a single day.

Activities and projects should be pertinent to an urban audience and peak their interest in becoming a 4-H member. Some suggested project would include dog club activities, entomology demonstrations, water resources demonstrations, sport-fishing activities, etc.

Each participant will be asked to conduct his or her activity repeatedly during a 2-hour period. Remember that families will want to see many exhibits, so they won’t stay in one place too long. Plan and conduct activities/demonstrations/presentations that can be completed in a few minutes. Demonstrations can be things observed for a few minutes or watched for longer periods of time if interest is peaked. The time periods include: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (actual shift is 10 – 12, but set up starts at 9:00 a.m.) 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

It is imperative that 4-H members and families follow through with this commitment once they register for a time slot. Interested parties may complete the attached form and return it no later than August 14th. Participant will receive written confirmation and further instruction. For more information contact Jessica Stewart.

Jessica Stewart

Roundup Media Room

Agricultural Communications students and faculty are partnering with 4-H to offer a State 4-H Roundup media room at this year’s Roundup. Agricultural communications students will be attending various Roundup workshops for photo opportunities as well as interviewing selected people for stories that will be considered for the 2010 4-H annual report.
 
In addition, all press releases for award winners will be available on a web site for media, family and friends to access. The web site address will be announced once the site is available. This method of press release delivery to the media will hopefully increase coverage of Roundup in newspapers and make it easier for all parties to access information.
 
As in the past, Agricultural Communications Services professionals will also be at Roundup shooting official photos.
 
Questions can be directed to Jessica Stewart at jessica.stewart@okstate.edu or calling her at 405-744-7960.

Jessica Stewart