Dear 4-H Professionals,

• Learning about youth arthritis through the words of a 4-H member diagnosed with at the age of 13;

• Safety tips when swimming described by a 4-Her who lost two friends to drownings;

• Taking the fitness challenge as outlined by a team of 4-H members; and

• The Smoke Busters describing the hazards of smoking and the benefits of quitting.

I learned about each of these topics and more while attending the Franklin County Health and Safety Speaking contest. I was attending this event as a dad. Ashley, age 11 (yes, the one who was going to quit 4-H last year because she had to give a demonstration) was a member of a team who presented the Smoke Buster skit. Over the past month Ashley has worked with older 4-H members in her club as well as a committed 4-H advisor to prepare for the presentation. They memorized their lines, developed props, and had fun together. After her team presented she sat next to me and we watched a few more presentations. She then asked when are we leaving. I told her that we would leave after the results were announced. She was surprised and did not realize this was part of the event. That statement left me with a good feeling of doing this because she saw it as a fun activity to do with others.

The development of public speaking skills is often mentioned by past 4-H members as one of the skills they developed as a member. Communication skills are critical for both families and the workplace. Within 4-H this public speaking and other related communication skills can be developed through demonstrations, health and safety speaking, club officers, Carteen volunteers, camp counseling, and interview judging. Your leadership and support to incorporate these developmental opportunities within your programs is a great investment of professional time and expertise. You are strengthening both future families and the workforce.

Thanks for your continued commitment to positive youth development within your local 4-H programs.

Sincerely,

Jeff King
Assistant Director, 4-H Youth Development
Ohio State University Extension

5th H Award Recipient

This month’s 5th H award is being presented to First Lady, Hope Taft. Mrs. Taft has agreed to serve as a spokesperson for the 4-H Operation: Military Kids program. While she has many requests for her time and support, addressing the needs of families in the military is a priority. You can learn more about Operation: Military Kids at http://www.ohio4h.org/military/index.html Please join me in extending congratulations and a thank you to Mrs. Taft.

Editors Notes

Pictures of Summer Activities
Do you have some outstanding pictures of Extension professionals engaged in summer events or activities?. As always, we would like to include pictures in the 4-H Clover-Graham and need your help. If you are willing to share pictures of yourself or your colleagues to potentially be included in the newsletter, please send them to Ryan Schmiesing.

Clovergram Deadline
If you have information that you would like to share with your colleagues regarding 4-H events and activities, announcements concerning upcoming programs, or successful programming efforts, please note the deadline and publish date for the 4-H Clovergram for the remainder of the year.

The deadline for each issue is the 28th of the month. So, for the August issue of the 4-H Clover-Graham, the deadline for submission is July 28th with release of the newsletter on the 1st of the month. This same format will be followed each month.

Please know that we reserve the right to edit articles that are submitted, particularly for length. It is important that articles are clear, concise, and to the point! Articles are to be no longer than 250-300 words.

Thank You
Bridget Weigly, Resource Development Manager, Ohio 4-H Foundation

Ohio 4-H would like to express their sincere thanks to Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. for their ongoing support of 4-H members across the state. Again this year OREC is the sponsor of our Ohio 4-H Health and Safety Communications Program. Since 1987 their generous sponsorship has supported health and safety speaking and skits contests at the regional and state levels, as well as providing participation certificates for county level contests. Please remind any 4-H members participating in these programs to send a thank you note to this sponsor at the following address:

Ann Kipp
Director of Member Services
Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc.
6677 Busch Blvd.
P.O. Box 26036
Columbus, OH 43226

Organizational (4-H Youth Development) Updates

Interstate Exchange
Last month we asked for counties to share information regarding their interstate exchanges. Barb Phares, Mercer County provided the following:

Mercer County has been exchanging for 20 years. We have helped a couple of other counties start their programs too. Have excellent middle management for the program. Our youth have exchanged with Pennsylvania twice, New York State, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin - twice, Texas, Virginia and South Dakota. We are starting an exchange with Wisconsin this July - hosting this summer and will go there next summer. Have lots of stuff about this program if anyone would ever be interested.

Outstanding Volunteers to be Honored at the Celebration of Youth
The Ohio 4-H Foundation will be honoring four individuals and two couples from across the state during this year’s Celebration of Youth. All of these honorees were nominated by their county 4-H Educators and have been tremendous supporters of 4-H, both locally and statewide. The County Commissioners’ Association of Ohio will also be honored for their ongoing support of 4-H and Extension. Please join us in congratulating the following volunteers who will be recognized at the Celebration of Youth on September 23rd.

