March 2008

Upcoming Events

March 1 . . . . . Hippology Contest, 12:30 p.m. registration, Penn State Behrend Science Building
March 4 . . . . . Teen Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Erie Co. Tech School
March 14-16 . 4-H Winter Weekend, Camp Fitch
March 18 . . . . Master Volunteer Training - Experiential Learning, 7:15 p.m., Erie Co. Tech School
March 20 . . . . Livestock Challenge, 7:00 p.m., Edinboro Boro Building
March 21 . . . . Extension Office Closed
March 24 . . . . Extension Office Closed
March 25 . . . . Master Volunteer Training - UV Safety, 7:15 p.m., Erie Co. Tech School
March 29. . . . .Teen Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Erie Co. Tech School
April 1 . . . . . . .Master Volunteer Training - Parliamentary Procedure, 7:15 p.m., Erie Co. Tech School
April 8 . . . . . . .Master Volunteer Training - Get Up & Get Moving, 7:15 p.m., Erie Co. Tech School
April 11-13 . . .NW PA Leadership Conference and Camp Counselor Training
April 19 . . . . . .Horse Bowl, 12:30 p.m., General McLane High School
April 21 . . . . . .Auction Forms Due in to Extension Office
May 1 . . . . . . . Auction Work Night and Donation Drop Off
May 3 . . . . . . . AUCTION DAY!!!! Doors open 8:00 a.m.

Winter is almost over, and it's easy to tell because 4-H'ers are becoming extra busy. With all of your added activities this spring, please do not forget to leave some time for asking your local community members to make a donation to the 2008 4-H Auction. Gift certificates, store merchandise, handmade crafts & artwork, gift baskets and more are needed to make our annual Auction a success. Remember, this is your
4-H Auction to support your 4-H program. Without your help, we can't hold any of our fun 4-H events like Cookoff, Livestock Challenge, Dairy Bowl, Hippology, 4-H Fair & Roundup, Winter Weekend and so many more. If you aren't sure what the 4-H Auction is or how you are needed to help, please ask your leader to tell your club all about it at your next 4-H meeting. This is our most important fundraiser!!

AUCTION NEWS

Gift Basket Bonanza - has your 4-H club picked a theme for your club gift basket donation this year? Now's the time to start thinking about what will go into your club basket. We want every club to be represented in the bonanza, so don't let your club be the one that's left out. Share your ideas with your club leaders today!

Bake Sale - Looking for another way to help out the 4-H Auction? Why not donate baked goods to the Auction bake sale? Homemade cookies, cup-cakes, etc. packed in groups of 6 or more or individual cakes, pies, loaves of bread, etc. are all welcome. Please no cream pies or other goods that need refrigeration and no store bought baked goods please. If you plan to donate, please fill in an auction receipt form, and submit it to the office with your other donation forms.

WINTER WEEKEND

Last call for Winter Weekend registrations - due March 3. Don't miss out on the most fun event this Winter!! If you lost your form or need more information, call the office ASAP at (814) 825-0900.

HELP WANTED

What are you doing everyday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.? Do you have an hour or two to spare once a week during that time? The 4-H Program is seeking volunteers (adults or teens) willing to help out in the extension office with simple tasks such as preparing for events, organizing educa-tional materials and generally supporting the Erie County 4-H Program. Please consider giving 4-H a little of your time, whether you are a 4-H parent who has time off during the week, a recent 4-H alumni attending school nearby or a current 4-H teen who gets out of school early enough to spend an hour or two with us. Please call Jenn at the office at (814) 825-0900 today!

4-H MEMBERS
GOING PLACES

Congratulations to Michaela Downes, Kayla Hess and Ashley Peters who have all been selected to attend some of 4-H's premiere teen events during the upcoming year. Michaela and Kayla will be attending the Pennsylvania 4-H Leadership Conference in February of 2009, and Ashley is headed to Pennsylvania 4-H Capital Days this upcoming April. All three of these 4-H members have shown great success in their 4-H clubs, in county 4-H programs and in their communities. You could be selected to attend one of these events next year. Keep an eye on the Banner for the "event interviews" application next winter!

OPPORTUNITY FOR LEADERS, PARENTS, TEENS!

If you are a 4-H volunteer, parent helper or teen member you are invited to attend the Erie County 4-H Master Volun-teer Training events, held each Tuesday night from March 18 to April 22. Each week we will learn about a different topic that will help you with your 4-H club and in your everyday lives. This year's topics include:
* March 18 - EXPERIENTIAL LEARN-ING (What Makes 4-H So Great!)
* March 25 - PROTECT THE SKIN YOU'RE IN (UV Safety)
* April 1 - GAVELING YOUR WAY TO BETTER MEETINGS (Parliamentary Procedure)
* April 8 - GET UP & GET MOVING
* April 15 - CHARACTER COUNTS, SO SHOW IT!
* April 22 - JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT

Each session is held from 7:15 to 9:00 p.m. at the Erie Co. Tech School on Oliver Rd., just off I-90 and Peach St. Snacks are served. Contact the office at (814) 825-0900 to register and for more information.

