Exploring a variety of 4-H Projects
When you walked in the door, the first thing you saw were youth with rabbits doing agility in the hallway going through obstacles, up and down a ramp and pausing at different spots, then you turn the corner kids are frosting cupcakes, turn to your left and you could smell the kids soldering and then to the back of the lunchroom, kids were crocheting with yarn. It was a busy place at the Foley Intermediate school on Saturday as participants were going through four different sessions they chose out of a huge selection of 16 different 4-H project areas.
Hammers pounding, drills humming, graphite pencils drawing, canvas punching, yarn wrapping, and dry flowers sticking with Mod Podge to a jar, were just a few of the activities you could hear and see happening when you walked into the Benton County 4-H Project Adventure Day this past Saturday in Foley. “There were so many neat things to create at the project day, and I even learned how to show my photography including the rules of thirds,” said 4-H’er Valerie M, 7th grader, from St. Cloud. “I loved the chunky yarn pillow because it is so soft, and being able to design my own teacup fairy garden was cool.”
On the 4-H Project Adventure Day, youth can explore different project areas that youth might not be familiar with. There were 14 different sessions to choose from, and participants could each choose four projects to explore. 4-H’ers could explore photography, build bluebird houses, practice doodling/drawing, create diamond art, put together a teacup fairy garden, learn about showmanship with animals, mod podge dried flowers on a jar, punch art coaster, construct a dog leash hook, tie together a dog snuffle mat, poem writing, exploring owls, make a yarn pumpkin centerpiece and hang crochet a chunky yarn pillow.
“I enjoyed learning about showmanship from the 4-H Ambassadors, especially because 4-H Ambassador Cade B brought a goat.” Said 4-H’er Zoey H, 4th grader from Sauk Rapids. “I love getting to learn things from the older kids because they make it so much fun.” Zoey’s mom, Teresa Heck shared, “It melts my heart to see how welcoming and helpful the 4-H program is to everyone, especially children that are different and need extra patience.”
During Project Adventure Day, there were fifteen 4-H Ambassadors and eight adult 4-H volunteers leading the different sessions. “Watching the kids be so engaged, as I assisted them building a birdhouse, was a highlight for the day and why I enjoy being a 4-H ambassador.” Said 4-H Ambassador Cade B, 11th grader from Becker. “I also loved the kids' big smiles when I was teaching them about showmanship and using my goat I brought to demonstrate.”
“It is so much fun to work with the kids and have them get so excited about making their teacup fairy gardens.” Said 4-H Ambassador Ana M, 10th grader from St. Cloud. Ana helped the participants create their teacup fairy garden. Several of the participants were attending the project day for the first time. Abrielle was one of those youth. “My favorite parts of the day were making a teacup fairy garden because no matter how you put it together, it was always cute, and everyone’s looked a little different.” Said 4-H’er Abrielle L, 6th grader from Clear Lake. “The other project area I loved was writing poems taught by 4-H Ambassador Chase D. I liked how the words fit together in poems and learned that you should have a theme. I am excited that I can be an ambassador next year.”
4-H strives to teach our youth to become leaders; the 4-H Ambassador program is an example. Youths in grades 7th and up can apply to be ambassadors to assist with exciting project days like this. “The 4-H Project Adventure Day was an amazing experience as an ambassador,” Said 4-H Ambassador Claudia S, a 9th grader from St. Cloud. I continued to learn new things alongside the kids, observing the different things they made and enjoyed watching them learn and express themselves in many creative ways.
Many participants from the project day plan to bring the projects they created and knowledge gained to the Benton County Fair this summer. “I was excited to learn about how to show animals at the county fair and find out what it is all about.” Said Wyatt P, 6th grader from Sauk Rapids. “This will be my first year bringing an animal to the county fair.”
Benton County 4-H wants to extend special thanks for making the day possible to the following: Sauk Rapids Sportsman Club for donating the bird house kits, Amy Kleine for creating and gathering supplies for the dog hook and snuffle mat, Kelly Jurek from Becker who taught the photography session, 4-H Ambassadors who took responsibility for specific projects and adult 4-H volunteers that stepped in to help the youth succeed.