Monthly Archives: March 2013

Tractor Supply’s Paper Clover

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Tractor supply is offering some great opportunities for the Spring drive

  • More funds for county 4-H programs-100% of funds raised by counties, above and beyond what they raised for the same season last year, will come back to the county!  You now have the ability to raise even more funds for your local county programs.
  • $5 donations in store-they will be offering both $1 and $5 donation increments in stores.  Larger donations will be easy to see in stores since the $5 clovers will be bigger in physical size.
  • Coupons on clovers-all clovers will have a bounceback coupon at the bottom as a “thank you” for your donation.  $5 clovers will have a larger discount than $1 clovers, made possible by Purina Animal Nutrition
  • State 4-H Program awards-TSC wants to recognize the top state in each 4-H region with the highest average dollars raised in TSC stores for their state.  Each of the four (4) Regional Paper Clover Champion award winners will recieve $1,000 for their state 4-H programs.

Keep track of how much Virginia is raising or your local store is raising at Tractorsupply.com/4-H

Toolkit Website with promotional resources

www.4-H.org/paper-clover-toolkit

Username: Paperclover@4-H.org

Password: Paperclover

 

Citizenship Washington Focus

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CWF logo 2013

Citizenship Washington Focus is a week-long 4-H citizenship program for youth ages 14-19 that takes place at the National 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland.  Virginia’s week is July 7-13.

CWF’s website can be found at: http://www.4hcwf.org/default.aspx

The Virginia 4-H Foundation has graciously offered partial scholarships for 4-H members to attend Citizenship Washington Focus thus reducing the cost to just $500/person.  The State 4-H Office is still accepting applications.  Contact Katie Lafon in the State 4-H office at 540-231-9410 or at klafon@vt.edu for more information regarding the application process.

 

 

 

Welcome to The Virginia 4-H Blog

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Hello Everyone. Welcome to the Virginia 4-H blog “Virginia Clovers”. My hope is that our blog will provide a consistent means of communication and hopefully cut down on the email overload that you experience.  Please plan to visit frequently.

It is truly an exciting time for Virginia 4-H. We recently brought our agents with less than two years of service together for training and sharing. It was wonderful to see 33 enthusiastic, passionate, new colleagues share, learn, and build lasting relationships. I want to thank everyone who is working hard to support and encourage this group of professionals as we work together to provide outstanding developmental opportunities for more than 195,000 youth across Virginia.

Plans for State 4-H Congress are well underway with many exciting opportunities for teen 4-H members. This year, we will be offering competition workshops for delegates who are not competing but would like to learn more about competition areas. The Great Summer Showcase workshops are better every year being taught by enthusiastic, highly qualified, faculty members. The State 4-H Office has set program quality goals and for increasing the number of delegates and units participating in Congress. Plan to join us!

A team of 4-H Agents and Specialists met to begin the 4-H strategic planning process. The group, facilitated by Dr. Barbara Board, spent a day discussing challenges, opportunities, and action plans as they relate to Focus Area III of the VCE Strategic Plan. Team members have the meeting notes as well as Proposed Impact Planning Teams related to 4-H. Team members will be soliciting additional input.  In addition, the State VCE programming team will be proposing additional Impact Planning Teams that will need youth development input and participation.

Many thanks to the 4-H strategic planning team members: Jinx Baney, Mellissa Breen, Nicole Clem, Celeste Crisman, Kaci Daniel, Sam Fisher, Sonya Furgurson, Brian Hairston, Sherri Jackson, Kathleen Jamison, Amanda Lucas, Danielle Jones, Katie Lafon, Mike Martin, Sarah Morton, Lenah Nguyen, Crystal Peek, Tonya Price, Leslie Prillaman, Sandy Shortridge, and Glenda Snyder. The group had open, honest discussion and developed positive action items that I believe will enable us to implement the youth portion of the VCE Strategic plan in an effective manner. When called upon, please share additional ideas that you may have to improve upon the draft document.

Lastly, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to fill out the 4-H program unit summary sheet. If you have not yet hit the submit button to send it to the state office, please do so as soon as possible. Just as you have used the document to set local goals, we would like to use the data to set statewide goals and to assess areas where more training and resources may be needed.

Cathy

Cathy M. Sutphin, PhD

Associate Director, 4-H

 

 

2013 4-H Honey Bee Essay Winners

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Each year Virginia 4-H sponsors a Honey Bee Essay in conjunction with The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc. sponsored  National 4-H Honey Bee Essay Contest.  The first place winner of the Virginia contest is forwarded on to the National Contest before March 1st and competes with other state winners.  Winners of the National Contest are announced on May 1 each year and are eligible for up to $750 in prize money.

We are proud to announce the winners of the Virginia Honey Bee Essay Contest as follows:

First Place with $100 prize and forwarded on to the National Contest

 Olivia Perry – Rockingham County 4-Her

Second Place with $50 prize

Rachel King – Richmond 4-Her

Third Place with $25 prize

Jessica Vass – Carroll County 4-Her

Congratulations ladies!  If you would like to participate in this contest look for information coming out for 2014 in September.  In the meantime visit http://honeybeepreservation.org/ and check out the link to the 4-H Essay Contest.