Campus County Connection
| Volume XXVI Edition VII |
July 2009 |
Yesterday’s e-mail from one of you brought an unexpected surprise that I thought was worthy of sharing with others. It was sent to recap a call received from the mother of one of this year’s 4-H Roundup delegates….
“Her son attended 4-H Round-Up last week and she could not say enough good things about the experience. The mom commented on the classes he attended and the socialization opportunities where he got to know other 4-H’ers from the state. Even though he is a 7th grader she is convinced that Purdue will be THE ONLY college he will pursue as he gets older. He also cannot wait until he has the opportunity to attend other 4-H functions. Thank you for putting on this event because you definitely made an impact on one young person’s life.”
I believe that all too often those of us involved with recruiting youth, making arrangements, preparing presentations, or being away from home to chaperone an event that happens on an annual basis view this as “another thing to do” and tend to lose sight of one of our primary goals: making a difference in the life of a young person!
The message in this e-mail assures my ongoing belief that we are creating memorable experiences and are also making a significant impact on the lives of the young people with whom we work!
Please accept this note of appreciation for your assistance (regardless of your role) with the statewide activities we sponsored during the month of June. We had approximately 1500 4-H youth contacts during this month’s events (and this doesn’t include the numbers of camps and workshops or open shows you have worked with locally). While these are events and activities that need to be managed, central to the reason for conducting each one of them is the education and experiences we are affording young people!
Wishing you all a wonderful summer!
We’ve begun plans for the fall youth staff retreat that will be conducted at the Beck Center on the Purdue University Agronomy Farm with overnight accommodations in West Lafayette. I hope that everyone has calendared September 30/ October 1 for this meeting and that you have enrolled via the staff development website to participate. Please note that this will include an evening session on Wednesday, September 30. Details will be forthcoming….
- Renée McKee, State 4-H Program Leader
Love the Indiana State Fair? Love 4-H? Then we need you! The Indiana 4-H Foundation is looking for volunteers for shifts for its booth in the Our Land Pavilion….yes, the AIR CONDITIONED Our Land Pavilion. Take a break from the heat and help promote 4-H, too.
E-mail Nola Gentry, Indiana 4-H Foundation President, to schedule a shift at ned3nola@gte.net or call 765-714-7877. Thanks in advance for your help!
- Shelly Bingle-Coffman, Executive Director, Indiana 4-H Foundation, Inc.
Extreme heat and high humidity can cause the heat index to soar during the summer months in Indiana. There have been several reports of 4-H animals that have expired during their stay at the county fair in recent years. Please be aware that the extreme heat can be very stressful and even fatal for some animals. Necessary precautions should be taken to insure the welfare of the animals and their exhibitors. Following are some suggestions: set-up extra fans, hook up misters to use in combination with fans, place “soaker hoses” on the roof of metal buildings (this will drop the temperature inside the building by several degrees), re-schedule shows for the “cooler” parts of the day, release non-sale animals to go home once they have been shown, encourage judges to handle the animals less than normal, have plenty of garden hoses available to wet down animals, be sure animals have plenty of drinking water readily available in their pens or cages, have bottles of water available for exhibitors.
Good luck with your fair. Keep cool and stay out of the heat!
- Clint Rusk
Thanks to all of the counties who sent delegates to the 78th State 4-H Jr. Leader Conference! Eighty-nine delegates attended this year’s conference at the University of Indianapolis. Please encourage these delegates to share their new knowledge with other Jr. Leaders, 4-H members, and Adult Volunteers in your counties. This will be good experience for them to talk in front of a group and will also encourage other Jr. Leaders to want to attend the conference in future years.
Delegates who were elected to plan next year’s conference as a part of the 2010 State 4-H Junior Leader Council are listed below by the State Park Group they will represent:
Clifty Falls – Callie Burgin, Clark County and Morgan Grider, Franklin County
Limberlost – Holly Kyler, Whitley County and Shannon Porowski, St. Joseph County
McCormick – George Schnur, Warrick County and Audrey Lynn, Vanderburgh County
Mounds – Mallory Wood, Warrick County and Brandon Searcy, Wayne County
Shakamak – Shelby Kaiser, Warrick County and Kayla Hudson, Gibson County
Spring Mill – Olivia Western, Whitley County and Stephen McTaggart, Tippecanoe County
Tecumseh – Alan Bittner, Vanderburgh County and Sara Elliott, Gibson County
Whitewater – Nicholas Blankenberger, Vanderburgh County and Lily Wargel, Perry County
The 2010 Council members will begin their work at the Indiana 4-H Congress on Saturday, October 10th, 2009.
