4-H Week In Review – November 5th, 2010

Hey there, 4-H’ers! Are you ready for the holiday season? As the weather cools down and the days get shorter, we realize that Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. Now is a good time to start discussing and planning any holiday projects you might have been waiting to get started.

Remember that there are people in need right there in your very own community. Let’s help them make their holiday season as bright as ours.

As always, if you know of a newsworthy 4-H story, don’t be shy! Post it below in the comments section.

Let’s start off with a couple of Tech stories:

• Did you ever play with Legos when you were a kid? I know I did – and I loved them. Somehow I think the students below will be a step or two above my “Lego creativity.”

  4-H members all over the state of Hawaii will be gathering in Maui this weekend for the FIRST Lego League Robotics Competition. Teams are required to build a robot with Legos to address a health care issue. Teams are judged on performance, design, teamwork and the “innovative adherence” to this year’s theme.

  The robots won’t be battling each other, but I’d still love to be there (no, not because it’s in Hawaii – OK, maybe a little) to see what the students come up with.

  Good luck to everyone! Read the full story here – FIRST Lego League robotics competition set Saturday.




• If you haven’t yet heard of geolocation or geocaching, then you really need to check out this website. Geocaching is a hobby that is growing huge very quickly and there’s no telling how big it will get!

  4-H’ers in New York are using GPS technology to map their county’s landmarks. Using a handheld device, they map GPS coordinates of different objects. The coordinates are then fed to a computer which places them all out on a map. So far they have managed to map things like the local farmers who sell to the public, the county fire hydrant system and other local landmarks. They’ve even received requests from other counties to do it for them!

  The work could eventually save lives, which was the goal of the fire hydrant project. Three cheers for the Ontario County 4-H’ers! Ontario County 4-H gets futuristic with GPS projects.




• The Abington, Virginia 4-H Center was significantly damaged by recent violent storms. It wasn’t long before their story appeared in the local news – and the community rallied!

  They received call after call from local churches and volunteers wanting to come help out.

  And to top it off, workers from Lowes have made repairing the 4-H Center their “Helping Hero” project.

  A perfect example of “helping those who help others.”  Community Rallies to Help 4-H Center.




• The Great American Smoke Out is approaching, and you can lend a hand. The Great American Smoke out is a day where people across the nation encourage smokers to quit, or set a quit date for themselves.

  If your club or youth group is interested in celebrating the day, here are some sources of information and campaign materials you can use. Check out the national Great American Smoke Out campaign materials at: www.cancer.org/smokeout.

  As you know, Healthy Living is a core belief of 4-H, and quitting smoking is a huge step toward healthy living.

  You can read more about it here – 4-H aims to prevent tobacco use.

Well, that’s it for this week. We know there are some stories we missed, so if you have a story or news event you’d like to share, just leave it in a comment below.

Now It’s Your Turn! Leave a comment below and let us know what you think!

Have a great Halloween weekend and we’ll see you next week!