Clover Corner: January 2022

Welcome to the new virtual newsletter for Lee County 4-H! We hope that you find the Clover Corner to be a central location to find beneficial monthly updates on what is going on in the 4-H Program. To find old Clover Corners, visit the Clover Corner Newsletter tab on the website. – Ms. Arielle

Setting Goals

Happy New Year!

In a time that represents challenges and new intentions, setting goals can help you give purpose or aim to an action. This can help guide your thoughts and behaviors, which will ultimately help you reach your goal. Goal Setting should be make in a specific format to increase the likelihood of successful completion.

Properly made goals are S.M.A.R.T.:

S – Specific: You want to make sure your goals are set with something specific in mind. If your goal is too broad, it can make it harder to achieve it.

M – Measurable: How can you tell you’ve met your goal? By having a measurable goal, you have a standard you are measuring yourself against.

A – Achievable: Be realistic but also optimistic. Make sure you have long-term and short-term goals that are achievable! While it is good to push yourself to learn new things, you should also keep in mind your resources and what you are capable of.

R – Realistic: Is your goal realistic? If everything is going perfect and you have all the resources you need, can you still achieve your goal? Make sure it is realistic and something that you are capable of accomplishing!

T – Timely: Goals should have an end goal in mind for time. Is it going to take weeks, months, or even a year to accomplish? Will you be doing it once a week? Add a frequency and designated amount of time to work on it. Setting an intentional time frame helps keep you accountable for achieving your goal.

Goal setting should be positive and encouraging, so start your goal with, “I will…”
- Ex. “I will…”
Add the Action you would like to complete
- Ex. “I will practice meditation…”
Include a frequency or amount of time that is reasonable for you
- Ex. “I will practice mediation for ten minutes…”
Set a deadline for you to complete the goal/action
- Ex. “I will practice meditation for ten minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week.”

We encourage you to set and work on goals in 4-H and in your personal life. These goals can help grow you as a person and increase your life skills!

Goal setting information was pulled from the GEM: Get Experience in Mindfulness curriculum, an awareness and acceptance stress management program for ages 10 & up, which was National Peer Reviewed by National 4-H. Each project book typically has goal setting for youth within the specific project. Youth are encouraged to set goals not only in 4-H but within their personal lives as well!

Try setting 2 goals to accomplish this year!

New and Improved Website

We have been working behind the scenes and have officially launched our new and improved website! The new website will hopefully ease communication and allow for one access point to materials and information for both Volunteers and Families. Within the website, you will find multiple tabs at the top of the page to help steer you in the direction you need. Within each tab there are resources that are available for both view and print.

We will be adding more information in the days/months to come, but please begin enjoying the new resource on our Lee County Extension Page at: https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/lee/

Once in the Lee County Extension Page, please click the Menu bar in the top right corner (Left image)
Click on 4-H Youth Development
Click on any 3 blue links within this page to access the new website (Middle image)
Within the new website, visit and familiarize yourself with the new tabs (Right image)

What you can find on the website:

Project and Record Books
Supplementary information (Ethics classes, Premise ID, and Local Fairs/Livestock Show information)
End of the Year Awards information
County, District, and State Events
4-H Online 2.0 help
Club/Club Officer Information

Youth Volunteer Opportunities

Looking for Community Service opportunities? Check out these options below! Please note some are open for clubs as a whole to sign up, if this is the case, please contact your leader if you are interested.

North Fort Myers Parks and Rec Center:

“We set our dates for our upcoming events and wanted to send an ‘official’ request for event volunteers from 4-H. If you need more information about the event, I listed the staff contact below as well. Thanks for helping us out!”

Spring Fest (Stafford Milligan & Mike Rosario) – March 26, 2022
- 8-10 volunteers
Senior Prom (Jessy Zukaitis & Stafford Milligan) – March 31, 2022
- 2-4 volunteers

To volunteer, please reach out to Stafford Milligan at SMilligan@leegov.com or Mike Rosario at MRosario2@leegov.com.”

Livestock Record Books

Updated change! 4-H Livestock Record Books will now be completed and turned in separately from the Fair at the request of the SWFL & Lee County Fair Association. What does this mean for you?

We are still using the same record books this year, you can find them here.
Did you know there is a help guide? Follow the guide to help you achieve a blue ribbon!
There will no longer be Fair Premiums, however ribbons will still be in place and we are working on a Blue Ribbon Club Award. (More details on Blue Ribbon Club coming soon!)
We will have a record book check in January/February (think of this as a mid-point check). This check will consist of making sure youth have made significant progress in their books and story. Books should be up to date as of January, and Stories should be no less than half complete.
Record books will be due in completion on or before June 1, 2022 by 4:30 pm to the 4-H office. Each species shown should have a record book, but youth do not need to do more than one record book per animal in the same species.
- Example: Youth A shows a market steer, rabbits, and poultry. In this case, Youth A would complete a market steer record book, a small animal book for rabbits, and a small animal book for poultry. Youth B shows 2 rabbits. In this case, Youth B will only need to complete one small animal record book for the 2 rabbits.
- If a youth is showing a market animal, they will need to show sale price and the end of their project in their record book. If a youth is showing an animal that is staying in their flock/herd, they will need to show all expenses through June 1st as this is a year long project that doesn’t end after Fair/Livestock Shows.
Failure to complete and turn in a Livestock Record Book will result in a strike against member in good standing. A youth who fails to become a member in good standing, will either go on probation and will have meeting dates set up to work on record books at the 4-H office, or will be asked to take a break the following year from 4-H.
Please note that if you are going for end of the year awards, these books will count if full completed, and the additional materials for end of the year awards are added.

