4-H News:

Happy National 4-H Week!

It's National 4-H Week! Celebrate your great 4-H programs throughout your community.

It’s National 4-H Week, when youth, volunteers, professionals, families and other supporters of the 4-H Youth Development Program across America spread the word about the great work they are doing in their communities. National 4-H Week started in 1942 as National 4-H Club Mobilization Week. It became National 4-H Club Week in 1945.

Do you need some last minute help with your National 4-H Week plans—a certificate, news release or poster? Visit 4HMediaResources.org for the National 4-H Week promotional kit that showcases the four H’s–-Head, Heart, Hands and Health.

Please take a moment to fill out our survey so we can make National 4-H Week 2007 even better! If you have any questions, please contact Allyson McMahan at amcmahan@fourhcouncil.edu or 301-961-2915.
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New Jersey 4-H Double Dutch Team on National Television

The Three Sparkles 4-H Double Dutch Team practices before they perform on BET’s 106 & Park.

The members of the Three Sparkles 4-H Double Dutch Team from New Jersey’s Broad Street School performed a Double Dutch routine on BET’s 106 & Park show, Tuesday, September 26.

Sixth grade 4-H double dutch members, Chanel Santiago, Destiny Bridges and Leah Hawkins, all of Bridgeton, N.J., had an opportunity to demonstrate their double dutch rope jumping skills and techniques including compulsory, speed jumping and tricks, to Janet Jackson on the show. Cumberland County 4-H Agent, Jeannette Rae-Keywood, and 4-H Leader/Double Dutch coach, Robin MacDade accompanied the youth to tape the show at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City on Monday.

BET’s flagship show, 106 & Park counts down the Top 10 videos of the day based on viewer votes. They feature guests from the music and movie world and have in depth interviews about current projects they are working on. The September 26 show featured Janet Jackson and the release of her new album “JANET 20 Y.O.”.

Click here to view a short clip of the 4-H club on 106 & Park. (The clip only shows the youth performing alone as interactions with Janet Jackson were eliminated. During the show, the 4-H club also had a chance to teach Janet Jackson some of their double dutch skills and present Ms. Jackson with a 4-H gift.)

Double Dutch is a jump-rope team sport in which the ropes are turned in an egg beater fashion. A singles team consists of two turners and one jumper and a doubles team involves two turners and two jumpers who jump in unison.

The 4-H Double Dutch rope jumping project is part of the educational 4-H Health & Fitness Program. Club members also study food and nutrition while jumping Double Dutch for body tone and aerobic fitness. Double Dutch jump roping teams are just one of the ways 4-H teaches young people about healthy living, good nutrition, exercise and teamwork in a fun, hands-on learning environment.

For more about the 4-H Double Dutch Project, contact Jeannette Rae-Keywood, Cumberland County 4-H Agent, at 856-451-2800 or reakeywood@aesop.Rutgers.edu. Click here to the Rutgers University Web site which features the New Jersey 4-H Double Dutch Club.

Three members of the Three Sparkles 4-H Double Dutch Team, Leah Hawkins, Chanel Santiago and Destiny Bridges, spend time on the set of BET’s 106 & Park.
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Kirby 4-H Club Combines Fishing and Nutrition in a Cargill-Sponsored Grant

A member of the Kirby 4-H Club shows off his fish that he caught during the "Health on the Range" program.

The Kirby 4-H Club knows how to reel in a big catch as they teamed up fishing with nutrition education in a popular Healthy Lifestyles program funded by National 4-H Council in partnership with Cargill in Pike County, Arkansas.

Entitled “Health on the Range”, the program for children ages 5-12 emphasized good health resulting from planning good nutrition and fitness and using experiences that might occur on the range. For example, the food groups were highlighted in a chuck-wagon setting with vegetables further enhanced in a vivid Eat Your Colors garden at the home place. Fitness was emphasized as the children built a fence. The hands-on-program provided the opportunity for active learning as the children made their way through the range. In developing their grant-winning proposal, the Kirby 4-H Club promised to deliver this program to four public school systems during the six-month implementation of the grant. Two schools were done in the spring and two more were slated for fall.

In one of the two spring school districts, the children were treated to an extra special field trip to fish in a nearby lake! The kids loved the entire program, but catching a fish was amazing. To make fishing more successful, the fishing area was stocked with one and one-half pound catfish by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, a new collaborating partner.

Fish was served in the late afternoon before the children returned to school. This was totally initiated by the parents who provided extra equipment and supplies. Local business came through with door prizes to enable the youth to fish with their own fishing gear.

