Disney Minnie Grants for Youth Volunteers

Youth Service America and Disney are pleased to launch a second round of Disney Minnie Grants to engage children and youth, ages 5-14 as community volunteers. The selected applications will receive $500 to support their youth-led service projects. The deadline is August 30 and projects must take place October 15-November 15, 2008. Visit www.YSA.org/awards for more information and application materials. You can review past award recipients from all over the world at: http://ysa.org/AwardsGrants/DisneyMinnieGrants/DisneyMinnieGrantees2008/tabid/292/Default.aspx

4-H'ers Have a Blast at Camp Ocala

This past June, 4-H’ers from four District 9 counties gathered at 4-H Camp Ocala for a great time making new friends having fun, and even learning. Pinellas County is joined by Polk, Pasco, and Hillsborough Counties for this week-long adventure in the Ocala National Forest. In addition to the beautiful forest scenery, campers also enjoy the nearly pristine Lake Sellers. By the end of the week, most campers had a summer’s worth of stories, camp songs, and tall tales to share with friends and family.

Campers participated in a variety of activities all week long. They also choose one County Class they attend for a class period each day. This year’s County Classes included the Press Team. This group spent their class time each day interviewing campers and taking pictures. By Friday morning the team had published a camp newspaper and “delivered” one to each camper. The Rocketry classes spent their week building rockets and then launching them for the whole camp to watch. Some of the rockets gained such attitude, they temporarily disappeared from sight. One of the biggest classes was Ball Room Dancing. It was nicely balanced by the Hip Hop Fitness class taught by counselor Katy Wheeler. In all, campers could choose from ten County Classes.

At Thursday night’s candle lighting ceremony, Brian Sackett of the King’s English 4-H club, was honored as the Junior Head 4-H Spirit. The Spirits include Head, Heart, Hands, Health, and Spirit. The adults and senior counselors look for campers who exemplify the values of 4-H. Brian was overwhelmingly elected Junior Head.

One of the highlights of the week was Wednesday’s flag retirement ceremony at campfire. Fourteen of the senior camp counselors each read a narrative piece that described the history, meaning, and importance of our flag. Many of the campers had tears in their eyes as they thought of their family members who were in Iraq or other places overseas.

In addition to the campers, there was a family of three sandhill cranes that spent the day walking around the camp, looking for good things to eat in the ground. When another sandhill family landed at the camp, they were noisily chased away by the adult cranes of the first family. Every year these birds raise one or two babies right in the middle of camp.

The Ocala National Forest is home to a great variety of wildlife. Bears, foxes, and bobcat have all been spotted in the area. This year mysterious tracks were spotted next to the camp. Suggested identities range from a panther to the neighbor’s dog. In any case, the story of the tracks will be the next tall tale from Camp Ocala.

Pinellas 4-H camps for one week each summer at Camp Ocala. For more information about the 4-H camp or environmental education program, please contact Jean Rogalsky at jrogalsk@pinellascounty.org. And keep reading the 4-H blog.

Build Stronger Families With Help From Pinellas 4-H Youth Development

Families with teenagers have their own set of unique challenges to deal with on the home front. To help families with youth ages 11 to 17 tackle these issues, Pinellas County Extension 4-H Youth Development is holding a two-day Family Teening-Up Workshop to help build stronger relationships. Parents, caregivers and youth should plan on attending both days of the workshop together.

The workshop is planned for Saturday, July 19, and Saturday, August 2, and will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both days. It will be held at Pinellas County Extension centrally located at 12520 Ulmerton Road in Largo.

The workshop is a group learning program to help parents, caregivers and teens learn about and understand the normal development of teenagers and improve their family communication. Practical information and resources with hands-on learning activities to enhance family relationships will be shared.

Saturday, July 19 Day One focuses on topics such as the teen brain, transitions in adolescence and positive discipline.

Saturday, August 2 Day Two targets talking with teens about issues that affect their daily lives, understanding teen anger while managing yours and empowering teens to build assets. Families must attend Day One of the workshop to be eligible for this one.

This informative program includes course materials and healthy snacks. Families receive a Family Resource Binder complete with all program information to take home. The cost for the two-day workshop and materials is $25 per family. Registration is required for this 4-H Family Teening-Up Workshop. Call (727) 582-2450 for more information.

Please note that this program is not designed to offer therapy or other services for teens and families with more serious problems.

Countryside High School Cleans Up Its Act with a 4-H Community Service Grant!