4-H COOKOFF!

If you are a 4-H member who likes to cook or eat, you are invited to participate in the Erie County 4-H Cookoff! On Saturday, March 29, starting at 8:30 a.m. at the Erie County Technical School, 4-H members will get a chance to show off their gourmet skills in 13 categories of tasty dishes. Details for this year's contest are listed on the flyer included with this month's newsletter. Hurry up and sign up today! Another super 4-H event brought to you through your support of the Erie County 4-H Auction!

MODEL HORSE SHOW

The 2008 Erie County 4-H Model Horse Show was held at the Girard Methodist Church on February 16. We had a small turnout this year but had a lot of fun. We would like to thank our judge, Jan Madigan of the Horsin' Around 4-H Club. Jan did a wonderful job and is willing to help us out again in the future. High point awards went to the following exhibitors: High Point Beginner, Tia Waldron of Waterford Bucking Broncos 4-H Club and Reserve, Meredith Dreistadt of Horsin' Around 4-H Club. High Point Junior, Sam Shofestall of Waterford Bucking Broncos 4-H Club and Reserve, Allison Pahls of Klover Kids 4-H Club. High Point Senior, Heather Hall of Klover Kids 4-H Club and Reserve, Ashley Peters of Waterford Bucking Broncos 4-H Club. High Point English, Heather Hall and Reserve, Sam Shofestall. High Point Western Sam Shofestall and Reserve Graceanne Domino of Tally Ho 4-H Club. We had several first time showers this year and a few seasoned showers. All in all we had a wonderful time and a great learning experience. Lisa Hall, Show Chairman, is looking forward to working with everyone again next year.

DAIRY BOWL OF ICE CREAM

What do you get when you mix 3 gallons of ice cream, 15 top-pings and 20 super bright 4-H Dairy Project members? A really fun night of quiz bowl and ice cream bowls! Congratulations to all the 4-H members who competed in this year's 4-H Dairy Bowl of Ice Cream! Everyone did a great job! And the winning team-mates were Betsy Buhl of Mountaintop 4-H Club, Adrian Whitling and Maddie Armagost of Edinboro Dairy 4-H Club and Alan Sherman of Milky Way 4-H Club. Way to Go!

4-H SCHOLARSHIPS

Attention all High School Seniors and current post-high school students who partici-pated in Erie County 4-H: you may be eligible to earn a Scholarship to help you attend your post-secondary educa-tional institution. Erie County 4-H Scholarships, funded through donations from alumni, clubs, local businesses and Livestock Sale animals, are being awarded in 2008. Please visit the Erie Co. Cooperative Extension website http://ERIE. extension.psu.edu under the 4-H Clover, current members section, for the 2008 4-H Scholarship application. You may also request a copy from the office by calling 825-0900.

QUALITY ASSURANCE OPPORTUNITIES

4-H'ers may call the Crawford Co. Cooperative Extension at 814-333-7460 and register for one of the following March QA trainings. Each of the following will be held at the Saegertown High School Cafeteria, which is on the lower level of the building. The topic of "Hands-on Livestock Quality Assurance" will qualify for ALL 4-H Animal Science Projects. Kim Nelan, from the College of Veterinary Sciences at Penn State will facilitate hands-on activities related to (1) Meat Quality
(2) Injection Sites (3) Lesions and (4) ID.

Dates & Times Are:

• March 11, Sign-In at 5:30 p.m. Training 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
  
• March 11, Sign-In at 7:15 p.m. Training 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.
  
• March 12, Sign-In at 5:30 p.m. Training 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
  
• March 12, Sign-In at 7:15 p.m. Training 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.
  
• March 13, Sign-In at 5:30 p.m. Training 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
  
• March 13, Sign-In at 7:15 p.m. Training 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Review other dates that trainings will be held in the region on the QA Website: www.extension.psu.edu/ nwregion/egworkshops.htm.

STILL IN NEED OF HOST FAMILIES!

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. We would like you to help us locate interested families to host these interna-tional visitors. Youth hosts do not need to be current members of a 4-H club, but are required to complete an enrollment packet. Please consider participating in this truly unique event. If you want more information, please contact the office today. Applications to host will be due by Fri., March 14.