Demonstrations and Illustrated Talks

As spring approaches, we are all working on getting our club level demonstrations or illustrated talks completed. But these visual presentations don’t have to be scary! Think about what projects or subjects you are most passionate about, or what you might be interested in sharing with others.

A visual presentation is a teaching method in which the presenter shares information with an audience with the assistance of visual aids such as posters, models, and computer presentation software (i.e., PowerPoint or Prezi). A visual presentation can be either (1) a demonstration in which the presenter shows how to do something or (2) an illustrated talk that is accompanied by visual aids to help the audience understand the topic.

A 4-H visual presentation teaches you to express yourself clearly, research a subject, organize ideas in logical order, and develop poise in speaking before a group. It can also help instill independence and mastery in a specific subject.

Some quick tips to remember:

No living specimens may be used for a demonstration either in person or on video at the District or
State Level. This includes all vertebrates and invertebrates (i.e. insects, crustaceans, fish,
amphibians, reptiles, birds, or mammals).
• Demonstrations/ Illustrated talks must be between 3-12 minutes for juniors and intermediates, and
5-12 minutes for seniors.
• A team demonstration is one in which two team members participate both in speaking and
presentation. No more than two members per team.
• State entries must have competed at the county/district levels. Participation guidelines for
county/district level activities that do not culminate at the state level are at the discretion of
planning committees at the county/district

For more information and help on visual presentations, click here.

To read more about categories and divisions for Demonstrations and Illustrated Talks as well as guidelines, click here.

Oh, and don’t forget to have fun!

Workshops & Events

Looking for something fun to do? Check out these great opportunities that are open to you!

State’s 4-H International Exchange Programs 2022 Winter/Spring Pen Pal Program

Do you know any youth interested in connecting with a peer from around the globe? If so, the State’s 4-H International Exchange is offering their Pen Pal Program again! Through this program youth will make a new friend from a foreign country, learn, and share about each other’s everyday lives, interests, and cultures, and develop cross-cultural communication skills.

Program Requirements
-Youth ages 9 – 18
-Participants must have two reliable email addresses (one of these can be a parent’s email address), and may optionally provide a mailing address, phone number, or App IDs during the registration process. We recommend that participants use Gmail or another large email provider to help reduce the chance of blocked or unreceived messages.
-Youth participants are tasked with exchanging a letter or message via their preferred communication method. The expectation is that they communicate (at least) a few times with their match during the program period. They may write as many times as both parties feel comfortable with. Either party can initiate the first communication. States’ 4-H will provide a few writing topics each month during the program to help foster ideas of what to write if pen pals would like to use them. These are completely optional.
-Program Period: February 1 ~ April 25, 2022

Registration
-Online Registration: Registration opens at 9:00AM Pacific Time on January 10th . Participants sign up by completing an online registration form, which includes a Terms of Use agreement and an online payment processing field. Link to online registration form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SJ28J6Y
-Registration Deadline: January 21 or before all 60 slots have been claimed, whichever comes first.
-Program Fee: $10 per participant* (collected via the online registration form)

Please reach out to Jessica Sprain, jsprain@ufl.edu, with any questions.

Florida 4-H Pollinator Ambassador Program

The Florida 4-H Program is looking for 10 teens who will serve as pollinator habitat ambassadors throughout this coming year. Youth must be ages 14-18, as of September 1st, 2021, who are interested in educating other youth about the importance of pollinator habitats in our communities. Youth must be willing to commit to virtual and in person trainings (dates TBD), take part in special projects around the state, and be willing to educate 50 or more youth. Six of the teen ambassadors selected, will be invited to attend the National 4-H Youth Summit on Agriscience in Washington DC, March 10th-13th, 2022. These six youth will be selected based on the application submitted.

Instate travel arrangements and expenses will be the responsibility of the 4-H ambassador’s family. Out of state travel expenses for the six youth selected to attend the summit, will be paid by the program (excluding snacks and a couple meals).

Interested youth must complete the application form found at: https://forms.gle/4VikYBYjuPAnam8KA by Friday, January 21st, 2022.