During a school-wide beautification project entitled “Pitch-in” Countryside, Countryside High School’s Interact Club solved their school problem involving trash and a lack of school pride. With the assistance of a 4-H Community Service Grant of $500.00 members of the Interact Club, lead by Club President Shelby Hanna, partnered with many other clubs and organizations in getting their school clean. The Clean-up included cleaning the metal supports around the walkways of the school, picking up trash around the grounds, and landscaping around the school sign. The day long event, which was attended by 100+ Countryside students, faculty, and staff as well as outside support and involvement from the surrounding community was “amazing” said club President Shelby Hanna in a final report submitted to the Community Service Grants Board of Directors summarizing the project. “We received more in-kind and monetary support than we expected” with groups such as Westshore Pizza, Vax-D, GFWC No. Pinellas Woman’s Club, Rotary Club of Safety Harbor, Chick-fil-A, Accent Awnings, Einstein Bagel Brothers, and Palm Harbor Nursery and Landscaping all showing their support. Shelby stated “We will have to wait a few more weeks to see if the trash problem inside our school is improving” but all-in-all the group realized they have their own civic responsibility to work together and to have personal pride in their school and that they are all leaders and have their own special skills. To read a little more about this project and others like it, check out the Grants Board portion of the upcoming Cloverleaf and go to http://www.pinellasteeninfo.com/ to see pictures from the event.

By Richard Livingstone, 4-H Youth Mentor

Tarpon Springs Fundamental Elementary School Club SAVE Completes Grant Funded Project

With the help of a $500.00 grant from the 4-H Community Service Grants Board, Tarpon Springs Fundamental Elementary School Club SAVE completed a community service project with the Grace House in Clearwater. Under the guidance of club president Grace Boudreau, Club SAVE collected 1118 books and constructed 12 book cases to be placed in the 12 apartments offered for temporary housing at The Grace House. Last year alone, Grace House provided housing to 544 people, 355 of them were children. In an attempt to solve local community homelessness, Club SAVE set out to identify a problem and a way to fix it. That’s when the idea of providing free books for homeless families came about. “Books would not only encourage reading but provide a way to escape from a stressful environment” said Grace Boudreau in a Final Report submitted to the Community Service Grants Board of Directors summarizing the project. To read a little more about this project and others like it, check out the Grants Board portion of the upcoming Cloverleaf and go to http://www.pinellasteeninfo.com/ to see pictures from the event.

By Richard Livingstone, 4-H Youth Mentor

Purchase Clover Country Now

National 4-H Council has partnered with EMI Music to create "Clover Country: Songs from Famous 4-H Alumni"—the first-of-its-kind country music compilation CD featuring famous 4-H alumni. This extraordinary blend of country music showcases the benefits of 4-H through talented 4-H alumni. Proceeds from each CD sold supports 4-H programs and millions of youth across America.

Clover Country features Grammy-winning song writer, Hillary Lindsey's "The Clown," which Lindsey exclusively recorded for the album. The CD also includes hit songs from country music mega stars and 4-H alumni Sugarland, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Luke Bryan and Alabama.

You can purchase your own copy by visiting http://www.clovercountrycd.com/

4-H Project Achievement

The 4-H project is the foundation of the 4-H program. While completing a project, a 4-H’er learns to plan, be organized, reflect, write, and practice public speaking skills as well as learn about the subject matter of the project. Each completed project is quite an accomplishment and something to be proud of. In fact, 4-H’ers use part of their 4-H projects for their school projects. Every 4-H’er who completes a project will receive an invitation to our 4-H Awards and Recognition Banquet August 15 and will be awarded a 4-H pin and certificate. Achievement is the first step to winning many 4-H awards.

Project achievement consists of four parts:
Demonstration – The demonstration must relate to the project book and presented to a group, preferably the club.
Exhibit – The exhibit is a small educational display that illustrates a part of the project. An example would be a display of samples of dog treats with their nutritional value.
Project Book – The project book should be neatly completed according to the instructions.
Project Report – Also called the Project Summary for Cloverbuds, the Project Report includes all your activities and accomplishments for the year. The 4-H leader must also sign this book.

4-H club leaders: Please turn in your club’s project judging sheets to the 4-H Office by June 23.

All blue ribbon projects should be brought in for county judging by July 12. These projects will be on display at the County Extension Office the week of August 11 until the Awards and Recognition Banquet August 15.

So now that school is out, what better time to complete your 4-H project?

If you have any questions about completing or judging a 4-H project, please call the 4-H Office at 582-2215 or e-mail jrogalsk@pinellascounty.org.