Butter Braid Sales 2

Omaha Fashion Week 2

Volunteer Program Assessment

3

Correspondence Pref-erence

3

Scholarships 3

Speech & Music Contest

4

Interview Contest 4

4-H Summer Camps 4

Big Red Camps 4

Club of the Month 5

Governor’s Ag Excel-lence Awards

5

Beef Weigh-In Day 6

Nebraska Cattlemen’s Classic

6

District Horse Shows 6

Horsin’ Around & Horse Stampede

6

Rabbit Show 6

Quality Assurance 7

Cattlemen’s Beef Judging

7

2015 Siouxland Gar-den Show

7

2015 Special Garden Project

7

Inside this issue:

February 2015

4-H Enrollment Forms

The initial 4-H enrollment deadline is February 17. To enroll in 4

-H, all that is required is to sign up at ne.4honline.com and the $5.00

enrollment fee turned in. Clover Kids are not required to pay an en-

rollment fee. But there is a list of all the available Clover Kid projects.

There will be no paper forms to submit for enrollment.

2015 Project Resource Central (was Pick-A-Project)

Available On-Line

The Nebraska 4-H Project Resource Central is available online.

You can locate it at : https://unl.app.box.com/

s/3f1ruw5b74an8w5y8qnb. You will find this helpful to know what all

is available in 4-H and selecting projects for 2015.

Nebraska 4-H Month—Making a Lasting Impact Each year, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln 4-H Program observes two special time frames that provide an opportunity to share the 4-H message with those in our communities. National 4-H Week is held during the first full week of October, and Nebraska 4-H Month is held during the entire month of February. Take your photo with #iam4H, add a statement about how 4-H is important to you and

share on social media, (Facebook, twitter, Insta-gram), put it in the paper, hang it up at the local gas station, make a poster with your club mem-ber. GET THE WORD OUT!!

Upcoming Dates February 16 - Office Closed—Presidents’ Day February 17 - 4-H Enrollments & Volunteer Screenings DUE February 17 - Butter Braid Sales begin February 23 - Joint 4-H Council Mtg. @ Dakota City (7 pm) February 28 - Beef Weigh - In @ Pender Sale Barn (9-10:30am) March 2 - General 4-H Scholarship Applications DUE March 7 - Snow Date for Beef Weigh - In

March 9 - Thurston County 4-H Council Meeting (7 pm)

March 10 - Omaha Fashion Week Spring Showcase, Omaha, NE (8 pm)

March 13 - Butter Braid Sales DUE to Extension Office

March 14 - Horse Stampede @ UNL—East Campus

March 16 - Speech/Music Contest Registration Deadline

March 19 - Speech/Music Contest @ Pender (7 pm)

March 21 - Big Red Show @ Mitchell Event Center, Mitchell, NE (12-3 pm) March 24 - Butter Braids pick up @ Extension Office (5:00 pm)

4-H NEWS Thurston County

Page 2 4-H NEWS

Thurston County 4-Hers will again have the opportunity to sell Butter Braids. What is a Butter Braid? A Butter Braid is a frozen pastry dough that you thaw, let rise,

bake and frost. It is a mouth watering delicious homemade pastry. Butter Braids are available in a variety of flavors. Thurston County 4-Hers will be taking orders from February 17 to March 13. Orders will be delivered to the 4-Hers on March 24 at 5:00 p.m. at the Thurston County Extension Office. Proceeds from this fundraiser help fund 4-H activities throughout the year.

Sales Incentive The Thurston County 4-H Council voted to again provide you with an incentive to sell butter braids. The incentive will work like this, if we make $1500 profit we will have a drawing for two $50 gift cards to Walmart. To be eligible for the gift certificates, an individual must sell a mini-mum of 18 Butter Braids®, for every additional 5 sold they will have another entry in the draw-ing. If there is more than one person selling in your family, you will receive 1 entry into the draw-ing for each 18 Butter Braids® sold. For example if there are two youth selling Butter Braids® your family would receive 1 entry in the drawing for the first 18 sold and another entry for the second 18 sold and then one entry for each additional 5 sold. If your family chooses not to sell Butter Braids®, which is the only fundraiser we have for our 4-H program, we ask that you pay $50.00 per child. They will not be eligible for the gift card drawing. Remember this is just an incentive to encourage our 4-H’es to sell more Butter Braids. Selling any number of Butter Braids®, will benefit the Thurston County 4-H program.

