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Impact Report

For plan Youth Development (San Juan County)
Date October 15, 2007, 12:27 pm
For Objective Short-term Show short-term objectives
Impact Report San Juan County 4-H Council Officers and 4-H County Council The ten San Juan County Officer’s goals are to provide training for 4-H club leaders and local officers, to aid in the development of 4-H clubs and 4-H members and to give 4-H club leaders an opportunity to assist in the county 4-H program. Officers are also called upon to provide leadership to the Achievement Banquet and County Contest Dessert Reception, develop promotional displays for the County Fair, and design a float for the San Juan County Fair Parade. The home economist serves as one of the 4-H County Council Officer advisors. Quarterly Council meetings were held in October, January, April and July with one hundred twenty-nine individuals attending the meetings. During the meetings the home economist provided training on the Home Economic Lettermen Award, Favorite Foods Contest, Home Ec Skill-a-thon, Consumer Decision Making Contest and Public Speaking. Prior to each council meeting an executive committee meeting is held to prepare last minute details for the meeting. The officers learn how to think for themselves as they conduct a meeting, become more comfortable while speaking in front of a group, and learn to become team players while interacting with their fellow officers. The officer team also participates and encourages other 4-H members to participate in community service projects together such as working at a the local Echo Food Bank, collecting paper products for the Connelly Hospitality House where they learn the importance of volunteering their time and talents to help others, collecting toys and books for Child Haven and participating in “Make a Difference Day” by picking up trash at Farmington Lake. They also collected items for two baby basket and awarded them to the first baby born at San Juan Regional Hospital and Indian Health Services during National 4-H Week. The Home Economist also coordinates the annual 4-H Cookie sale fund raiser for the County Council. In June of 2007 San Juan County hosted the Northwest District 4-H Contests. The County Council Officers lead workshops and games for the participants throughout the two day event. They also announced the award winners each day during the award’s ceremony. Each officer participated and while helping others, also increased their leadership and public speaking skills as well as their own self esteem. 4-H Connections for Novice and Junior Youth Through the annual event “4-H Connections” novice and junior 4-H youth are introduced to the 4-H program. Workshops are taught on leadership, teamwork, communications, and “This is 4-H”. Each year the home economist and one of the 4-H Agents works with the County Council Officers in planning and implementing 4-H Connections around these different themes: The theme for 2007 was “Shoot for the Starts with 4-H” which we also incorporated as the theme for the 4-H District contest (which San Juan county hosted this year). The thirty-eight youth attending the hands on workshop were introduced to the projects that are available in 4-H, and learned valuable teamwork, leadership and communication skills through interactive games and activities. The activity also assists the 4-H County Council Officers develop their leadership skills while planning and implementing the fun day for county youth. 4-H County, District and State Contests The Home Economist is involved in training 4-H’ers for the County, District and State Contests in Fashion Revue, Favorite Foods, Consumer Decision Making, and the Home Economics Skill-a-thon. A Favorite Foods workshop reaching fifteen 4-H’ers and five parents was planned and implemented. The workshop’s focus was to increase the participant’s knowledge about the contest. They learned how to set proper place settings for different occasions, menu planning and basic nutrition. How to prepare and present their foods for the Favorite Foods Contest was also demonstrated. Sixteen 4-H’ers participated in the County Favorite Foods Contest (6 novices, 4 juniors, and 6 seniors). Four novices and one junior member participated in the Northwest District Favorite Foods Contest in Farmington, and one senior participated in the state conference contest. A Consumer Decision Making workshop was developed to familiarize 4-H’ers with the contest. Participants learned how to observe, compare and make decisions based on fact they collect. 4-H’er learned how to rank articles or products over others based on standards and quality. Two teams competed in the District contest and two individuals competed in the State contest. Since the Northwest District 4-H Contest implemented the Home Economic Skill-a-thon for Novice and Junior members, San Juan County provides this contest opportunity on the county level. The Home Economist trains the youth on identifying sewing and clothing related items, interior design and housing related items, food and cooking related items and how to complete judging classes in consumer decision making, food and nutrition and financial management. Two novice and junior teams attended District Contest this year. 4-H Local Club Officer’s Training The home economist and one of the 4-H Agents assist the 4-H County Council Officers in planning and implementing the annual Local Club Officer’s Training. Through its implementation, the local 4-H officers have learned basic parliamentary procedure, the duties of the president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, reporter, song leader, recreation leader, parliamentarian, chaplain, and Sergeant-at-arms, as well as how to conduct a good 4-H meeting. Experiential learning activities such as a mock meeting, “pin the duty on the officer” game and a round robin of officer duties get the participants actively involved in the training. The thirty-seven club officers, leaders and parents that attended Local Club Officer Training developed their leadership skills, while learning basic parliamentary procedure. Thirty-one of those in attendance rated the overall presentation as excellent and would all recommend that others attend the workshop when it is presented next year. One comment was: “It was nice to see a well-organized club meeting, so we can see what our club can improve on.” Another comment was: “what a fun and interactive way to learn parliamentary procedure!” San Juan County Sewing Workshops A partnership was formed four years ago with the local Bernina Center as a way to introduce quality clothing construction workshops to 4-H members in the county. Ten sewing classes were provided for all interested 4-H members, utilizing brand new Bernina sewing machines. Because of the popularity of the class a separate class was provided for Sewing I and Sewing II participants, as well as Mix and Match participants. Members learned the parts of the sewing machine, how to thread the machine, how to use a rotary cutter, and how to start and finish a garment. In addition to making their tote bags, Sewing I members also learned how to embellish the bags they made, with the assistance of the store owner. Sewing II members successfully made the handy dandy apron. One young lady in the advanced class that was offered even designed her own native dress and won 2nd place at the Navajo Nation Fair in Window Rock, Arizona. An average of seventeen youth attended the twice a week classes. 4-H Baking and Cake Decorating Workshops The forty-seven youth participating in the 4-H Baking and Cake Decorating workshops have learned the top ten kitchen rules, how to use a dry and liquid measuring cup, chemical reactions in cooking, what makes yeast rise, and food safety. They also learned to follow the recipes in the Baking I, II and III manuals in preparation for the county fair. Youth were taught cake decorating basics, how to make a quality cake at a higher altitude, and how to use a variety of cake decorating equipment. The workshops were developed in an attempt to increase participation in the cake decorating and baking projects at the county fair. Through implementing the workshops a better quality baked product is being exhibited in the county fair, state fair and the Northern Navajo Fair in Shiprock. Youth have also been introduced to two new career opportunities. Strong Parents for the Future Teen Parenting Conference The fifth annual teen parenting conference entitled: “Strong Parents for the Future: The Beauty Way of Parenting” was planned by the home economist, (who served as chair of the planning committee) and nine other members, representing the Navajo Nation Teen Life Center, Office of Dine’ Youth and Central Consolidated Schools. Ninety-six teen parents (and some extended family members) learned the role of the father, cooking with commodities, and learned about their heritage with the Navajo Nation Foster Grandparent program telling stories about the cradle board and babies first laugh. A doctor with Indian Health Services taught the youth about the dangers lurking out there on the internet and how to use it wisely. Teen parents were also treated to fifteen interactive health fair booths where they learned how to provide infant massage for their child, the proper way to install an infant car seat, child nutrition, activities to do with their child through the Parents as Teachers program, how to apply for WIC and Navajo Nation Commodities, as well as how to make a car seat blanket. Ninety-two percent of those completing the evaluation stated things they had learned because of attending the conference.