Happy & Tired Campers!!

Today was another fun filled day of camp! Our Richmond County Campers are doing a great job at all their activities. After a yummy breakfast of french toast and fruit, campers were again off to their group activities. These included canoeing, crafts, pool, archery, tag games, horse, high ropes, teambuilding and the ever popular choice class. Our Trekker and Adventure groups change their schedule for today & tomorrow and do some different things. The Trekkers left this morning for a trip to Pilot Mountain. They will go rapelling and canoeing and will be back for tomorrow's dance. The Adventurers took a trip to Richmond County this morning! Not in the car, but in their GPS class this morning. They learned how to find map cooridinates and then used their new found skills to go geocaching. The Adventure group is currently camping out tonight and we wish them sweet dreams under the stars!

Those of us back at the main camp got a real treat tonight at the Talent Show. Several campers and staff entertained us with their wonderful talents, including dancing, singing, playing the violin, duck calls, double jointesness, karate, storytelling and more! We even had a special visit from Captin Jack & his pirate friend who acted as our MC's for the evening.

We are looking forward to our last full day of camp tomorrow! The Hands and Health groups are going to visit Chinqua-Penn Plantation tomorrow and we will try to tag along for pictures!

Click here to see my pictures from today. Check here to see some of Lauren's pictures from the week so far. Lauren is the agent from Chatham County who sleeps on the bunk below me at camp. Also, don't forget to send any camper emails by 2 pm on Thursday & to check our Shea Ann's blog at http://www.robeson4-h.blogspot.com/ for more updates and pictures!

More Camp Fun:)

Well, it has been another high-flying (or at least climbing) day of adventure at Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Camp!

The older groups got their shot at water sports today. Check out all the pictures from today, including slip & slide, by clicking here. The Earth, Sun and Trekker groups had a ton of fun tonight playing pool volleyball, getting soapy on the slip & slide and playing wet & silly relay games.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...today has been a bunch of fun. After a yummy breakfast, everyone started back to classes. Classes for today included a trip to the beaver pond, archery, canoeing, arts & crafts, pool, high ropes and climbing wall. I myself got to be a part of the belay team at the climbing wall & I have to say that I am so proud of our campers! The climbing wall can be a pretty daunting task, but our campers were very brave & encouraging.

Our campers got to experience one new class today as well. "Choice" class was a big hit & everyone picked the activity they wanted to for a class period. Even the agents & volunteers got in on the action & tie-dyed some very colorful shirts & pillowcases today. We were also busy shucking some very yummy looking corn for dinner on Thursday evening. We even got to have a nature class be talking with some campers about a couple little bud worms that were hiding under the shucks (don't worry parents, we got all of them out before sending the corn to the kitchen!)

Well, I have had a busy day too, and am going to join the campers & head to bed to get ready for another day of camp fun tomorrow! I plan on getting some time in a canoe tomorrow, so I'll see you on the lake!!!

Camp - Day 2

After busy nights spent chatting with new friends & getting all of our beds just right, we had a great first full day of camp. Campers may have been a bit sleepy at breakfast this morning, but activities like canoeing, hiking, rock wall, horseback riding, swimming and crafts got all of us up & going quickly!

For our evening activity tonight, we played water sports. These included time in the pool, fun & games with a water-soaked parachute, water themed relays and the giant homemade slip & slide. Missy, one of our wonderful volunteers this week, put herself into harms way along the slip & slide to get some great pictures of our campers coming down the hill.

All the campers are snug in their beds and can't wait for the day ahead, but you can see pictures of them by clicking here! Be sure to check out www.robeson4-h.blogspot.com for Shea Ann's posts of camp events! Sweet dreams Campers!!

Safety First...and second...and third...

Recently several Cloverbud 4-H'ers gathered at the Richmond County Extension Office to learn about...Safety! It's something that we don't often think about, but something that is VERY inportant.