4-H + Your Designs = Omaha Fashion Week Nebraska 4-H is once again partnering with Omaha Fashion Week during their Spring Show-case. OFW Student Night will take place on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. at the Omar Bakery Building in Omaha, NE, and will exclusively feature high school designers, includ-ing a 4-H collection. This collection will consist of 10 garments from across the state and mod-eled by the 4-H member who made it. The following 4-H members were selected to show their garments on the runway at Omaha Fashion Week: Elise Raymond - Seward County Camille Anderson – Dawson County Cheyenne Ruhnke – Platte County Mackenzie Esch - Red Willow County Maricela Dones – Dawson County Aubrey Grasz – Douglas County Megann Freese – Jefferson County Kara Kriha – Buffalo County Brooklyn Dworak – Valley County Kacie Jurgens – Buffalo County Omaha Fashion Week is the 5th largest fashion week in the nation! This is a great oppor-tunity to feature the outstanding work of young designers at a regional level. Student groups are invited to apply for free tickets to OFW’s Student Night, scheduled for March 10. Groups of mid-dle school, high school and college students are welcome to apply using the form at http://omahafashionweek.com/student-groups-apply-for-free-tickets-to-ofws-student-night/. Adult and individual tickets are $10 at http://omahafashionweek.ticketleap.com/mar15studentnight/.

4-H NEWS Page 3

4-H Volunteer Program Assessment Nebraska 4-H is looking at how we can best serve the many people who volunteer with 4-H. To help us understand the volunteer needs we are conducting a survey of vol-unteers from around the state. You may receive an email from VPA-UNO (or Volunteer Program Assessment at UNO). The survey will take about 30 minutes to complete and will give us some valuable information that can help us improve our volunteer programs. The survey link should arrive in your email on Monday February 2, 2015. The survey will close on February 16, 2015. Results of the survey will be available later this spring. Thank you for taking time to complete the survey. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Correspondence Preference When filling out your enrollment form online please be sure to mark your correspond-ence preference so we know whether you want the newsletter and other information either emailed or directly mailed to you. Also if you would like to get text notifications about up com-ing deadlines and events, put in your cell phone number and carrier so we can contact you.

4-H Scholarship Applications Applications for 4-H Scholarships will be accepted through March 2, 2015. General eligibility for applicants includes: 1. Must be a current high school senior, graduating spring of the current year, and attending col-lege in the fall of the current year (unless specified by individual scholarship guidelines.) 2. Must have completed (1) year of 4-H and be a current 4-H member unless otherwise stated. 3. Must be in good scholastic standing (minimum of "C" average). Scholarships will be awarded after the successful completion of the first college semester. Recipient must provide a copy of first se-mester grades (with at least a "C" average) to the Nebraska 4-H Foundation before scholarship mon-ey is issued to the college Office of Scholarship. Other eligibility requirements vary by scholarship. To view information and requirements and to download applications, a link is available at: http://ne4hfoundation.org/recognition/.

NACEB Scholarship The Nebraska Association of County Extension Boards (NACEB) Scholarship Program for the current aca-demic year. Deadline March 15. Scholarships include: One $1,000 scholarship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Re-sources (CASNR) or in the College of Education and Hu-man Sciences (CEHS) for an incoming student (freshmen or transfer student). One $500 scholarship for a current student (sophomore or higher) enrolled in CASNR or CEHS. For more information, go to https://sites.google.com/site/nebraskassocntyextbds/home/organization/awards-and-scholarships.

ScholarshipsScholarships

Page 4 4-H NEWS

Speech and Music Contest Please encourage your 4-Hers to prepare a speech and musical presentation this year. Reg-istration deadline is March 16, with the contest being held March 19, 2015 at the Salem Luther-an Church, Dakota City at 7:00 p.m. Divisions for the music contest will include: Junior & Senior Division Individual Competition Duet Competition (there must be at least three participants) Drill or Dance Routine Vocal Vocal Song Group Instrumental Instrumental Combo or Band Dance Dance

Seeking Job Interview Contest Participants! A contest will take place May 21st at the Regional Speaking Contest that provides an oppor-tunity to practice applying and interviewing for a job. The Interview Contest will be held at the Lifelong Learning Center in Norfolk from 2:00-5:00p.m. Prior to the contest, contestants will sub-mit a cover letter and resume written for one of the three job descriptions: Pet Shop Assistant, Teaching Assistant, or Insurance Intern. On the day of the contest, participants will complete a written job application and an interview. Youth are encouraged to highlight their 4-H experience in all aspects of the contest. Winners of the Regional Contest will advance to State Fair where they will each receive $50. Registration form and required materials are due to the office May 9th. Registration materials, rules, and contest resources can be found at http://4h.unl.edu/interviewjudgingcontest. All members 4-H age 11 and older (11 as of January 1st) are eligible to participate at a Regional Interview Judging Contest. Check it out! If there are any questions, please call the office!

4-H Summer Camps Attention youth! Are you ready for a fun adventure this summer? Consider joining youth around the state for an awesome adventure. The 4-H camps are open to everyone between the ages of 5-18 (do not have to be a 4-H member). There are over 40 day and night camping pro-grams and trips offered for youth to enjoy at the three locations (Halsey, Gretna, and Alma). Please contact the extension office for a camp brochure or visit the Nebraska 4-H Youth Devel-opment website at http://4h.unl.edu/4hcamps/4hcamphome. Register by April 15 and receive a 10% discount. Come make memories this summer at Nebraska 4-H Camps!!