Lloyd & Doris Roby – Madison County
John & Dorothy Montgomery – Muskingum County
Nancy Black – Van Wert County
Don Myers – Clermont County
Paul Shoemaker – Gallia County
Frank Chapman – Huron County

The Celebration of Youth is the Ohio 4-H program’s premier fundraising event. It will be held September 23, 2005 at the Aladdin Shrine Center in Columbus. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the evening’s activities include silent and live auctions, entertainment and dinner. All funds raised benefit the Ohio 4-H Foundation Endowment which provides grants and support to programming efforts at both the local and state levels. For more information on how you can get involved, please call the Ohio 4-H Foundation at 614.292.6943.

Human Subjects as a Source for Data

A REMINDER: IF you are planning to conduct an evaluation or study involving people, and you plan to present or publish the findings, THEN you should submit your application for an Institutional Review Board (IRB) exemption. In some instances (example: a study involving youth) a full IRB review may be required.

The Program Development and Evaluation Unit has created a page on its web site that contains important links relative to the use of human subjects as data sources. These links include: [1] Background sites, such as the Office of Responsible Research Practices, Behavioral/Social Sciences Institutional Review Board, and IRB Newsletter; [2] CITI (you must complete an on-line training about human subjects for the Social and Behavioral Track BEFORE any application can be submitted); [3] Qualifications for Service as a Principal Investigator; and [4] Application forms.

The PDE Home page is located at: http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~pde/ (Then click on "Human Subjects and IRB" on the left.) OR go directly to the Human Subjects as a Source for Data page: http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/%7Epde/pdeIRB.html

Service Learning Request
The Service Learning sub-committee of the Teen Leadership Team is developing a display for the Ohio State Fair. The goal of the display is to highlight community service and service learning projects completed by Ohio 4-H'ers in 2004 and 2005.

If you have a club, teen leadership group, or county community service project that took place and can be reported as one of our efforts please send a short summary and one or two digital photos converted to a jpeg file to Bev Kelbaugh at kelbaugh.1@osu.edu by July 15th.

In your summary include as much of the following information as you can:

(1) Project Title; (2) Contact name; (3) County; (4) Short description of what the project was @50 words; (5) Nature of adult and teen participation in planning and organizing funding or support for the project: (if applicable); (6) Number of persons participating in the project: Adults: M____ F____ Youth M_____ F_____ TOTAL ________; (7) Persons served (number if applicable) Adults: M____F____ Youth M______ F ______ TOTAL________ (8) Impact of the project (if known); (9) Collaborating agencies, organizations, or businesses (10) Number of hours of service: _______hours x ____volunteers = Total number of hours volunteered______ Don't forget to attach those digital photos. Yes, you can submit more than one entry per county!

Thanks in advance for the great photos and be sure to tell your clientele to look for the display at the Ohio State Fair. Wouldn't it be great to have at least one photo from each county!!!!

Research, Evaluation, and Best Practice

Transfer of Learning: What We Can Do to Aid Knowledge and Skill Transfer

Janel Digby, Graduate Research Associate
Theresa M. Ferrari, Extension Specialist, 4-H Youth Development

One of the purposes of 4-H programming is to help youth become engaged in learning, master skills, and continue to use the skills they have developed. If such application does not occur, the goals of education and training are not achieved ( Taylor, 1997). This idea of gaining knowledge in one context and applying it to another is called transfer of learning. The 4-H program uses a model called the experiential learning model to describe how learning is transferred, which can be summarized into three steps: do, reflect, and apply. Transfer of learning has also been referred to as the “so what” or “now what” phase of the learning process (Cafarella, 2002; Taylor, 1997).

Learning transfer does not always take place. The Ohio 4-H program appears to do an exceptional job of engaging youth in their roles and activities. However, simply doing is not enough. We may not always be as intentional about following through on the reflection and application part of the experiential learning model to facilitate transfer of learning. In a recent study of Ohio 4-H camp counselor alumni (Digby, 2005), it was evident that counselors had gained many personal and interpersonal skills, yet at the time they were counselors, they did not always realize the extent to which they were developing skills that applied beyond being a counselor (McNeely, 2004).

Authors have written about cognitive processes that aid in the transfer of knowledge. Asking learners to understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create when learning subject matter are processes used to aid in the transfer of learning (Mayer, 2002). Read more about these processes and transfer of learning by going to this site.
www.ohio4h.org/tferrari/2005publications.html



Events & Activities

Camp Whitewood Anniversary
The year 2005 marks the 65th year that campers have come to Camp Whitewood. A special 65th anniversary celebration will take place Saturday July 23, 2005 from 2 to 5 pm. This will be a family fun time for all. Hiking, canoeing, swimming, fishing and games will be available from 2 to 4 pm. A chuck wagon meal will be served at 4:00 pm and guests from the 1940 camp will be introduced at 4:30 with the cutting of the birthday cake. Cost is $6.50 for individuals or $16.50 for the entire family. Door prizes, history update and 65 th anniversary souvenirs will be presented. The first 65 individuals to call will receive a special remembrance.

