By Deb Kroon
Review Staff Writer
At the beginning of July a group of ten 4-H members and 4 chaperones traveled from Minidoka County in Idaho, to spend a week with 4-H families here in Nobles County. They were here because of a program called ‘The 4-H Interstate Exchange Program’. This is a two year program where members from one county 4-H club travel to another state and stay with local 4-H members and their families. The participants themselves get to vote on where they go. Once the match is agreed upon, organizers pair 4-H’ers with host families, and begin to raise money for the trip. Here in Nobles County, most of the fund raising is done as a group. This past year the Nobles County 4-H’ers have been raising money be helping at events such as the Farm 40 supper, the Hospice Banquet, and the Corn and Soybean Banquet, as well as helping at weddings and selling snacks at the 4-H Dog Show. In order to participate in this program, you need to be 13 years of age, be willing to make a two year commitment and actively participate in the fund-raisers.
Led by program leaders Shelley John and Megan Prins, the area 4-H’ers planned a jam packed week of learning and fun for the Idahoan visitors. Included in the week were tours of 266 Ag Services, the Russ and Brian Penning farm, where they learned about soybeans, something that they had not seen before, as well other educational tours, and then capped off the week with a trip to the Mall of America and a Twins game. Both groups learned about the differences in cultures due to their location.
In Minidoka, the 4-H’ers can do projects in leather working and calligraphy which are not offered in Nobles County. They also love shooting sports, which is not big here. They show turkeys and draft horses, things we do not show. Their fair is different also- they sell their animals in Idaho, we do not. Our crops are mainly corn and soybeans as staples, where they raise sugar beets and tomatoes, as well as corn. They use a lot of irrigation and found our irrigation free fields different looking. They had never seen a firefly. Learning about their differences and similarities is what this week is about.
Four families from the Grand Prairie Rockets 4-H Club, which includes Magnolia, Lismore, Wilmont, Rushmore, Ellsworth and Adrian, hosted kids from Idaho. Blake, Lauren and Paige Madison of Lismore, were host to two exchange members, 13 year old Alex and 17 year old Taylor. Alex was the youngest member of the exchange group. Cheyenne, Dakota and Damon John, rural Lismore, were host to 17 year old Lauren Bywater. Hannah Henning of rural Lismore hosted 17 year old Delyce and one of the chaperones, Julie. Dawson, Devin, Katelyn, and Kendra Froderman from the Magnolia area, hosted 17 year old Lindsey. All the families loved the experience. Some have been involved in this exchange program for several years and have had the experience of traveling to other states. Others, like Hannah Henning is in her first year in the program. Hannah told me one of the perks of the program is “meeting new people from across the country” The group is looking forward to their trip to Idaho next summer. Hannah’s parting comment was, “We are trying to get the word out about this program. When it was first discussed at our club, no one had heard about it. As a 4-H’er, if you want to participate, go out and ask about it.”
There are many faces to a 4-H club. It’s not just about showing animals at a fair or doing projects for a blue ribbon. A big misconception about 4-H is that it’s just for farm kids. You don’t have to live on a farm or even own any animals to belong. 4-H is about learning life skills. “4-H is a kid led, adult directed, organization”, explained Dawn Anderson, a mother of 3 4-H’ers. “The kids are encouraged to come up with community service ideas. They are physically involved in these programs. Some are service projects, and some are fund raisers, where all of us are involved. They are encouraged to give back.” One of such projects the Grand Prairie Rockets 4-H Club is involved with currently is “Soles4Souls”. They will be collecting new and gently used shoes at the Nobles County Fair. Look for the big red Ace Hardware barrels.
Other areas 4-H’ers can get involved in are cooking, sewing, photography and computers, just to name a few. “It’s a great program,” Dawn commented. “You learn organizational skills, leadership skills, and speaking skills, just so much. So you see it’s not just about animals.”
So, 4-H isn’t just for farm kids. Get in touch with any 4-H’er to get information. There is so much more to being in 4-H. You could travel to another county in another state. Check it out!