Edinboro Dairy 4-H Club held their Holiday Party at Cranesville Fire Hall and donated gifts and food to a family from Cambridge Springs. The family had recently lost everything in a fire. At our January meeting we received a thank you note from the family. They were very grateful for everything. We also looked at designs for shirts for the club. Our sympathy goes out to the Whitling family on their loss of Laurie's parents. Stephen, Adrian and Isabella are all Edinboro Dairy 4-H club members. We also studied for Dairy Bowl at our meeting. The Club held their last Meeting on February 17. We looked at more designs for coats and shirts for our club members. We also discussed the Teen Retreat and Winter Weekend that were coming up. Auction Donation Forms were handed out. Our last fundraiser was a success. We were also given a tour of the building and equipment of the Franklin Township Volunteer Department. Members were given the chance to blow the horns and sit in the ambulance and fire trucks. Our members also did the Hoard's Dairymen Judging Contest as well as practice for the upcoming Dairy Bowl contest.

On February 2, the Happy Hoggers + 4-H Club held a meeting at Asbury Methodist Church. They discussed and appointed a new Vice Presi-dent, Secretary, News Report-er and Treasurer and also reelected President Bethany Mongera. For Vice President the club elected Paige Boyd, Ricky Boyd was then elected Secretary, following with the elections of Audrey Swan for News Reporter, and Lindsey Carpinello as Treasurer. They then moved on to discuss and vote on whether or not Round-up should be kept the same on which they voted yes, along with voting on joining Mountaintop 4-H Club for a skating party at Canadohta Lake Roller Rink. The group also discussed possibilities for a fundraiser, the upcoming Livestock Challenge at Edinboro Boro Building that they will be in charge of, and the Charity Hog. The group voted that the Charity Hog benefit the Hunt of a Lifetime organization, and that Ricky Boyd should show it in the 2008 Waterford Fair. Finally the meeting was closed after deciding on March 16 for the next meeting.

Blazing Arrows 4-H Club met for the first time on January 28 at Gem City Outdoorsman Club in McKean. Leaders Tim and Cindy Vanco went over general rules. Jesse Moore explained how to score the targets. We will be meeting every Monday until March 31. At our February 4 meeting we elected officers. They are Lincoln Vanco-Pres, Gabe Lemock-V.P, Ali Vanco-Sec., Brandon Weber-Treasurer and Jesse Moore-Newsreporter. We also discussed project require-ments & basket ideas for the
4-H Auction in May. At our February 11 meeting we decided to do a camping basket for the Auction and got started on our projects. First year members were asked to do a poster on safety rules & they will be judged at another meeting. February 18 will be our regular meeting. On February 21 we will be having a shoot-off with the Dead Eye 4-H club from Crawford Co.

Waterford Bucking Broncos 4-H Club met at the Waterford Boro Bldg. on Sun., February 17. As we started the 4-H meeting Tia held the American flag and Tim held the 4-H flag as we recited both the pledges to open the meeting. The day of the meeting our president was absent, and the vice president had no warning so Janice led the meeting, it was called to order at 2:05 p.m. We talked about the Auction, Lock-in, Cookoff enrollment forms and about the Model Horse Show that was held the day before. Tim motioned to close the meeting at 2:25 p.m., and Joe seconded it. Later on we studied hippology and did a practice run of what it was going to be like at the competition. After we finished doing that we played a few rounds of TACKO using horse terms and parts of saddle and bridles. Katie Passerotti did our horsemanship lesson of the month, which was about how to teach and practice pivoting your horse. We helped clean up the game of TACKO and all the pencils and stuff and that was the end of the meeting.

Horsin' Around 4-H Club held their meeting for this month on February 5. At the meeting, we discussed how the officer's training went and who from the club attended. Also, we went over the club's clinic. We discussed the clinicians that would be coming and who still had to be asked if they could attend. We also talked about our fundraisers that we are doing, which include selling Pulako's candy bars, Mr. Fudge's fudge and containers of Jelly Belly jellybeans from Kali's Candy. We went over the enrollment forms that are due next meeting. M.C. also handed out the Auction forms and infor-mation. During the meeting we also went over the next program that is coming up, which is Winter Weekend. We found when it was and who from the club was planning on attending. One of the last things we did was discuss Hippology and when it was. We found out what the teams would be, based on who could attend the contest on March 1. The meeting was brought to a close and the next meeting was determined to be on March 5.

Trailblazers 4-H Club had their meeting At Kristin Pacansky's on February 12. We are selling subs again; orders are due to Judy on March 2. We discussed our Show, which is going to be on June 14. Good luck to the people competing at Hippology. We went over what theme we wanted our auction basket to be. Mary from For the Love Of Horses came to talk to us about the foal recovery program and what happens to the mares and foals. Anyone who attended and wrote a paragraph got their quality assurance points. Our next meeting is March 11 at the Klemm's.

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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