Did you attend Camp Whitewood in 1940? (or, know someone who did?)
If you attended the first camp season in 1940, we would like to involve you in the 65th anniversary celebration on July 23. We would like to have a written remembrance that we can print so that everyone who attends may relive your experiences. Please send or e-mail us your thoughts as soon as possible.

Dog Agility Show Information
The Ohio State Fair Dog Agility Trial information is now posted on the following web site:  http://southcenters.osu.edu/4h/dog/index.htm   You can also find it through the Ohio 4-H Dog Program link on the Ohio 4-H web site.  All entries must be received by Carole Paul no later than 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 21.  That information is in the application/registration form.

State Fair Horse Show Information
(email from Amber Moffet)
Note: Please refer to the actual email to access attachments.

This email is in regards to the 2005 Ohio State Fair Junior Horse Show Entry process. As we all know, this has been a year of dramatic changes for the State Fair Junior Horse Show. The show will be held Thursday, July 28th through Monday, August 1st. All entries must be sent to the State Fair office via email since they have not gotten their online program up and running as of today. I have attached the email entry form (excel file) to this email. Please fill out ALL information correctly as errors will be very difficult to correct with the change in the handling of the entries. Please do not enter Production or Dressage entries as they have different deadlines and entry processes. Our office will be handling those youth in the same manner as previous years and forwarding that information to the State Fair office. Remember that the deadline for the Ohio State Fair Junior Horse Show is FRIDAY, JULY 15th at 5 pm unless your county is on Dr. Kline's list of conflicting shows. If you are on that list, your deadline is MONDAY, JULY 18th at 9 am. The preferred method of entry submission is via email; however, I have included a fax number for those last minute computer malfunctions:

Barb Prince b.prince@expo.state.oh.us (preferred method)
fax number 614-644-4031

I have also attached an updated Exhibitor Letter and Show Schedule to reflect the changes made after you received your 2005 Annual Letter packet in January. Please make sure that each exhibitor that qualifies for the Junior Horse Show receives an updated copy of the letter and show schedule. The updated schedule, along with copies of PAS score sheets and any pertinent information, can be found on our website at http://horse.osu.edu.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation in this matter. If you have problems or specific questions about your Ohio State Fair entries, please contact Barb Prince at 614-644-4052. We look forward to a busy, successful, and fun show. If we can be of help to you, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Kline (kline.1@osu.edu, 614-292-2625) or myself (moffett.19@osu.edu, 614-688-8109). Thanks again and see you in July. Good luck!!

Buckeye Leadership Workshop Class
The BLW website has been updated with the new class list for 2006. Check it out at http://buckeyeleadership.com/

Ambassador & Teen Council Meeting Dates
State 4-H Ambassador Meetings
July 27, 2005 - 1:00pm-3:00pm - at Leadership Camp
October 1, 2005 - 10:00am-3:00pm
December 29, 2005 - Holiday Party - Ag. Admin. 12:00noon - 3:30pm
March 18, 2006 - 3:00pm - 5:00pm
June 6, 2006 - Ambassador Recognition & Graduation Luncheon

Ohio 4-H Teen Council Fall Meeting
October 22, 2005 10:00am - 3:00pm - Ag. Admin.

Ohio 4-H Teen Conference - Call for Proposals
Proposals may be submitted for one or more 50 minute sessions. All selected presenters will need to furnish their own handouts, provide their own audiovisual equipment, and will be required to register for the conference. The maximum number of tables that can be furnished in your room is two. This year, participants will have the option of attending five individual 50 minute sessions or combinations of indivdiual or a series of sessions. The OTC Committee will determine the final schedule. Proposals must be submitted electronically by Friday, October 7 using the following url address:
www.ohio4h.org/tc_call.htm

Ohio 4-H Volunteer Conference Call for Proposals
The call for proposals for the 2006 OVC has been sent out via the county weekly mail packet. Submissions can also be made on-line by going to the links listed below. The committee's goal is to secure presentations that fit with Ohio's priority efforts. Please share this information with all volunteers in the counties. Submission deadline is September 2, 2005. The Education Committeee of OVC meets soon thereafter to make selections. Late submissions will not be able to be considered. Questions should be addressed to Vicki Schwartz.
Poster Session: www.ohio4h.org/postersession.html
Sessions: www.ohio4h.org/volconfcall.htm

News & Notes

Washington County Teens Competing in National 4-H
Shooting Sports Invitational
By Teresa Stone, Extension Educator, Natural Resources/4-H
 
Staci Collins, Pete Deem, Natasha Hupp and Eric Wesel will compete in the smallbore rifle competition at the National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational in Columbia, Missouri from June 28 to July 1. The teens are members of the Bull's-Eye 4-H Club in Washington County and are Ohio's inaugural team to this national 4-H competition.
 
