4-H Projects

For the past few years, the girls have participated in 4-H.  Typically, when people think of 4-H they think of animal projects.  We don’t live on a farm, and besides a dog and the random fish or hermit crab, we don’t have animals.  And to show the dog, Pepper would need to either do rally (obstacle course), obedience, or showmanship.  Jeremy is confident Pepper would succeed at any of these.  I am sure that it would take a lot of time investment, and I don’t know that I am willing to commit that kind of time.  (Although I am sure we would all be better for it… a trained Pepper!)  Anyways, the girls participate in the still projects.  Every year, they have chosen something different instead of advancing in one they have already tried.  There are pros and cons to this.  The pro is they get to learn a lot of new things.  The con is that we always feel like we have no idea what we are doing.

In addition to the individual project, they work with the club to do a group project.  This year, the club chose an incredibly ambitious project – Rockets Away!  So, they worked building model rockets; Jeremy worked with them quite a bit at home since we had missed a meeting or two while on vacation.  They blasted them off at a meeting in July.  Ellie’s was recovered; Madison’s was lost in the field.

         

This year, Madison chose to do The Laundry Project.  This project taught her about stains, stain removal, fabric types and care, washing and drying symbols, and ways to wash and dry clothes.  This year we tried something a bit different.  While I had some professional development, one of the grandmas worked with each girl on their project.  It was helpful for two reasons: 1) They were able to get a lot of work done in a week, 2) They didn’t have to do it with me (which sometimes doesn’t go so smoothly).  Madison worked alongside Grandma Yoh on her project.  They had a lot of fun together.  Then, she did a few parts with me.  Overall, she enjoyed the project.  She was really proud of her poster design as well.  She scored an excellent on her project this year, which was the category below outstanding (where she has placed the last few years).  It was a little unclear why she scored excellent and not outstanding, but in the end it doesn’t really matter.  She did a excellent job, interviewed confidently, and worked hard throughout the project. 

         

Ellie chose to step away from the dog projects she had done in the past, and try something different.  She chose the project Staying Healthy.  She worked alongside Grandma Ediger for her project.  This project had her thinking about exercise, nutrition, and hygiene – all things that help keep you healthy.  She had fun with this project – creating new power foods, thinking about a variety of exercise, and also how does she keep clean.  Grandma and her worked well together.  Ellie scored an outstanding on her project.  She interviewed well with the judge, seeming to add a lot of information unprompted.  We learned while she was at camp, that she was selected to take her project to the Ohio State Fair!  (Just like Madison’s project last year!).  So, that was pretty exciting.

        

So, on Wednesday, July 26 (while Madison was at Camp Luz), Ellie, Jeremy, and I headed down to Columbus for her state judging.  She was excited, but a bit nervous too. 

We got there with plenty of time, so we explored a bit in the air conditioned building before heading into the judging area.  We had fun with the space stuff especially.  Ellie had been doing VBS crew leader job all week, and the theme there was Stellar.. and she was the Mars crew!

    

She was called quickly to the judge’s table, sat down, and seemed to have a good interview with the judge.  She received all excellent (highest) on her score paper.  There was an award’s ceremony scheduled a few hours later where they would present awards to Outstanding of the Day in each class (top 20%) and the Clock trophy (highest honor in each class). 

         

So, we meandered through the fair, listened to Noah Michaels play drum in the All Ohio State Band, and went fishing. 

                   

Then, we headed back for the awards ceremony.  John and Christi Michaels (who were there supporting Noah) joined us, which was pretty cool.  Ellie got an Outstanding of the Day AND the Clock Trophy in her class!!  It was surprising to all of us.  We were pretty excited for her. 

         

Afterwards, we at some less than awesome gyros and rode the sky tram thing before heading home.

    

The only thing left for 4-H this year is the display at the Wayne County Fair.  Otherwise, this year’s 4-H is in the books!  Way to go girls; you both did a great job again this year!