January 2008

Upcoming Events

January 1 . . . . . Extension Office Closed - Happy New Year!
January 5-12 . . 2008 PA Farm Show
January 14 . . . . Teen Council Meeting - Extension Office, 7:00 p.m.
January 19-20 . 4-H Lock-In - Harborcreek YMCA
January 21 . . . . Extension Office Closed - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 28 . . . . Youth Development Advisory Committee Meeting - Extension Office, 7:00 p.m.
January 28 . . . . First 2008 Blazing Arrows 4-H Club Meeting
January 31 . . . . Rescheduled Officer's Training - Erie County Tech School, 7:00 p.m.
January 31 . . . . Rescheduled Organizational Leader's Update - Erie County Tech School, 7:00 p.m.
February 3 . . . . 4-H Day with the Lady Lions - PSU
February 5 . . . . Teen Council Meeting - Erie County Tech School, 7:00 p.m.
February 5 . . . . State and National Event Interviews - Erie County Tech School, 7:00 p.m.
February 8-10 . Regional Youth Weekend - McKeever Center
February 15-17 PA 4-H State Leadership Conference

Happy New Year! Of course our official 4-H new year began back on October 1, but it sure is exciting to welcome in 2008. We are looking forward to a great year of 4-H with many fun-filled events and opportunities for you and your families. Don't forget that the winter 4-H season is a great time to try out some of the many 4-H projects you find yourself too busy for in the spring and summer. Maybe you would enjoy joining our 4-H archery club this winter, or perhaps you could start working on
a presentation to give at the annual 4-H Center Stage Event (formerly the presentations contest).
No matter what you decide to do, you're bound to have a super year when you try something new!

ERIE COUNTY EVENTS

RESCHEDULED OFFICER'S TRAINING

Due to a snowy cancellation of our annual Officer's Training and Organizational Leader's Update, we have rescheduled this event for Thursday, Jan. 31, 7:00 p.m., at the Erie County Tech School on Oliver Road. We hope all club officers, new and returning, come out to learn helpful hints and good advice about being a 4-H club officer! Also a reminder that each club organizational lead-er or at least one other leader representative must participate in the Organizational Leader's Update this night as well.

2008 4-H CALENDAR

Included with this month's 4-H Banner Newsletter is a copy of the 2008 Erie County 4-H Calendar. You probably have lots of calendars and right now you're thinking what do I need another calendar for? Well this calendar has all of the dates in it that you need to plan your 4-H year. Please note some of these dates now so that you don't accidentally make other plans during important 4-H events like Roundup, Cookoff, Winter Weekend and more! Here's one set of dates that we missed because they came in after the calendars were done. The 2008 State Horse Show will take place October 24-26 and the State Model Horse Show will be on October 25. Write them in your calendar today!

ARCHERY FANATICS
MARK YOUR CALENDARS

The Blazing Arrows 4-H Club begins meeting this month on Monday, Jan. 28. If you're interested in joining and you haven't already taken the plunge, call Tim and Cindy Vanco today at (814) 476-1054.

DON'T GET LOCKED OUT OF LOCK-IN!

If you are a 4-H Member in grades 7-12 and you enjoy volleyball, racquet-ball, basketball, swimming, music, movies and having a great time with friends, then you shouldn't miss the 4-H Lock-In at the Eastside YMCA in Harborcreek, Jan. 19-20. You arrive at 9:30 p.m. on the 19th and stay up all night (or as long as you want) and then depart at 7:00 a.m. the next morning. Registration is only $16, which includes all activities, breakfast and snacks, and is due on Tuesday, Jan. 15. Don't forget, you can also register to bring along a non-4-H friend!

4-H GIFT CERTIFICATES MAKE GREAT GIFTS!

