Friday, March 7, the Benton County 4-H Ambassadors organized a vibrant and engaging youth activity night for children in grades 2 through 7. The venue buzzed with excitement as attendees enjoyed the Annual 4-H Lock-In Activity Night, a highlight of the 4-H calendar. “I loved that Ann asked us who we wanted in our groups for the night,” shared Owen McKay., a 5th grader from St. Cloud. “Being paired with my friends made everything more fun, especially during the baby food challenge. It was so gross, but I managed to guess 5 out of 8 correctly! My favorite part of the night was definitely watching and trying rabbit agility; I had never seen anything like that live before.”
This year’s theme for the 4-H Ambassadors, "Get Challenged, Try Something New," served as a rallying cry for everyone present. The 4-H Ambassadors encouraged not only the participants but also themselves to step boldly beyond their comfort zones and embrace new experiences filled with excitement and challenge.
Throughout the evening, the kids actively engaged in a series of fun and stimulating challenges. They took turns identifying various baby food flavors from jars with their labels removed, building the tallest possible structure using colorful dominos, and shooting a Q-tip through a straw, aiming at a target marked with food coloring — a 4-H ambassador who eagerly participated. Participants also guided rabbits through an intricate agility course, designed their own personalized tic-tac-toe boards, and brainstormed exciting ways to challenge themselves.
“I really enjoyed making the 'Take the Daily Challenge' box and adding all the different challenges to it,” revealed Madelynn Baker., a cheerful 4th grader from Hillman. “I’m setting a goal for myself to slide off the back of my horse, Kimber. I haven’t managed to do it yet because he’s so much larger than my other horse.” Madelynn added, “It was fantastic spending time with the 4-H Ambassadors Emma and Sophia.” Other 4-H’er came excited with friends. “I was excited to come with my friend Myles and we even got put in the same group!” said 4th grader, Norah Virnig from Foley. “I loved all of the sessions and I could not pick a favorite. I did come up with my own Daily Challenge. I am challenging myself to take care of the chickens so that we can get a baby goat.”
As the captivating evening came to a close, the children gathered in circles to share their favorite moments from the activities in a session aptly named "Raccoon Circles." Are you curious about what happened? You might want to join us at our next event to discover the fun! As the kids departed, they left with their personalized challenge boxes, eagerly ready to embrace their new motto: "Take the Daily Challenge."