If you have questions regarding this opportunity, please contact: Crystal McCazzio cfincher@ufl.edu or Geralyn Sachs fish12@ufl.edu
The opportunity is sponsored by National 4-H Council and Corteva Agriscience.

Florida Farm Show Offering Agricultural Competitions for 4-H Youth

The mission of the Florida Farm Show (March 25-26, St. Cloud Florida) is to produce Florida’s premier agricultural trade and advocacy show while being a leader in advocacy of agriculture, food, fiber and natural resources through increasing public awareness of Florida agriculture. As part of this mission the show is offering several educational competitions for 4-H and other youth this year:

Advocacy in Action
The Advocacy in Action Challenge is a competition that aims to engage students in the areas of agricultural policy and advocacy. Students are required to submit a 2–3-minute video response to an issues-based prompt. Top videos will be displayed at the annual Florida Farm Show, available for viewing on the Florida Farm Show website and shared through social media.

Agricultural Mechanics Contest
This individual event for middle and high schoolers allows students to enter their metal or wood masterpieces to be judged and then displayed during the Florida Farm Show for the public to see.

Photo Contest
From day-to-day life on the family farm to the ever-changing industry, agriculture has proven to be one of America’s most compelling stories. Through the contest, photographers throughout Florida can share their own piece of this important story as they see it through their camera lens. There are four categories: On the Farm, Faces of Agriculture, Agritourism, and Conservation. All photos will be displayed at the annual Florida Farm Show and the top 12 winners will be selected and placed in the annual Florida Farm Show calendar.

Youth Educational Challenges
These individual contests test middle and high school students’ knowledge in five (5) content areas. In addition, students will be able to challenge their ag teachers or 4-H leaders or 4-H agents… who has the most ag knowledge? Content areas are: Ag Business, Ag Mechanics, Animal Science, Forestry & Environmental Natural Resources, and Plant Science.

Youth Essay Contest
Elementary Topic (Grades K-5) — What does Florida agriculture mean to you?
Middle School Topic (Grades 6-8) — What is Florida agriculture and why is it important?
High School Topic (Grades 9-12) — What is Florida agriculture and what role does it play in our global society?

Questions? Please contact:

Kevin Kersey
Executive Director

https://www.floridafarmshow.com/aboutus

Summer Camp

Have youth ages 8-12 who love camping? Check out the available summer camps through Camp Cloverleaf and Camp Timpoochee! Our two state 4-H Camps are offering new and exciting weeks for our youth to attend in both a day camp and overnight format.

Q&A about Camping changes:

Q: Who can camp?
- A: Camp is open to both 4-Hers and open enrollment youth, ages 8-12 as of September 1st, 2021 with the exception of Dairy Camp and Teen W.O.L.F. Camp.
Q: Can we attend any week?
- A: Yes, With the new county system and camping options, you can select what works best for your youths schedules and interests! Youth are also invited to attend Camp Timpoochee Camps in Niceville, FL.
Q: Do we camp as a county still?
- A: While we are no longer county cluster camping, or going only one week together as a county, we encourage families and clubs to work together to coordinate youth attending camps throughout the whole summer!
Q: When and how can we register our youth?
- A: REGISTRATION OPENS FEB. 1, 2022 Early Bird Discount! Register by March 15th for $25 off per week!
  Visit https://florida4h.ifas.ufl.edu/camps/ to learn more about camp and to register. Scholarships are available through this
  website as well, so please apply!
Q: Is the County still providing transportation?
- A: No, at this time the County program is not providing transportation to and from camp. Day campers or overnight campers will be responsible for getting to and from Camp!
Q: Are there C.I.T.’s/Counselors still?
- A: No, the Florida 4-H Camping system is now utilizing Camping Staff to fulfill all needs at camp. For summer 2022, all 4-H camp staff will be required to be 18 years of age by May 15^th, 2022. This will allow any current, senior 4-H members to apply for employment if they are 18 by May 15^th. We hope to have past 4-H campers apply, so please help us spread the word that we’re looking for great camp staff! All of the summer camp staff positions are currently open for applications. There are four different types of camp staff: coordinators, camp health director, specialists, and cabin leaders, which is why there will be four different job postings for each camp. Here is a link that will bring up all the open summer camp jobs, so please help us recruit some great camp staff: Summer Camp Jobs

Shout Out Corner!

First Annual Holiday Treat Bake-Off Contest 2021

Congratulations to the following youth for participating in the first annual Holiday Treat Bake-Off Contest! We had a lot of great baking submissions and enjoyed getting to see what everyone created with a festive flare!

Service Learning

We love seeing the good you do in the community! Thank you to all who supported the Meals of Hope: Holidays Without Hunger meal packaging on December 18th, 2021. We had a lot of clubs representing 4-H and we are so proud of how you lead by example and serve with your heart!

Save the Dates:

County Events: April 2, 2022 at NFM Park
District Events: April 23, 2022 at NFM Park
Record Books/End of the Year Awards due: June 1, 2022 by 4:30 p.m.