The Erie County 4-H program is pleased to announce the newest way to give the gift of 4-H to someone you care about: 4-H Gift Certificates! When you want to give a meaningful gift, but you don't know exactly what to get, think of 4-H for your solution. You can now purchase a 4-H gift certificate in any value, redeemable for almost any 4-H expense (Camp registration, State Days' fees, Horse Show entries, Educational Materials Fees and more). 4-H Gift Certificates may make great awards, incentives to partici-pate in club events, birthday presents, holiday gifts or what-ever else you can think of. This is also a great way to support the 4-H Program directly, instead of buying a gift from a national retail outlet, your money will go directly to the 4-H Program here in Erie County! Please be sure to call and order your 4-H gift certificates today!

EVENT INTERVIEWS
FOR 4-H TEENS!!

Are you interested in participating in the Pennsylvania 4-H State Leader-ship Conference, Pennsylvania 4-H Capital Days or maybe even 4-H National Congress? These events are great opportunities to develop your leadership and citizenship skills and to make you into an exceptional candidate for colleges and businesses that you may be applying to. The Erie County 4-H/Youth Devel-opment Program pays the majority of the costs for these events each year for several exceptional 4-H Members who apply for the opportunity through our annual event inter-view process. These interviews will be held in 2008 at the Erie County Tech School, on Tues., February 5, at 7:00 p.m. This is concurrent with the February Teen Council meeting, so if you're not already a member, this is also a great time to get to know Teen Council. For more details, please see the insert in this month's Banner!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

It may seem way to cold to be thinking about water slides and roller coasters, but our dates for 4-H Club Days at Waldameer and Water World have been set. So mark your calendars for July 8-11 and watch your Banner for future information.

2008 REGIONAL
YOUTH WEEKEND

The Northwest Pennsylvania 4-H Regional Youth Weekend Retreat is a weekend retreat for 11-14 year old 4-H'ers. It is an opportunity for you to meet many other 4-H Members of your age from the Northwest Region with similar interests, in addition to many others from your own county. For your comfort, housing will be dormitory-style with meals, snacks, and all activities pro-vided. The registration form was included with last month's Banner and is due on Fri., January 18. We highly encourage all 11-14 year old
4-H Members to consider attending!

HORSE MEASURER'S CLINIC

The Warren County 4-H Horse Leaders will host a measuring clinic for horse leaders wanting to be certified as a county horse measurer. The training will be held Thurs., March 20, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Sugar Grove, PA. Each individual interested in becoming a certified measurer must con-tact their local 4-H Educator to receive a completed recommendation form available on-line. If you plan to attend the measuring clinic, you must pre-register by Mon., March 10, with the Warren County 4-H Program at 814-563-9388.

IN THE STATE

AN OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME

Here's an opportunity that shouldn't be passed up. Your family can be part of the 4-H International Exchange Pro-gram. This summer, from July 21 to August 18, we will be hosting 12 boys and girls from Japan and families like yours are needed to open their hearts and their homes to host these youth during their four-week experience. Please consider participating in this truly unique event. If you want more infor-mation, please contact the office today. Applications to host are due by Fri., March 14.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR 10-11 GRADERS

The Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Agricultural Sciences (PGSAS) is a full scholarship, 5-week summer program for talented high school students throughout PA. It provides a unique blend of hands-on learning in classes, field trips, research and social events, providing students with a unique and exciting chance to explore the breadth of the agricultural sciences. This program is held at Penn State's University Park campus.

You can participate in classes taught by college professors, go on extensive field trips, work one-on-one with a college faculty member or graduate assistant to complete a research project, and, by living on campus and interacting with other students with similar interests, learn what college life is like.

The 2008 program will be held from Jun. 29 to Aug. 2. The application deadline is Fri., Feb. 1. If you have questions or want to get an application to PGSAS, please visit the web site at www.pgse.org or phone 814-863-3943.

