April 2008

Upcoming Events

April 1 . . . . . . . . . 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 15 . . . . . . . . Master Volunteer Training - Character Counts! at 7:15 p.m., Erie Co. Tech School
April 19 . . . . . . . . Horse Bowl, 12:30 p.m., General McLane High School
April 21 . . . . . . . . Auction Forms Due at Extension Office
April 22 . . . . . . . . Master Volunteer Training - Junior Achievement, 7:15 p.m., Erie Co. Tech School
April 28 . . . . . . . . 4-H Advisory Committee Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Extension Office
May 1 . . . . . . . . . Auction Work Night and Donation Drop Off
May 2 . . . . . . . . . Auction Tagging Day at Sparrow Pond
May 3 . . . . . . . . . AUCTION DAY!!!! Doors open at 8:00 a.m.
May 18 . . . . . . . . Hog, Lamb, Goat Tagging, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m., Waterford Fairgrounds
May 22 . . . . . . . . 4-H Horse Judging Contest, Three Point Farm
June 1 . . . . . . . . . State Deadline 4-H Horse Project Enrollment for 2008 (see your leader for club deadline)
June 15 . . . . . . . . 4-H Club Enrollment Deadline for 2008 Fair Season

It's no April Fool's Joke, the 4-H Auction is almost here! This is definitely the time to get your 4-H spirit flowing and start getting involved in the 4-H Auction! Many of you have already started collecting Auction donations and hanging flyers, because I have seen those flyers hanging in stores and received some donation forms in the office already! There are plenty more forms available, so please contact us if you need more. Last year we set a goal of 1,200 items donated, and we beat it by about 20 items. This year we set the goal of 1,350 items donated, so everyone needs to chip in to help us reach that goal. Ask your hairdresser, your mechanic, your feed dealer, your neighbor or your boss to donate something to this year's Auction. Also, please don't forget to hang those flyers! We will need buyers on Auction day to make it a big success. Hang them at your church, community center, school, business, grocery store or anywhere you can think of!

SUMMER INTERNSHIP AVAILABLE

Attention all currently enrolled college or post-secondary education students: are you looking for a summer internship opportunity? The Erie County 4-H Program will once again be hiring a Summer Program Assistant to help organize and implement the summer 4-H programs in Erie County. If you think you are interested, please send us your resume, along with a cover letter by Wednesday, April 16! You can send it by mail to the office or email it to Jenn at jrf21@psu.edu.

NEW 4-H CLUBS FOR YOU IN ERIE COUNTY!

Welcome to the Wattles & Wings 4-H Club, Erie County's very own poultry and fowl 4-H club. If you are interested in learning more about raising chickens and other fowl, this is the 4-H club for you. Club meetings are starting right now and will continue through the end of Fair season. If you are interested in being a part of this new and exciting club, please contact the office today at (814) 825-0900.

Do you want to learn how to sew, or already know how but want to sew more? Erie County 4-H is welcoming the Satin Touch 4-H Club to our program. Meetings will be held throughout the summer, on a weekly basis. More information will be provided in next month's Banner, but we would like to know now how many 4-H members might be interested. If you think this might be for you, please contact the office at (814) 825-0900 or Julie Vavreck at (814) 602-5889, or email her at QQBP@iup.edu.

4-H AUCTION UPDATE!

Did you know that you can see what items have been donated to the Erie County 4-H Auction already? As auction items get turned in to the office, we add them to our preview catalog and post them online. Visit the Auction catalog by going online to: http://erie.extension.psu.edu/4-h and clicking the Auction link.

Here are some other important things to know about the 2008 Erie County 4-H Auction:

• Location Change - hopefully this isn't news to you, but we don't want anyone to go to the wrong place. This year's 4-H Auction is at Sparrow Pond Family Campgrounds on Route 19 between Erie & Waterford!
  
• Important Dates -
  
  Monday, April 21 - Turn your Auction donation forms in to the office. Please also turn in all gift certificates with forms (keep items at your home until work night). If you collect donations after April 21, please turn forms in ASAP; they will still be sold, but may not make it into the printed sale catalogs.
  
  Thursday, May 1 - Work Night - please bring all item donations and yourselves to Sparrow Pond Family Camp-ground at 6:30 p.m. Even if you do not have donations to drop off, we will need help setting up chairs and tables and getting ready for the
  big day.
  
  Friday, May 2 - Tagging Day - we will be meeting at Sparrow Pond to organize items into sale order and get all the last details of the Auction together. If you are available to help during this day, please call Jenn at the office (825-0900) to find out more details. You may also drop off Auction bake sale goods during this day. We will likely be there from 9:00 a.m. until at least 4:00 p.m.
  
  Saturday, May 3 - AUCTION DAY!!! - Please plan to be at the 4-H Auction, wearing your 4-H pride (T-shirts, jackets, hats, etc.). We will need help from 4-H members in moving merchandise all day, providing buyer hospitality and even announcing items. We will need help from parents and leaders in keeping 4-H mem-bers organized while moving merchandise, checking buyers in and out, entering sale data, manning the bake sale and more. Of course, we also encourage you to bring your wallets and make a few bids on some great deals! Don't forget to invite your family, friends, neighbors and more!

THIS IS A TEST

We want to know how many people who are reading the 4-H Banner newsletter also have access to the internet. If you are reading this right now, please take a moment to go online and send an email to jrf21@psu.edu and let Jenn know that you do read the Banner and you have internet access. If you do not want to receive email updates from
4-H, please note that in your email. We promise we will not ever send you junk mail, but we may periodically send you reminders and important 4-H updates about events.