We started the day with a visit to the Rockingham Fire Department. Captain Vic McCaskill and the firemen were kind enough to give us a tour of the fire department and the trucks while showing us some of the equipment used to keep us safe in case of a fire. The coolest thing was the heat sensing camera that could find a heat signature on a table AFTER you had moved your hand. It was some very cool stuff that firemen use during fires. We even got a special visit from Sparky the fire dog and a tour of the training facility that firemen use to learn.

When we got back to the office, we got a visit from a REAL doggie! Scooby and his person Cindy came to help us learn how to be safe around strange or not so strange dogs. We learned that dogs need to get to know us a bit before we pet them, and that dogs get to know people by sniffing, since they can't talk. We also learned that it is very important to ask any dogs owner before we pet them and that we should not pet strange dogs that we see wondering around without a person.

After lunch, we had a visit from Big Mac the Clown & his helper Small Fry. They helped us learn about strangers and why they can be dangerous. We learned that strangers do not always look strange (who knew!) and that we should NEVER go anywhere with someone we do not know. We also talked about how to be safe when we are online. We are not to give our personal information (like our last names, phone numbers, or addresses) to anyone online because we don't know who people really are.

Last, but certainly not least, we made All About Me books. These books help us to know information that everyone should know, including where we live, what our parents names are (after all, if you get seperated in the Mall, calling for Mom over the speaker will not do much good) and what we like to do. We got a bit messy and put our fingerprints in the book too. Fingerprints are pretty cool - no one has the same ones you do!

Thanks to everyone who came and helped our Cloverbuds learn how to be safer in a world that can be a bit scary at times! They are better prepared to face that world because of your time with them. To see everything we did that day, click here!

Happy Campers!

Well, it's that time of year again! It's the wonderful time of year when Richmond County 4-Hers get to have fun and experience new things at one of North Carolina's great 4-H Camps! This year 19 youth traveled from Richmond County to Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Camp in Reidsville, NC for a fun filled week of making new friends & learning new things.

After getting everyone settled into their cabins, the kids got to know everyone in their cabins and headed to the ball field for a cookout. After all the staff, agents and volunteers were introduced and shared an interesting fact about themselves (mine being that that I went to the University of Rio Grande, which rhymes with Ohio because the townspeople did not know how to pronounce it when they named the town) we learned some old time dances and even threw in some new stuff to get everyone on their feet too!

We also had our first campfire tonight too. We sang songs, laughed at skits, watched the fire and generally had a good time.

Be sure to check back often this week for updates! Click here to check out pictures from Sunday & be sure to send any camper emails to michelle_stumbo@ncsu.edu!

Happy Congress!!!

I know, I know - Congress was last week & I should be writing about Camp this week. But we were so busy having fun at Congress last week that I did not get a chance to tell you about it. So here goes!

NC 4-H Congress is the highlight of the year for our teen 4-H members. This year Richmond County took four of our wonderful teens, Nathan Ezzell, Grayson McQueen, Courtney Miller and Sarah Tyler to experience Congress. We stayed in the NCSU dorms, ate in the campus dining hall, and generally had a great time.

On Monday we arrived and got started in meetings. We got all of our stuff moved into the dorms and did our best to make them feel like home for the rest of the week. For the evening activity, we traveled to the State Fair Grounds and watched the County Flag ceremony and Fashion Review.

Tuesday was a big day! We started the day with State Finals for Presentations. Richmond County had two presenters, Sarah Tyler and Kristi Reep. Both did an awesome job and Sarah brought home Bronze for her presentation on Fire Safety and Kristi took the Gold for her presentation on Granny's Button Jar. They both did a great job! Congrats ladies!

Tuesday was also a big day for NC 4-H. It was the homecoming celebration for the NC 4-H Centennial! 100 4-H supporters were the first inductees into the NC 4-H Hall of Fame. Mrs. Helen Goodman and her late husband Victor Goodman, Sr. were both inducted into the Hall of Fame for their years of tireless efforts on behalf of Richmond County youth! We were so proud to have two of our outstanding supporters recognized on the state level! Congratulations!!!

