The Clover Connection

Carlisle County 4-H

JUL-AUG 2017

Mark Your Calendar!

Rally Day for State Fair Monday, July 17th: Rally Day Check-in, 2:00-6:00 PM, Extension Office Tuesday, July 18th: Rally Day Judging, 9:00 AM; Viewing, 1:00-4:30 PM Wednesday, July 19th: Viewing, 9:00-12:00 AM; Check-out, 2:00-6:00 PM

Junior MasterChefs Stand Mixer Drawing: July 21st, 2:00 PM at the Extension Office

Comet Clovers Meeting: July 24th, 6:00 PM, Extension Office

Carlisle County Fair Tuesday, August 8th: Fair Entries Accepted, 2:00-6:00 PM, Exhibit Building Wednesday, August 9th: Exhibit Building Open for Viewing, 4:00-6:00 PM Thursday, August 10th: Exhibit Building Open for Viewing, 4:00-9:00 PM Friday, August 11th: Exhibit Building Open for Viewing, 3:00-9:00 PM Saturday, August 12th: Exhibit Building Open for Viewing, 3:00-9:00 PM Monday, August 14th: Remove Entries, 8:00-10:00 AM and 5:00-7:00 PM

Kentucky State Fair: August 17th-27th

State Teen Council Meeting: September 8th-10th, Jabez

State Shoot: September 9th-10th, Wilmore, KY

Area Teen Council Meeting: September 11th, Mayfield, Location TBA

Come September: September 16th, West Kentucky 4-H Camp

4-H Council Meeting: September 19th, 7:00 PM, Extension Office

Forestry Field Day: September 21st, Land Between the Lakes

Dog Volunteer Certification Program: September 23rd, McCracken Co. Extension

Issues Conference: September 28th-October 1st, Jabez

Volunteer with 4-H!

Current Opportunities:

Fall Clover College Instructors

Share your talents and inter-ests with youth in a series of

afterschool classes!

County Fair Check-in, Judge Assistants,

and Hosts Help check-in fair exhibits, assist judges, or offer to

host the exhibit room

Call 270-628-5458 to sign up or for more information!

A New 4-H Year Starts September 1st!

Cooperative Extension Service Carlisle County 65 John Roberts Drive Bardwell, KY 42023 (270) 628-5458 Fax: (270) 628-3722 extension.ca.uky.edu

September 1st marks the beginning of a new 4-H year! Be on the lookout for 2017-18 club sign-ups in Septem-

ber, 2017 Fall Clover College catalogs in August, and more information on exciting upcoming 4-H adventures in our newsletters and on Facebook! You can keep up with us at www.facebook.com/carlislecounty4h. Be

sure to turn in your 2017-2018 4-H enrollment forms. One must be completed every new 4-H year for every youth. I encourage you to reach outside your comfort

zone and try something new this new 4-H year!

#4HGrowsHere Carlisle County 4-H by the Numbers

2016-17 Year-End Summary

4-H is the youth development component of Extension that provides non-formal education opportunities for young people in Carlisle County. According to the 2010 census, Carlisle County has a population of 5,104. Of those, 629 are youth ages 9-18 which is the primary audience for 4-H, and 829 are youth are ages 5-18. This year, Carlisle County 4-H and youth Extension programs involved 559 individual youth. Many youth participate in 4-H in more than one way, resulting in 1,069 program enrollments, meaning that on average, youth en-rolled in Carlisle County 4-H participated in two different 4-H programs totaling a minimum of 12 hours of educational engagement.

Youth can opt into 4-H through a variety of methods. Each county strives to offer multiple ways to opt in. Being a member of a 4-H Club is often the most valuable experience. It offers youth the opportunity to learn lead-ership skills, practice parliamentary procedure, interact with multiple 4-H leaders who guide and mentor youth. Members select one or more “projects”—topics of special interest to them. They get their hands and mind engaged in learning the skills and facts related to the project. Members devel-op public speaking skills as they participate in meetings, teach younger members or participate in competition. Making the community a better place to live through service, citizenship, and ac-ceptance is an important part of 4-H.

The community club typically meets after school or on weekends throughout the year at a public lo-cation. Carlisle County has 83 youth involved in this way. Youth tend to be a variety of ages. Older youth often help younger members learn and understand. Clubs which meet during school hours gen-erally focus on leadership skills. Once learned, these leadership skills are valuable assets throughout life. Carlisle County has 22 youth involved in this way. Carlisle County Extension Service also provid-ed educational programming for 33 youth in an afterschool club format.

Another way to join 4-H is through special interest or short term involvement. A young person may have an interest in a specific project—such as sewing, weather, public speaking. These groups do not elect officers. The group

may meet 6 or more times in a short span of time and then disband. This method of opting into 4-H also includes workshops, conferences, Clover College, and more. Carlisle County has 296 youth involved in this way.

Kentucky has a rich heritage of involving youth in camp. Kentucky 4-H has four resident camps—North Central at Carlisle, West Kentucky at Dawson Springs, Lake Cumberland at Nan-cy and Feltner at London. In 2017, 39 youth including campers and teen leaders from Carlisle County spent 4 days and 3 nights at West Kentucky 4-H Camp. Day camps, usually held in local parks, are a popular way for youth to learn about the environment. Carlisle County has 16 youth involved in this way.