Big Red Summer Academic Camps These career exploration camps are a chance for teens to explore the UNL campus, meet people from across the state and country, spend time investigating an interest or potential ca-reer and have lots of fun! All Big Red Summer Academic Camps are overnight camps and youth will stay in the residence halls. Camp topic to chose from include: App Development, Beef, Crop Science, Culinary Art & Food Science, Education, Engineering, Fashion Design, Filmmaking, Unicameral Youth Legislature and Veterinary Science. For more information about this opportunity, please contact the Extension Office or visit the website at http://4h.unl.edu/4hcamps/bigredcamps. Registrations due by May 1st.

CampsCamps

ContestsContests

4-H NEWS Page 5

Nebraska 4-H Club of the Month Each month, a 4-H club will be chosen as the Nebraska 4-H Club of the Month. In order to be chosen, 4-H clubs must nominate themselves by application the second Friday of the month before. Each club chosen will receive a $50 cash card from the Nebraska 4-H Foundation along with a certifi-cate that the club can display. The Club of the Month’s story will be featured on the Nebraska 4-H Foundation Facebook and Twitter pages, website, and blog. More information can be found at http://ne4hfoundation.org/recognition.

Governor’s Agricultural Excellence Awards The Nebraska 4-H Foundation and the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (NIFA) are pleased to again offer the Governor's Agricultural Excellence Awards sponsored by the Nebraska In-vestment Finance Authority (NIFA) which recognize 4-H clubs for individual work and community ser-vice. Since 1997, twenty-five clubs have been recognized each year. Recognition in the form of $500 checks are issued to the club's treasury to be used as described in the award application. A public presentation of the checks will be made to the winning clubs during the PASE/Life Challenge Event on UNL East Campus on Monday evening, June 29, 2015. Clubs may use the award dollars for many different programs including: community workshops or conferences, club trips or tours, community improvement projects, campus visits, fair grounds en-hancement, inter-generational programs, and the development of a youth council. Applications and more information are available on-line at http://ne4hfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Governors-Ex-Award-Application-2015.pdf. The application deadline is, March 2, 2015.

What’s New?? 4H4U Texts! Sign up for 4H4U Texts and receive the latest Nebraska 4-H updates, and explore great ideas, activities, and resources from Nebraska 4-H and UNL Extension - right at your fingertips! Texts will focus on:

Nebraska 4-H updates Meeting & project ideas Youth group activities Volunteer training information Great tips that will engage youth, keep enthusiasm high, and move your youth

group to the next level Sign up online at: http://extensiontexts.unl.edu/4H4UTexts.

2015 Photography Themes UNIT II: CAREER EXHIBIT PRINT: Explore a career as a pet photographer. Pet pho-tographers know just how much pet owners love their animals and capturing pets in print is a great way to honor that relationship. Capture photos of your favorite pets and consider creative locations and whimsical props for your photo shoots. SF86.98(2) UNIT III: CAREER EXHIBIT PRINT: Explore a career as an editorial photogra-

pher. Editorial photographers take pictures that highlight the topics being written about in books, magazines, and newspapers. Editorial photos should be creative, powerful images that tell an intri-guing story. Capture editorial photos that tell Nebraska’s story. SF86.98(3)(6)

Club InformationClub Information

Page 6 4-H NEWS

Beef Weigh-In Day The Dakota~Thurston County Market Beef Weigh-In will be held on Saturday, February 28, 2015, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. at the Pender Livestock Sale Barn in Pender. This will be our on-ly weigh-in day. All 4-H members who plan to exhibit market beef (market steer or market heif-

er) will need to plan on bringing their project to weigh-in day to have it identified. For those planning to exhibit at State Fair or Ak-Sar-Ben, you will also need to have DNA taken (at cost of $6 per head). The snow date for the weigh-in will be March 7th.

24th Annual Nebraska Cattlemen’s Classic The Nebraska Cattlemen’s Classic will be held February 14-22 in Kearney at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds. For more information go to http://cattlemens.org/ .

