Cheri Nelsen
4-H Youth
Development Volunteer Engagement
T
he year has flown by... When October and November arrive I find myself looking back on the year and asking, what did we accomplish and what do we want to do in the new year? We accomplished a lot this past year and we will celebrate those accomplishments at the Achievement Banquet. The 4-H members have worked hard all year long and it is their night to shine.
I helped out at the third grade water festival. I normally teach the Water off a Ducks back session, this year I got to help out in the soil tunnel trailer. WOW! What a neat display, the kids see the outside of the trailer is painted to show root systems with plants on top of the trailer. It shows the many different root systems of various plants. Once inside the kids are underground with worms, moles, nematodes and a lot of other cool stuff. What a great way to teach soil health.
I also helped out with National 4-H week. The office had a window display, along with two of our 4-H clubs during the week (it was also Fredonia Homecoming so a lot of people saw our displays). Lucky Horseshoe did a weeks’ worth of project exploration at the Neodesha afterschool program.
Enrollment is the main thing for October and so far 11 brand new members have enrolled. That is exciting. We also held district wide officer training. It was a cold and wet evening, but around 50 kids and parents attended the event. I had a brief session for the parents. It was mainly a pep talk to encourage them to continue volunteering and doing a great job. Several parents took the Volunteer Screening application and several were turned in that evening. I also did Wildcat Wednesday and talked about volunteers, so I hope we get some more folks calling.
Finally, I will have the opportunity to take four district members to the Kansas Youth Leadership Forum later in November. I am pleased that two members are running for the State 4-H Youth Council. We are waiting to hear if they made the final cut for interviews, but it is exciting to see these kids stepping up to these leadership rolls! Take time for family over the next couple of months and be thankful for all we have been given.