PENNSYLVANIA PORK PRODUCER CONTESTS

The PA Pork Bowl, Swine Skill-athon and Swine Public Speak-ing contests will be held at Yoder's in New Holland on Tues., February 19. Teams of three or four 4-H'ers can enter the Pork Bowl with a regis-tration form available from the office. Registrations are due by Fri., February 8. Individuals could also compete in a six-station swine skillathon or give a speech about a pork industry topic. This would be a great opportunity to meet other 4-H'ers in Pennsylvania and to show your knowledge of the pork industry.

Mountaintop 4-H Club met at the Buhl's House on December 11. We discussed what kind of community service to participate in. We also discussed having a roller skating day with another club. We received our candle orders just in time for the holidays. Since our last meeting, we attended the Achievement night where our club got a blue ribbon for blue ribbon clubs. We met at Vanco's December 1 to prepare for Santa's Workshop. We had a craft table with the Blazing Arrows Archery Club at Santa's Work-shop. We made angels out of coffee filters and both clubs had lots of fun. The next meeting will be held on Tues., January 15.

The Beefer's plus 4-H Club met at the McKean Township Building for their December meeting. We congratulated the following Members for their honors received at Achievement Night: Zac McClellan and Kris Willis received their 10-year pins; Michaela Downes received her past Secretary's pin from Teen Council, and her current pin for Vice-President; Michaela also won the Best Secretary's book; Kayla Hess received the Farm Credit Award for steers, Justin Hess for small animal, and Nicholas Snyder for his pig book, he also won the $200 savings bond for best overall book. We, as a club, received the Blue Ribbon award, and also the certificate for representing 4-H at the MDA telethon. Members voted on a new T-shirt design submitted by Christopher Robinson. Leader Joe Hess taught all the Members how to make rope halters. Members selected their names for the Holiday Gift Exchange. Our next meeting will be held at Gem City for our annual Holiday Party on Sun., January 13.

The Waterford Bucking Broncos 4-H Club's December meeting was called to order by Ashley Peters, our Ppresident. For old business we talked about Santa's Workshop and that we need more people next year. We also talked about Officer's Training and when it might be rescheduled for. For new business we talked about the Farm Show, Lock In, the Com-munity Meeting, 4-H Day with the Lady Lions, the Regional Youth Weekend, and the PA 4-H Leader-ship Conference. After the meet-ing we had our Holiday Party where we made Christmas tree ornaments out of hollow eggs. We studied horse origins, and Katie Passerotti gave our horsemanship lesson of the month. Then we shared snacks and worked on scrapbook pages.

Cloverleaf Riders 4-H Club held a meeting on November 12 at EHSC where club officers were elected. The following Members were elected: President - Leslie Pavolko, Vice President - Rachael Harrington, Secretary - Lauren Harrington, Treasurer - Jackie Huegel, Club Reporter - Justin Suchar and Scrapbook - Brooke Stafford. The Club held its annual Holiday/Awards Banquet on December 8 where a meal was shared, awards were presented, gifts were exchanged and toys were collected for the "Toys for Tots" program. The next club meeting will be held January 14, 2008 at EHSC at 6:30 P.M.

In November, the Horsin' Around 4-H Club held their monthly meeting at the Driestadt's house. At the meeting we discussed ordering throws for the district qualifiers and blankets for the state qualifiers. We also discussed plans for volunteering at TREC this winter. We decided on fundraising for our Club through candle orders and Pizza Hut Gold Cards. We also set a date for our Holiday Party. We decided to hold it on December 4 at Westway Lanes. The Holiday Party went well, instead of a gift exchange we donated to TREC for the holidays. Next meeting will be December 9 at the Ohmer's house.

Teen Council News Update: Please note that Teen Council will be meeting on January 14 this month, to avoid conflicts with New Year's Day and the Farm Show. The meeting will be held at the extension office due to the change in date. We hope to see all 4-H teens there!

Please note the following change: To get your news in the Banner, send
your articles by the 20th of the month to jrf21@psu.edu.

Sincerely,

Shawn E. Graves
Urban 4-H/Youth Agent
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