4-H Program Review

2021 Jefferson County 4-H Fair

This year 4-H programing came back strong after a challenging 2020. We sincerely thank the community for their support during the 2021 Jefferson County 4-H Fair. Jess and I look forward to continuing to build the exceptional 4-H program we have in Jefferson County. Here are just a few highlights and figures from the past year. Our Membership Our Involvement 438 4-H Youth Members 1,479 Animal Entries 120 Adult Volunteers 593 Exhibit Hall Fair Entries 12 Clubs 101 State Fair Entries 1 New Educator Our Livestock Auction Our Reach $15,376 Raised for 4-H Scholarships 12,641 Facebook Post Reach $2,400 Raised for 4-H Camp Scholarship 2,300 YouTube Reach 143 Members Participated 640 Newsletter Mailing Reach 82 Local Businesses and Individuals Participated 12 Newsletters Produced 37 Animals Donated to House of Hope Food Pantry 8 Newspaper Features

Highlighted Programming

SPARK Clubs: 4-H Chef University

Britt Copeland, ANR/4-H Youth Educator SPARK Clubs are meant to ignite an interest for learning in new audiences. With the help of some great volunteers we added 9 new families to our program by delivering a program on cooking and nutrition skills called Chef’s University in the spring of 2021. Big thanks to Rykers Ridge Volunteer Firehouse for the use of there facilities. We plan to repeat this program in April 2022 because of it’s success. Look for this year’s Chef University flyer in the back of this report.

Southeastern Indiana 4-H Camp

Britt Copeland, ANR/4-H Youth Educator, Area 1 4-H Educators This year we had 18 members go to 4-H camp with 350+ members from southern Indiana. Leadership, responsibility and all around fun were taught and had at Camp Hollywood. This camp is student lead, meaning older members serve as camp staff and self determine the programs taught at camp. Camp will take place in person again June 6-10, 2022. Camper Applications will be available in May from the extension office. We currently have 4 Jefferson County Junior Staff Members attending trainings to lead the 2022 Camp.

Britt presents how to make ricotta cheese during the Chef University Spark Club

Mini 4-H Day Camp

Britt Copeland, ANR/4-H Youth Educator and Jess Martini, HHS/ 4-H Youth Educator This year we had 20 mini 4-H members and 9 Junior Leaders attend our 4-H day camp at the fairgrounds. The day featured visits from park naturalists, extension programming on insects and nutrition, and gave Junior Leaders practical leadership skills as they guided younger members and presented their own topics.

Junior Leader Jamison Williams presents on her rabbit to mini 4-H members at the Mini Day Camp.

Highlighted Programs: Increased Focus on Program Expansion

National 4-H Week School Visits

With the continuing COVID climate, school visits have been challenging to schedule. For National 4-H week we were able to visit 4 schools virtually and 1 school in person to share 4-H enrollment information and give samples of Youth Programing such as Junior Master Gardeners, Nature of Teaching, Mission to Mars, and Captain Cash that can be presented to elementary school classes as supplemental curriculum. We hope to get back into classrooms and meet with community youth where they are again very soon. If you are interested in learning more about these programs for your classroom please reach out to us.

Find Your Spark Video Series

For National 4-H Week we highlighted some of our 4-H members through social media and asked them "How did you find your Spark in 4-H?" and "What is a tip you learned in your 4-H project that you can share with others?" We then took those responses and created videos that were both helpful for younger members in the program and helped to promote 4-H Enrollment. Trinity Stoner, Taylor Harsin, Lily Cox, and Aliza Mehl shared their experiences and knowledge in the swine, horse, beekeeping and geology projects for the video series. The videos where shared on Facebook and averaged over 300 views on each video bringing our Facebook Post reach over 10,000. We hope to continue this series this fall for enrollment season.

Jefferson County 4-H Halloween Trick or Treat Drive Thru

To further connect with the community we hosted a second Halloween Trick or Treat Drive Thru this year. We were able to put 4-H information in the hands of 800 youth. We counted this by the number of flyers handed out. We also invited 17 community organizations to decorate the Fairgrounds. Educators set up an educational Ag Scavenger hunt for youth to learn and play as they drove thru the fairgrounds. This option helped to create a COVID conscious way to gather and promote 4-H enrollment.

Jess and Britt present to CAM during National 4-H Week

Trinity Stoner discusses how to present her hog in a showmanship class.

Junior Leaders and Volunteers hand out candy and enrollment brochures

Jefferson County 4-H Junior Leaders

The 4-H Junior Leaders have been hard at work this year. Major projects include community service, helping put on Mini 4-H Day Camp, Trick or Trat, and giving feedback to 4-H Educators and Adult Volunteers on ways to improve the program. We see these youth as the ambassadors of our 4-H program and will continue creating opportunities for them to lead in meaningful ways that help them build leadership skills that employers look for. This type of leadership cultivation also helps to improve our overall 4-H program.

On the State Level

Our educators are looking forward to a busy 2022 with new programs in Jefferson County and on the State Level. Britt Copeland is serving as Indiana State Fair 4-H Dog Show Manager, Coordinator for the 2022 State Dog Volunteers Workshop, Member of the Youth Mental Health First Aid State Educator Team, and State Animal Sciences Focus Group Member. Jess Martini is serving as the Area 1 4-H Secretary and Area 1 4-H Performing Arts Coordinator and is on the State 4-H Scholarship Committee.