“Health on the Range” was only one component of an ambitious effort to teach youth the value of nutrition and physical exercise to help prevent adult obesity. Other components included:
• “Tie One On—An Apron That Is”: a summer program for actual food preparation as children learn about grains, vegetables, fruits, milk and meat, and incorporating them into healthy snacks and meals.
• “Healthy Habits—Live It!”: another summer program focusing on hand-washing, sneezing, eating right, dental care, eye protection, fitness, bicycle, skates and skate boarding safety, and limiting couch potato time.
• “Family, Food & Fun” : a workshop motivating healthy good choices for families in planned meals and snacks, ideas for weekly family night fun and family fitness week-ends, and using healthy Arkansas foods in meal preparation.
• “Healthy Lifestyle Teen Training”: an intensive workshop provided for youth leaders to equip them to be knowledgeable, confident, program presenters in healthy lifestyles.
• "Color Me Healthy": emphasis was fruit and vegetables using games to teach the color me healthy principles according to age groups. Children carried red, yellow and orange bell pepper plants home to grow.

The Kirby 4-H Club was able to accomplish all of this as the result of an energized youth-adult partnership and a commitment to make a difference in the lives of themselves, their peers and in the other communities of the county. Health was listed as a primary objective for the club, thus the idea to continue/enhance the county healthy lifestyle program with ideas produced from the club members and leaders. One of the younger members added, “I don’t want to have disease; I want to be a healthy girl and I don’t want my little brother hurting, either.” The club also stayed connected to the local Cargill business, another plus in this collaborative partnership.

Last year, the club worked with County 4-H Agent Robbie McKinnon to reach 1600 children in the “Arkansas Body Walk” program in another Healthy Lifestyle Project collaborating with Cargill.

For more information about the Pike County 4-H Healthy Lifestyles Program, contact Robbie McKinnon at rmckinnon@uaex.edu.

Members of the Kirby 4-H Club receive their grant from Cargill to participate in the "Health on the Range" project.
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Gardening Teaches at Healthy Lifestyle Youth in Butler County, Ohio

A collaborative effort among Extension staff members, master gardeners and other volunteers utilized container and raised bed gardens to teach nutrition and fitness to families in Butler County, Ohio. This program was supported by a Healthy Lifestyles Grant from National 4-H Council in partnership with Kraft Foods, Inc.

Despite substantial rainfall, Master Gardeners and Hamilton Garden Club members persevered in working with local families, and lovely raised bed and container gardens provided food for those who participated in this creative program. The container gardens were a particular hit as each family received a tomato plant, a pepper plant and either a cilantro or parsley plant for growing the ingredients for making salsa. Besides information on how to garden, nutrition information was presented by Family and Consumer Sciences Educator Dan Rempley. Don Eberwein, horticulture program assistant, worked with the planting of the container gardens with seeds donated by Home Depot. Finally, Terri Chatfield, 4-H educator, provided promotional and educational expertise.

Ethnic vegetables as well as traditional ones have been grown with fun names for the plots: appetizer or nibble garden, spaghetti garden, pizza garden, dessert garden, Halloween garden, and alphabet garden as examples. The gardens have been well-received by the community with positive comments on such a beautiful spot. One adult participant commented that this was the best program she ever attended because it taught her to grow plants so her family will have more fresh food.

This program was conducted in collaboration also with the 4-H Grub Club, a 4-H Club now just a year old begun through the efforts of Living Waters, a faith-based organization. The 50-member 4-H Grub Club is a diverse group reflecting the Latino, African-American and Appalachian population from which it is drawn. Outreach for the project was expected to be 80 youth and 30 adults.

For more information, contact Terri Chatfield at chatfield.25@ag.osu.edu.
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Searchable Database of 4-H Graduate Studies Available On-line

A database of 4-H graduate studies is available with more than 1700 studies, dating from 1911 to 2006. Click here to view the database which is searchable by author, keyword, year of graduation, and institution. The database, formerly published in Making the Best Better: 4-H Graduate Studies, was created by Jan Scholl, Amy Paster and David Abler, Penn State University (copyright 2006).

The Web site also provides access to historical information and links to other sites. Additional information and questions may be directed to Jan Scholl.
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Still Time to Nominate 4-Hers for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards

There are only a few weeks left to nominate 4-H members from your county for the 12th annual Prudential Spirit of Community Awards! This prestigious program honors young volunteers in middle and high school grades for outstanding community service. Awards include sizable cash prizes, engraved medallions and a trip to Washington, D.C.

County 4-H agents have until Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006, to submit their top youth volunteers for state-level judging. All county agents should have received program materials in the mail in August. Information and applications also are available at www.prudential.com/spirit, or by calling 1-888-450-9961. Don't miss this opportunity to bring well-deserved recognition to 4-H youth in your county!
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Resources and Opportunities:

Lights On Afterschool is coming on October 12!

This October, more than 7,500 communities and one million Americans will celebrate Lights On Afterschool, a nationwide event organized by the Afterschool Alliance to rally support for afterschool programs. Community organizations and programs are invited to hold their own celebration or participate in a local event, and help call attention to the benefits of afterschool programs.

Afterschool programs keep kids safe, help working families and inspire learning. In the U.S. today, 14.3 million children go home alone after school. To sign up to host an event, locate an event in your area, or access event planning tools visit: www.afterschoolalliance.org/lights_on/index.cfm.
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