2015 District Horse Dates and Locations

June 10 - Bridgeport June 16 - Ord June 11 - Valentine June 17 - Wayne June 15 - McCook June 18 - Seward

*Note: State Fair Horse Show at Fonner Park is scheduled for July 13-16, 2015 For more information, go to http://animalscience.unl.edu/web/anisci/

anscdistrict4hhorseshowsinformation

Horsin’ Around & Horse Stampede Dates Announced Attention 4-H Horse Members! Mark your calendars! Horsin’ Around will be held February 28—March 1, 2015, in the RB Warren Area of the UNL Animal Science Complex on East Cam-pus. Featured trainer will be Jeff Mellott of Andover, KS. More information can be found at http://animalscience.unl.edu/web/anisci/anscextensionequinehorsinaround 4-H Horse Stampede has been scheduled for Saturday, March 14, 2015, at the Animal Science Building on East Campus (UNL). Entries are due by Friday, February 20, 2015. This is a great opportunity to showcase your knowledge through demonstrations, public speaking, and much more. More information such as age division and entry fee changes can be found online http://animalscience.unl.edu/anscextensionequine4hhorsestampede. Just an FYI, there will be no concession stand available but contestants and leaders may pre-order a lunch.

Rabbit Show The Lancaster County Rabbit VIPS will be hosting a Spring Rabbit Show on March 21, 2015 at the Lancaster County Event Center Exhibit Hall at 9 a.m. Open to all youth ages 5-18 (need not be enrolled in 4-H). There will be four classes, Fancy Rabbits, Commercial Rabbits, Pet Class, and Pee Wee Class for youth 7 and under. This show will be a great opportunity for families who are thinking about a rabbit as a 4-H project to talk to experienced rabbit

breeders about what to look for in a show rabbit and possibly purchase rabbits. There will be free contests, a rabbit quiz and Breed ID. Opportunity to learn and practice your showmanship. Link to the flyer: http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/documents/RabbitShowSpring15.pdf

Plant SciencePlant Science

Animal ScienceAnimal Science

4-H NEWS Page 7

Quality Assurance This year all 4-H and FFA members showing livestock of any variety (except horses) will need to go to the Quality Assurance website to update their certifi-cation. There will be NO Quality Assurance trainings in your 4-H clubs this year. Members will need to complete and pass 3 lessons in the appropriate age category. Be sure to complete the 3 lessons before the June 1st deadline so the livestock ID sheets can be forwarded on stating you completed the QA training requirements and are able to show. Nebraska youth can go to the course at http://campus.extensnion.org. If they have not registered for the course before, they can search for Nebraska Livestock Quality Assurance and register using the enrollment key “Nebraska”, however, if they are already registered, the course will appear in their course list. Questions concerning registra-tion can be e-mailed to lga@unl.edu. In order to keep the quality at the highest level and streamline the services we offer, we will be implementing a $5 annual fee for all participants.

Nebraska Cattlemen’s Classic Beef Judging Contest We are in the process of putting on an outstanding contest for our youth and would encourage participation from across the state. It will be held Saturday, February 21, 2015 at 7:30 a.m., Exten-sion Building—Buffalo Co. Fairgrounds—Kearney, NE. Early registrations are due February 10

th, but

we will accept entries up until the morning of the contest – just at a higher entry fee than normal. If you would like more information please contact Brad Bennet at bbennett8@unl.edu.

2015 Siouxland Garden Show Winter is in the air and we are wishing for warmer temperatures with gardening activities. Save the dates of March 27, 28, and 29, 2015, to attend the Siouxland Gar-den Show at the Sioux City Convention Center. The event includes regionally known experts teaching garden related topics. Commercial exhibitors will be promoting and selling flower, lawn and garden products. Master Gardeners will be available to answer

garden questions. For more information, go to http://www.siouxlandgardenshow.org/.

2015 Special Garden Project! This project is open to all youth of 4-H age and it will give them the opportunity to learn about growing, harvesting, preparing, and exhibiting this unique vegetable. The Special Gardening Project lets 4-H members try their hand at growing unusual vegetables and flowers. The project allows experienced 4-H gardeners to grow something fun, new, and different while letting those new to gardening get their feet wet in this project area. 4-H’ers enrolled in the Special Garden Project will:

* Receive a ‘packet’ of White Satin Carrots (one packet per youth) in early March

* Receive a newsletter about: Planting & growing carrots Carrot problems & insects Harvesting, storing & using carrots Exhibiting carrots

* Be able to enter this unique vegetable at County and State Fair It will take an average of 68 days from planting to harvest. Please let us know by February 6th if

you are interested, so we can order the packets.

Plant SciencePlant Science

Thurston County Office Staff Jennifer Hansen—Extension Educator

Keith Jarvi—Extension Educator Stacey Keys—4-H Assistant/Office Manager

Find us on the Web

www.thurston.unl.edu

facebook.com/

UNLExtensionThurston

instagram.com/

thurston_county4h/

twitter.com/

UNLThurstonCty

www.pinterest.com/

unlthurston/

Nebraska Extension in Thurston County 415 Main Street

P.O. Box 665

Pender, NE 68047

Tel: 402-385-6041

Fax: 402-385-6042

E-mail: thurston-county@unl.edu

Nebraska Extension—Thurston County

415 Main Street

P.O. Box 665

Pender, NE 68047