- Steve McKinley
The State Junior Leader Council planned and designed their conference around their chosen theme: “Take Control...Take Your Leadership to the Next Level!” Over 100 4-H Youth participated in this year’s conference. State 4-H Junior Leader Conference relies on the contributions of the following sponsors to underwrite the conference through the Indiana 4-H Foundation. We are deeply grateful for these sponsors! Please take a moment to thank the following Conference sponsors when you see them around the state and tell them their contributions are noticed and are making a difference in the lives of 4-H Youth!
Dow AgroSciences
c/o Kenda Resler Friend and Bill Root
American Income Life Insurance Company 
c/o Bill Viar
Duke Energy Foundation 
c/o Julie Griffith
Thanks!
- Shelly Bingle-Coffman, Executive Director, Indiana 4-H Foundation, Inc.
The State 4-H/FFA Dairy Goat Judging contest will be held on the State Fairgrounds in the Blue Ribbon Pavilion Arena on Friday, August 7, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. Registration for the contest is due in the State 4-H Department by July 20th. Coaches should use the registration form found on-line in the 4-H/FFA Ag. Judging Handbook
http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/Judging/judging.html
Coaches should check pages 43-45 in the Ag. Judging Handbook and page 90 of the 2009 Indiana State Fair 4-H/FFA Handbook/Premium List for details regarding this event. If there are questions, please call me at (765) 491-9437.
- Clint Rusk
Two opportunities for 4-H members:
- Please post the poster available to download below to announce the Beekeeping essay contest, sponsored by the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc. (Any 4-H member may apply.)
Download Beekeeping Essay Poster here
- Young Beekeeper of the Year Award Program Deadline: September 1, 2009
Please encourage 4-H youth beekeepers to apply to be the Young Beekeeper of the Year. The Indiana Beekeepers Association sponsors this program and has expanded the awards to the top 3 youth. The first place winner receives a $2,000 US Savings Bond (one first place bond per lifetime) second place gets a $1,000 bond, and 3rd place gets a $500 bond. The application is available here. Please copy it and share it with any youth that might be interested. Youth must currently be involved in beekeeping.
- Natalie Carroll
Fall Workshop: September 11-13, 2009. Registration deadline is two weeks before the workshop begins (August 28). You can get the registration form and IDNR health form from the 4-H Shooting Sports leader webpage (www.four-h.purdue.edu/shooting_sports/). See Indiana Certification Workshop for the registration and health forms and a link to the IHEA website. Or, you can go to the Indiana Hunter Education Association (IHEA) website (http://www.inhea.com/). An agenda for the weekend is available at the IHEA website (to help attendees plan).
Workshop Reminders:
- The Shooting Sports Coordinator training is offered in the fall only. We must have at least five participants to hold the class.
- The hunting discipline introduces a wide variety of topics and is recommended, particularly for the younger 4-H members. It is a great way of introducing youth to the outdoors and the wildlife that we enjoy in Indiana. Hunting does not need to be the focus of this discipline. This discipline is also an excellent one for the older 4-H members to help as assistant teachers and mentors. The hunting discipline may be used for the first year or two of shooting sports if your instructor team prefers not to have third graders in the shooting disciplines.
- Purdue policy states that any 4-H shooting sports education leader must have successfully completed a certification workshop, in addition to the usual county volunteer leader screening.
- Natalie Carroll
Please post the GeoFest poster available below. The Indiana State Museum is hosting GeoFest Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show, October 23-25, 2009. This is not just another rock and mineral show. It is, first and foremost, a day of interaction with the public: identification, Indiana specimens, give-a-ways, interactive displays, and demonstrations. The event is included with museum admission and open to the public. More than 3,000 visitors are expected.
Download GeoFest poster here
- Natalie Carroll
Included in the electronic version of the June 2009 CCC was information for your 4-H Volunteers regarding the Indiana State Fair 4-H Adult Volunteer Day, which will be held on Saturday, August 15th.
The attachments included an invitation letter and the two-page schedule for the day (the schedule is designed to be printed front-to-back). Please print and distribute this information to your 4-H Volunteers. Adult 4-H Volunteer Day provides the opportunity to recognize the 4-H Volunteers for the work they do throughout the year with 4-H Members. As a part of the program, the Indiana 4-H Chorus will perform, several distinguished speakers will address the group, and tenured volunteers will be recognized.
Volunteers may ask for an admission ticket to the Indiana State Fair. These may be taken out of the allotment you receive from the Indiana State Fair after you have distributed tickets to your 4-H members with State Fair entries in non-livestock projects.
- Steve McKinley
The July “4-H Volunteer Vision” is available here for your use with volunteers.
- Steve McKinley
The 2009 North Central Region Volunteer Forum will be held October 1-4, in Lincoln, NE. Registration information regarding the Forum is on the Nebraska 4-H Web site at: http://4h.unl.edu/volunteers/forum.htm.
- Steve McKinley