The Ohio 4-H shooting sports program does not have a competitive shooting match to select participants for the national match. Individuals or teams that can fund their way to the national match are recognized as being on the state's team. Thanks to generous support from businesses, individuals and organizations within Washington County, these talented shooters will be the first-ever Ohioans to participate in this national 4 H event.
 
The National Invitational grew to its largest participation in its five-year history with 336 participants from across the United States in 2004. More participants are expected this year. Nine shooting disciplines are offered at the Invitational. A team of four competes in one discipline during the three-day event. State teams and individuals are recognized for daily match scores as well as overall composite scores.
 
Our Ohio team will compete in the smallbore rifle discipline which consists of three different matches. The first match on Wednesday, June 29 is NRA three-position (prone, standing and kneeling) at 50 yards. CMP sporter rifle is the second day's match where slow and rapid fire shots are scored in three positions at 25 and 50 yards. The last event is metal silhouette in which they shoot at targets placed at 40, 60, 77 and 100 meters.
 
4-H shooting sports volunteer instructor and coach Larry Chorpenning anticipates the team will perform the best in the three-position match. "The kids have more experience in shooting this type of match than the others," said Chorpenning. "We're encouraging the kids to shoot their personal best in each match and not worry about how they place in the competition."
 
During the Invitational, the teens will have opportunities to meet other 4-H'ers from across the country as well as representatives from the shooting sports industry and organizations. "We're hoping to bring excitement for this event back to Ohio so more youth can benefit from such an experience in the future," said Chorpenning.

4-H Cloverbud Corner
Scott Scheer, Preadolescent Extension Specialist

Hello 4-H Extension Professional!
Have you ever had a mentor that helped you with your job or some particular project? I have had mentors at different times in my career and they have been extremely helpful for understanding aspects of an organization or how a particular program works. Mentors provide strategies and feedback that one cannot get in a guidebook or training manual.

Where does all of this fit with the 4-H Cloverbud program? Most counties will have some 4-H Cloverbud Leaders who are experienced volunteers and really understand how to provide successful leadership for the 4-H Cloverbud program. These folks would be excellent mentors for new 4-H Cloverbud volunteers in your county. As you think about strategies to assist volunteer leaders that are just starting out in the 4-H Cloverbud program, consider pairing them with your experienced volunteers. Your high-energy 4-H Cloverbud leaders may even agree to serve as a mentor to more than one volunteer. Volunteer mentoring and the 4-H Cloverbud program are a natural fit for helping to promote healthy child development.

Thanks again for your dedication to improving the lives of children in Ohio.

Operation Military Kids Launch Hero Packs
Dona Leonhard, Graduate Research Assistant, 4-H Youth Development

Hero Pack supplies have arrived. As part of the Operation: Military Kids initiatives, Hero Packs are being assembled by 4-H members and dispersed to youth of National Guard members as part of the pre-deployment procedures. Hero Packs are care packages given to children as their parents are being deployed. Items in the backpacks help youth connect with a deployed parent and offer pick-me-ups that are given in recognition of the difficulty youth face in being part of a military family. Currently, counties are assembling Hero Packs as a service-learning project.

To-date Morrow County has assembled 80 packs, Fairfield County has assembled 60, Delaware and Hamilton Counties are both assembling 50 packs and Hardin County has assembled 20 Hero Packs. Put your county on the list by assembling Hero Packs at a 4-H meeting this summer. To collect all of the necessary supplies for Hero Pack assembly, contact Dona Leonhard at leonhard.10@osu.edu .

Students from Dr. Theresa Ferrari’s Youth Program Management course wrote a lesson plan for 4-H club advisors to follow while assembling Hero Packs. In this lesson are several activities to get 4-H members involved in the activity, while teaching them the reality of having a deployed parent. Depending on how many activities in the lesson are used, it takes 25 to 40 minutes to assemble the Hero Packs. The lesson plan is currently available on-line at http://www.ohio4h.org/military/heropacks.html.

Hero Packs have been well received by all youth. Saturday, June 25th, 28 Hero Packs were given to National Guard children as the unit will be leaving soon for Iraq. This unit is from Kettering, Ohio. On Sunday, June 26th, 30 Hero Pack were given to youth of the deploying unit in Bellefontaine, Ohio. This unit is being sent to Texas for an 18 month deployment. By initiating our Operation: Military Kids efforts on June 1st with First Lady of Ohio, Hope Taft, Operation: Military Kids has been well received by youth and 4-H members involved. Please join in Operation: Military Kids initiatives by making Hero Packs for youth who are experiencing the deployment of a parent.