Local Extension agents may partner with public and private schools to “enrich” the school curriculum. In 2016, 4-H and the SNAP-Ed education program together with the STARS Center, and other community partners provided school enrichment programs to 556 youth (youth enrolled in more than one school enrichment program were counted more than once). Programs included Reality Store, Truth & Consequences, Fun Flex, Health Rocks, LEAP, Germbusters, Professor Popcorn, and Jump into Foods and Fitness. Individual youth also have the opportunity to work on a 4-H project with parents, grandparents or adult neighbors serving as mentors. In 2016-2017, 25 youth joined 4-H as individual members. Last but not least, Carlisle County 4-H could not reach so many youth without the help of fantastic volunteers. This year, 109 adult volunteers and 32 teen volunteers provided leadership in Carlisle County 4-H programs. Thank you 4-H members, volunteers, parents, community partners, and supporters for a great year!

Come Grow With Us!

Pick up your list of fair classes at the Extension Office!

Time for Cloverville

Gardening Grows Great Young People! It’s gardening season in the Bluegrass state. Before you

get your hands dirty preparing the garden beds, make sure you involve your children.

Gardening has many benefits for children beyond fresh fruits and vegetables. Research has shown that youth garden-ing projects increase young people’s self-esteem, teach them responsibility, improve relationships with family members and increase parents’ involvement in their child’s school.

Research conducted by several land-grant institutions found similar outcomes among young participants in Coopera-tive Extension’s Junior Master Gardener Program. Their find-ings include an increased youth interest in science and in over-all learning, higher test scores in science, a greater interest in eating more fruits and vegetables and an increase desire to give back to their community through other projects outside of the classroom.

Even if you aren’t a gardener, you can get your young per-son involved in gardening through 4-H. In Carlisle County, 4-H offers the Go, Grow, Garden program in the fall and summer which allows youth to adopt a raised bed behind the Extension Office.

For more information on youth gardening projects, con-tact the Carlisle County Extension office.

Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Exten-sion Service serve all people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, eth-nic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, preg-nancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.

Source: Ashley Osborne, 4-H youth development specialist

The time of the year that everyone with even a tinge of green in their blood looks forward to is now upon us—Cloverville and the Kentucky State Fair.

The Kentucky State Fair is Aug. 17-27. Cloverville is a vil-lage-like area located in the West Hall of the Kentucky Exposi-tion Center in Louisville, where 4-H’ers have the opportunity to showcase their very best work to the entire state. The fair is the culminating event for 4-H’ers who have put countless hours of research and preparation into their projects.

Over the year, they mastered a specific skill to complete their project and developed valuable life skills like persever-ance and responsibility in the process.

Some walk away from the state fair with ribbons and priz-es, but all 4-H’ers who have a project displayed at the state fair

are winners, having won local and regional competitions to advance to this point. All should feel a great sense of accom-plishment in their work, regardless of the results of the state competition. For information about the 2017 Kentucky State Fair, visit http://www.kystatefair.org/. More information on 4-H is availa-ble at http://4-h.ca.uky.edu/ or by contacting the Carlisle Coop-erative Extension Service.

Educational programs of the Cooperative Extension Ser-vice serve all people regardless of race, color, sex, religion, disa-bility or national origin.

Source: Kimberly Leger, 4-H Youth Development Specialist

2017 4-H Camp Carlisle County sent 38 campers, 7

adult volunteers, 1 teen volunteer, and 1 agent to West Kentucky 4-H Camp

this year in Dawson Springs. This year’s theme was 4-H Hits the Big Screen with

a Hollywood movie theme. Carlisle County camped with Ballard, Marshall, Fulton, and Graves counties. Several Carlisle County campers received

awards for outstanding performance during their class times! It was a fantas-tic week and we are already looking

forward to next year!

A HUGE THANK YOU to the following volunteers for coming with us to camp this year!: Kelly Laird, Clifton Turner, Michelle Laird, Catherine Drysdale, Sarah Dietsch, Tracy Ellegood, Krista Yarbrough, and Michelle Blythe. We couldn’t do

it without you!

4-H Camp is a great opportunity for 4-H’ers aged 9-14 to learn new

things, develop leadership skills, and make lasting friendships. Exciting

tracks offered this year included ca-noeing, swimming, archery, rifle,

ropes, horse, and more. Campers at-tend dances, sing songs, watch skits,

and enjoy free recreation time. Some campers take classes while at camp that allow them to make pro-

jects they can enter in the county fair.

2017 4-H Teen Conference Carlisle County 4-H sent three delegates to Teen Conference at the beginning of June.

This year’s theme was The Clover Wars. Teen Conference is for senior 4-H’ers and

is held at the University of Kentucky. Dele-gates stay in the dorms, eat on campus, attend tracks, and get to experience col-lege life. Dances, sessions, and socials al-low youth to meet others from across the

state, and the next year’s state 4-H officers are elected.

Honors & Achievements At Teen Conference, Carlisle County 4-H’ers were rec-ognized for their achievements throughout the year.

Catherine Drysdale was recognized for winning the sil-ver honor, serving on the State Teen Council this year,

and being selected to serve again next year. Laiken Ellegood was recognized for winning the silver award

and being selected to serve on the 2017-18 State Shooting Sports Ambassador Board. Brendan Draper was also recognized for completing his Clover Level 3

application. Awesome job!

Summertime is 4-H Time!

Horticulture/Wood Science Project Day

Arts Project Day

Home Environment Project Day

Super Star Chef Camp Baking Project Day

Cloverbud Day Camp

Spanish Boot Camp

STARS Camp

Information released by Carlisle County Agent for 4-H Youth Development:

PRESORTED STANDARD

US POSTAGE PAID BARDWELL KY

PERMIT 518

Carlisle County 65 John Roberts Drive Bardwell, KY 42023

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Summertime is 4-H Time! Open for fair information and highlights from 4-H Camp, Teen Conference, and Clover Days of Summer Day Camps!