Playing Catch Up!

Today is the day that Extension Agents across the Commonwealth dread -- eFARS due date.  This acronym stands for Electronic Faculty Annual Reporting System.   While the process of reporting on every single program we offer throughout the calendar year is a bit painful, in the end it feels great to reflect on all of the opportunities that we have had to interact with 4-H'ers and their families.  In reporting on my blog posts, I realized that I have been delinquent in posting updates this fall! 


Our in-school and after-school programs have kept me quite busy!  I am so enjoying the 4th grade this year at PECES.  We elected officers and learned about parliamentary procedure.  Most of our time in the classroom has been focused on learning the scientific method through hands-on experiments.  We did the bessbug penny pull and the 4-H'ers were pretty enthusiastic about playing with giant bugs!  We recently started a unit on electricity.  We made a human atom and a human circuit.  Playing with the energy stick was a hit!


We also worked with 6th and 7th graders at PECMS on the 4-H science fair program.  A total of 281 students received direct instruction.  Of these, 93% successfully completed and presented projects.  Just over 50% of the projects received blue ribbon scores from the judges.  Forty-one youth qualified to present at the district level competition.


After-school programs included Cooking with Cloverbuds, Sewing Club, JMG Bugfest, Cloverbud Super Science Club, and Food Challenge.  See pictures of some of our adventures below.

Junior Master Gardeners with the bug collection (center) at Hokie Bugfest.

4-H'ers take on the Food Challenge.  We has 22 people register -- enough for 4 full Junior teams and a Senior team!

4-H'er Grace works on her project in Sewing Club.

4-H'er Mackenzie presents her sixth grade science fair project to the judges at PECMS.

We are looking forward to starting up the inaugural class of the Prince Edward 4-H Innovative Leadership Academy later this month.  We have 10 teens signed up to learn about leadership, communication, teamwork, and community planning.   One of the goals of the program is to help youth understand local decision-making processes.  Look for our group at local Board meetings.


Save the week of June 27 - July 1 for Junior 4-H Camp.  Registration for campers will begin in early March.


Look for updates soon on our Community STEM Careers Event (hold the evening of February 16th for a special program) and our Teen Leadership and Communications Conference at the Moton Museum on March 30th. 


To find out more about the local 4-H program, please contact the Extension Office at (434)392-4246.