After the induction ceremony, which was sponsored by the NC Grange, we headed over to join around 1500 guests at the Fair Grounds for dinner. Among several speakers, Mr. Larry Wooten, President of NC Farm Bureau, spoke about how 4-H and Farm Bureau can work together. Tuesday finished with the Rockin' Clover Bash dance and campaign speaches by state officer canidates. NC 4-H officers represent our members at a wide variety of functions and havning the best person for the job is important.

On Wednesday we all ventured out to our Hands to Service sites. This year, NC 4-H'ers offered over $20,000 worth of volunteer service throughout Wake County. Richmond County joined Chatham and Yadkin Counties at the Total Life Center (TLC), which was a Senior day program. The 4-H'ers helped the TLC participants do some crafts and "chair dances" which involved moving & shaking while staying seated. We ended our fun at TLC with a remdition of the Electric Slide that, if not technically outstand, was rather funny. After some free time at the mall, we all loaded up & headed to Johnston County for the first showing of 4-H Centennial, The Musical. All the 4-H'ers in the production did an outstanding job!

Thursday began with leadership workshops and ended with our Farewell Dance and is always a busy day at Congress. Teens spend most of the morning learning all kinds of things to bring back to the County, including Ambassador basics, teaching & learning styles and ethics. After a yummy lunch, all the 4-H'ers headed into officer elections. Races were really tight this year with 11 outstanding canadates and two runnoff elections. The final officers are: La'Miesha Wittington as President, as Michael Drake as Vice President, as John Norwood as Secretary and Ann Margaret Deitrich as Reporter.

After elections, it time to get ready for the Farewell Banquet and Dance! We all made alot of new friends and reconnected with old ones, and it was really hard to say goodbye to everyone, but we made sure we looked good doing it.

At the Banquet, Ms. Courtney Miller was installed as the South Central District Reporter. We are all very proud of her for taking on this big responsibility and are looking forward to seeing the scrapbook for this year. Before the dancing started, everyone headed to Dorton Arena for the candle-lighting ceremony. For anyone who has not seen it, the 4-H'er make a giant clover & pass flames from the state officers to members, just as 4-H'er's pass excitement for what they do on to others. After much fun was had at the dance, we all headed back to the dorms to pack & get ready to head home on Friday.

All in all, I think we had a great week at Congress! I could not have asked for better representatives of the Richmond County 4-H program and I am looking forward to seeing what these young people accomplish in the days, weeks and years to come. On a side note - the agent had a great year with only 2 wrong turns in Raleigh! Check out the rest of the Congress pictures!

Happy 4th of July & Merry Christmas Too!!

I know, I know, Christmas and the 4th of July are not celebrated in the same month. USUALLY! Recently, Richmond County Cloverbud 4-H'ers celebrated each in big style at the Extension Office during Cloverbud Holiday Craft day.

We started the day by painting flag designs on tee shirts. It was actually really simple! We used masking tape and star stickers to get our designs just right. While they were drying, we also painted tops and star pinsheels to help us celebrate in style. We even learned a bit about how we are to treat the flag and why it looks the way it does! Thanks to Miss Diane and her daughter Danielle for coming in to help us!

After a yummy lunch, which included baked pineapple that many of us tried for the first time, we jumped in the calendar! We did several crafts to keep until Christmas to help us celebrate then too. We made fun picture frames, and started to make Christmas tree boxes, but someone decided that we all wanted crowns instead. Speaking of pictures - check out all the pictures by clicking here! Thanks to Courtney, Sarah & Hannah for helping today as well!!

Fun at the Zoo!

WOW! It has been guite a busy summer for Richmond County 4-H Summer Fun members! Just yesterday we loaded up and traveled to the NC Zoo in Asheboro. 24 of us invaded the Zoo in search of animals (and plants) great and small! And we sure found them. The Zoo houses more than 1,000 animals and 40,000 plants along five miles of paths and we tried our best to find them all! The Zoo is divided into two sections, or continents. We started the day in Africa (and it only took us two hours to get there) and made our way to the North America Exhibit.

In the Africa section we saw everything from gorillas (one of my personal favorites), rhinos, chimpanzees, elephants, zebra, ostriches, sleepy lions, and patas monkeys. Ms. Wanda and Mr. Dave helped us learn about the animals while we waited out a bit of a storm watching the chimpanzees and we want to send them a huge THANK YOU!!