HELP WANTED

What are you doing every day 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 office with simple tasks such as preparing for events, organizing educational 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!

OPPORTUNITY FOR LEADERS, PARENTS, TEENS!

It's not too late to sign up for the remaining 2008 Master Volunteer programs being held for the next four Tuesdays. These events are meant to be fun ways for you to grow in your role as 4-H volunteers, leaders, teens or community members. Please call the office if you missed the registration deadline but would still like to attend some of these events.

• 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 (financial/business literacy for kids)
  

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.

LIVESTOCK CHALLENGE SUCCESS!

What do you know about market livestock animals and the 4-H program? Our 4-H members certainly know a lot! Congratulations to all of our participating members this year, they sure proved that they know their stuff! This year's first place team members were: Kayla Hess - Beefers plus 4-H Club, Paige Boyd - Happy Hoggers + 4-H Club, Audrey Swan - Happy Hoggers + 4-H Club, and Caleb Mitulski - True Grit 4-H Club. Special thanks to Happy Hoggers + 4-H Club for chairing the event, and to all of this year's Livestock Challenge Volunteers for making the night a success for everyone involved!

HIPPOLOGY RESULTS!

Oh what fun we had at the 2008 Erie County 4-H Hippology Contest this year! We had a great turnout of 4-H members, and Cloverbuds who all showed their talents and knowledge of almost anything horse-related that you can think of. And it all was made possible by the many great volunteers who organized stations, tests, registration, scor-ing and more! Thanks to Katie Passerotti for chairing the event and to everyone else who really pitched in, we couldn't have done it without you! Congratulations to the first place teams and Individuals this year:

• Senior Division Team:
  Karri Anne Wiggers, Graceanne Domino and Laura Wheeler of Tally Ho 4-H Club and Ashley Peters of Waterford Bucking Broncos 4-H Club.
  
  
• Individual: Ashley Peters
  
  
• Intermediate Division Team:
  Olivia Domino and Jessey Manison of Tally Ho 4-H Club and Samantha Shofestall and Marissa Eliason of Waterford Bucking Broncos 4-H Club.
  
  
• Individual:
  Samantha Shofestall
  
  
• Junior Division Team:
  Kate Rhoades, Courtney Lance and Kayla Buie of Horsin' Around 4-H Club and Sara Huegel of Cloverleaf Riders 4-H Club
  
  
• Individual: Sara Huegel
  

All of our Erie County 4-H members made us proud!

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. Hurry! They are due on Monday, April 7!

Would you like to experience camp traditions, workshops and activities while building friendships? Have you ever built a Submarine? If you are a 4-H member completing grades 6, 7 or 8 this year, you are invited to attend 4-H Intermediate Camp this summer! Camp dates this summer are from July 7 -11 at the Venango County Fair-grounds. Camp costs only $110 - What an unbelievable deal for a whole week of summer camp! For more details about this year's theme, activities and more see the registration form included with this month's Banner. Don't forget that you may also apply for a campership to cover some of the costs of camp this summer. Contact the office (825-0900) for more details.

The Waterford Bucking Broncos 4-H Club meeting was called to order by Ashley Peters, our president, at 2:15 p.m. Katie Kirik held the American Flag and Sami Chiprean held the 4-H Flag. We have two new members this meeting: Sami and Kate Chiprean. After discussing the old and new business we had our horsemanship lesson of the month by Katie Passerotti. This month's lesson was on grooming. Ben Kirik made the motion that the meeting be closed, and Katie Kirik seconded it. We took a vote and the meeting was closed at 2:45 p.m. After the meeting we had our own mini horse bowl. Each team had too many people to have a buzzer at once so we rotated. We also had our own mini cookoff with categories of meals and desserts.

The Trailblazers 4-H Club meeting was held at the Klemm's home on Tuesday, March 11. Great job to Ashley, Kelsey, Cheyanne, Desiree, Taylor and Dawson at the Hippology Contest. Our Basket for the 4-H Auction this year is a baking theme. If you didn't bring your items, please bring them to the next meeting. The next meet-ing is at Kristina's house on April 8.

Cloverleaf Riders 4-H Club had their meeting on March 10. We had a lot of people place at the Hippology contest in the individual places. They were Lauren Harrington with a fourth place, Rachael Harrington with a second place, Sara Huegel with a first place, and Shelby Stoneman with a great score in the Cloverbuds of 100% right. Also our junior team got a first place and our intermediate team got second place! Good job to all, and keep up the great studying. We will be in the 4-H Horse Bowl on April 19 at General McLane High School. The study date we planned is on April 13 at 2:00 p.m. Make sure you don't miss it. Jake Learn and Leslie Pavolko will be going to CCT. We are also doing a carwash basket for the 4-H Auction. Everyone make sure to bring all of your things to the next meeting on
April 13 at 6:00 p.m. at EHSC.

The March meeting for Beefer's plus 4-H Club was cancelled due to inclement weather. Members were reminded to attend the Live-stock Challenge. Club members will be making a gift basket for the 4-H Auction. Our next meeting will be held on April 13 at the McKean Township Building.

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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Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Holly K. Hedstrom at 814-825-0900 in advance of your participation or visit.

This publication is available in alternative media on request.

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Tel 814-865-4700/V, 814-863-1150/TTY.