TENNESSEE 4-H IDEAS

VOLUME 04 - Issue 33
August 20, 2004

2005 4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest Announcement And Rules
4-H Project Selection Guide Now Available
Finalists Named For Mid-South Fair Activities
National 4-H Council Youth In Action/Community Tree Planting Grants
State Farm Good Neighbor Service Learning Grant Now Available
Targeting Positive Youth Development
Training Opportunities Announced

2005 4-H BEEKEEPING ESSAY CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT AND RULES

The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc. is again sponsoring its annual 4-H beekeeping essay contest. The contest is open to all active 4-H members. The contest announcement and rules may be found at www.utextension.utk.edu/4H/ideas04/links/beerules.htm and downloaded in a print friendly format at www.utextension.utk.edu/4H/ideas04/attach/beerules.pdf.

Essays must be received in the state 4-H office no later than February 1, 2005. Please encourage your 4-H members to participate. Our Tennessee 4-H’ers have been finalists in years past and received cash awards.

Steve Sutton
Extension Specialist, 4-H
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4-H PROJECT SELECTION GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE

The new 4-H project selection guide is now available on-line! Visit the 4-H projects Web site at www.utextension.utk.edu/4h/projects/ for a list of the 19 4-H projects, including 25 different areas of focus. Download the 2-page project selection guide in a PDF file or a PowerPoint version. Also view a Web-based version of the guide. Use the following links to the 4-H Project Selection Guide:

Lori Jean Mantooth
Extension Assistant, 4-H
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FINALISTS NAMED FOR MID-SOUTH FAIR ACTIVITIES

Finalists have been named from among the entries submitted for the 4-H Career Pursuit event and Agribusiness/4-H Public Speaking Contest at 4-H Day at the Mid-South Fair. The finalists include:

Congratulations to 4-H agents who made this opportunity available and encouraged
4-H members to submit tapes and resumes to qualify for the event. The first place winner in each of these events on Saturday, September 25 will receive $300; second place will receive $200; and third place will receive $100.

Steve Sutton
Extension Specialist, 4-H
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NATIONAL 4-H COUNCIL YOUTH IN ACTION/COMMUNITY TREE PLANTING GRANTS
Source: Clover Corner News

The 2004 National 4-H Council Youth in Action/Community Tree Planting Grant will offer youth grants in the amount of $500 - $1750 to 4-H/Extension groups in local communities, in counties, and at the state level. These grants provide opportunities for young people and adults to take action on issues critical to their lives, their families, and their communities. The youth grants program puts resources directly into the hands of youth, and their involvement at all stages is very significant. Youth take the lead in the design of the project, the proposal writing process, the implementation, and the evaluation of funded projects. The grants are offered only to 4-H/Extension programs in the U.S. and its territories.

The application deadline is Friday, September 10. For more information, visit www.4husablogs.org/ccn/.

Lori Jean Mantooth
Extension Assistant, 4-H
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STATE FARM GOOD NEIGHBOR SERVICE LEARNING GRANT NOW AVAILABLE
Source: August 17 CBO-SL Digest

Youth Service America is pleased to announce the availability of the State Farm Good Neighbor Service Learning Grant to enable youth and educators to bring the benefits of service learning to more people. One hundred grants of $1000 each are available to teachers, youth (ages 5-25), and school-based service learning coordinators to implement service learning projects for National Youth Service Day, April 15-17, 2005.

National Youth Service Day, the largest service event in the world, mobilizes youth as leaders to identify and address the needs of their communities through service and service learning, supports youth on a lifelong path of service and civic engagement, and educates the public, the media, and policymakers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders.

To apply, take advantage of the on-line application by visiting www.ysa.org/awards/partnerag/sf05/overview_parent.cfm. To learn more about National Youth Service Day and find resources to help you develop an outstanding service project and a quality grant application, visit www.ysa.org/nysd.

Applications must be received by October 18, 2004.

Lori Jean Mantooth
Extension Assistant, 4-H
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TARGETING POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

This article begins a 3-month series of weekly articles emphasizing the focus of the Tennessee 4-H program on positive youth development. It correlates with the 4-H inservice training offered to all 4-H Agents in April 2004. Each aspect of the Tennessee 4-H Positive Youth Development Model and Life Skill Evaluation System (LSES) will be discussed in sequential articles to further explain the conceptual meanings and relevance for county 4-H programs. Life Skill Evaluation System committee members include Mitch Beaty, Danny Bullington, Joseph Donaldson, Patsy Ezell, Jim Stewart and Jill Martz, chair. Chase Pilkington has developed the computer applications to the LSES project. Feel free to contact any of these members to share comments, questions or concerns.

What is Positive Youth Development?
The 4-H program focuses on positive youth development. It is important that we all use that term to describe our programming efforts. So, what is positive youth development? First, a little background….prior to the 1990’s youth development programs primarily focused on what was wrong and how to fix it. With limited success in relationship to the funding provided; researchers, scholars and practitioners began to look at what was right in the development of those youth who succeeded in becoming capable, compassionate and contributing adults. They concluded that rather than waiting to fix what went wrong, why not try to provide maximum opportunities to assure the greatest potential for positive development? All youth will develop, but the path of development can be influenced by a number of variables including the family, peers, school, community and others. To those of us who have been in 4-H youth development for many years, this is not a new concept. We know positive youth development is what we have always focused on. It now has an official term with research that validates the strength of the pro-active approach. Next weeks’ article will focus on the competencies deemed essential for adult success.

Positive Youth Development and County 4-H Programs
Positive youth development is the appropriate term to use in describing the work that we do. We are youth development professionals. As county Extension staff members, develop descriptive statements to use in describing your program as current, relevant and focused on contributing to positive youth development.

Jill Martz
Extension Specialist, 4-H
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TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES ANNOUNCED

The Davidson County Extension office is offering two training opportunities in September. This training is open to any Extension agent, volunteer leader or educator from any youth-serving organization or civic group.

4-H Health Rocks (a 20 lesson substance abuse education training focusing primarily on tobacco prevention) is a curriculum established by National 4-H Council and is supported through a grant out of Mississippi State University. This training will provide you with 20 lessons which can be used for students 8-12 years old. As part of the training you will receive several incentive items including a copy of the curriculum, trainer shirt, etc. Cost for this training is $5.00 to cover the cost of the supplies and refreshments. The training will be conducted at the Central Region Office in Nashville on September 27. Lunch will be on your own. The training will last from 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. If you are interested in this training, but are unavailable for the September class, please mark December 9 on your calendar for this same training will be offered again. If you are interested in the September class, please write on your training form whether or not you want the English curriculum, Spanish curriculum or both.

The second training is the Ag in the Classroom training. This training material, produced by the Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom program, is a wonderful set of curricula which you can use for all different ages. This training uses science based activities to teach basic agriculture and its importance. The cost of this training is $5.00 which covers refreshments and supplies. This training will be offered on September 23 at the Central Region Office in Nashville. The training will begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at 1:00 p.m. When submitting your training form, please indicate with which grade level(s) you primarily work. Ages covered by this program are from pre-K to 12th grade.

Please share this information with anyone who works with youth and encourage them to sign-up. The registration form may be found at www.utextension.utk.edu/4H/ideas04/attach/regform.pdf. All forms must be back to me by September 3, 2004. A confirmation email will be sent to all who sign up.

Both of these trainings are wonderful. Each of you would benefit from both. Please let me know if you have questions or comments.

Justin Crowe
Extension Agent, Davidson County
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THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

If ifs were gifts, every day would be Christmas.
~ Charles Barkley