After lunch we jumped the Atlantic & headed to North America. One of our first stops was the bee exhibit that is supported by our very own Richmond County Beekeepers and Richmond County Farm Bureau. There was a hive set up inside with holes that allowed the bees to leave and visit their very own garden. Ms. Courtney Miller, teen helper and the day's photographer, got a couple good shots of the bees entering and exiting the building.

After we took a group shot with the REALLY big bee, we continued to see the animals of the Sonora Desert exhibit, which included road-runners and all kinds of tortoises. After leaving the desert, we saw a grizzly bear, elk, bison and black bear. The Zoo tries to be very environmentally friendly and they had an exhibit set up to help us see the power of movement and the sun.

We then traveled from the praire to the stream to meet several playful (and constantly moving - sorry Courtney) otters, snakes, fish and even a barred owl.

I think one of everyone's favorites was Wilhelm, the Zoo's polar bear. Wilhelm was playing in his pool and Courtney managed to get a couple really good shots of him. He is a special story because he was rescued from a circus where he was not fed the right things and often had to endure temps of 100+ degrees with no air conditioning. However, since coming to the Zoo, Wilhelm has all sorts of things to keep him cool and was having a great time yesterday!

Before taking a quick stop by the gift shop, we also got to meet puffins, sea lions, harbor seals, and a eagle who is new to the Zoo. Everyone did a really great job of playing the quiet game to help him get used to people.

We had a great time, and the rain even missed us for most of the day! Check here for all the great pictures & special thanks to our teen helpers Courtney Miller, Sarah Tyler, Logan Northcutt, and Jasmine Northcutt! We couldn't do Summer Fun without you all!!!

Cloverbuds Shoot For The Stars!

We had yet another adventure with our Cloverbud 4-H'ers recently! We visited the Planetarium in Wadesboro and had a great time. Ms. Phillips was our guide as we visited the stars, planets, animals and exhibits that are housed at the facility. The planetarium is operated by the Wadesboro Rotary and Anson County Public Schools.

We got to learn about constellations that we can see in the night sky and the story behind them. We also got to learn about the planets and their moons (did you know that some planets have more than one!)

After learning about the stars, we had the chance to make our very own constellations with glue and glitter. Ms. Phillips also let us meet several of the animals who live at the Planetarium, including a hamster & a gecko.

On the way home, we even stopped at a local farm stand for homemade ice cream! We had a great time & are looking forward to visiting again! Check here for more pictures!

DAD!! The 4-H Kind!

There are many definitions for the letters DAD. In North Carolina 4-H, they tend to mean District Activity Day! In the South Central District, this event draws youth for the 15 county to compete on a wide range of topics.

Several members of Richmond County 4-H recently showed their presentation skills by competing at District Activity Day. The event was held at East Montgomery High School in Montgomery County, North Carolina. Three Richmond County youth showcased their talents along with over 140 other members of the South Central District.

Kristi Reep (pictured receiving her award from SC District Director Dr. Donald Cobb) competed in the 9-10 Fashion & Fabric Care category. Her presentation was titled “Granny’s Button Jar” and she demonstrated how to sew on a button. She was awarded a Gold medal and was asked to compete at State 4-H Congress in Raleigh.

Sarah Tyler competed in the 14-18 Safety category. Her presentation was titled “Fire Safety” and she spoke on fire prevention & what to do in case you are ever faced with a fire. She was awarded a Silver medal and was asked to compete at State 4-H Congress in Raleigh.

Last, but certainly not least, Alana McQueen showcased her ability in the talent show. Alana clogged to “Charlie Brown.” Alana was awarded a Blue ribbon for her efforts.

Special thanks to all the family and friends who came out to support these outstanding young people! They would not be able to achieve so much without your support. Thanks also to Courtney Miller and Mary Bowles, who volunteered their time to serve as room hosts! We are looking forward to seeing the great things these Richmond County youth do in the future! Click here to see more pictures from DAD!