‘I can’t think about my life with out 4-H’: Mon college students speak to BOE about their affiliation with the enrichment program

Ben Martin was a self-described “shy child” rising up – however you by no means would have identified that, judging by his look earlier than members of the Monongalia County Board of Schooling on Tuesday evening.

He instructed the board all about his life in 4-H, the enrichment program that helps younger folks construct each mind and a way of self.

“As I grew up, it simply grew to become so intertwined with my youth and what I see as neighborhood,” the Morgantown Excessive College scholar stated. “I can’t think about my life with out 4-H.”

Final yr, almost 7,000 kids and youngsters from throughout Mon County participated in 4-H packages, that are run by the WVU Extension Service.

There have been nature walks and an introduction to “Keef,” a dragon who nonetheless has all his child tooth, in a session designed to take a chunk out of the worry of going to the dentist.

Add within the primers on pc coding and cash administration, too.

Toss in that memorable, MacGyver-styled lesson on methods to construct a working flashlight with a Popsicle stick, copper tape and a paper clip – and there’s your yr, Heather Tanton stated.

Tanton is a 4-H program assistant whose wage is funded by {dollars} from extra levy for schooling.  

She’s grateful for that, she instructed the board.

The width, breadth and variety of the above packages and extra make her completely happy to go to work each day, she stated.

“We will all the time provide you with one thing {that a} child will like,” this system assistant stated.

And proper now, stated Becca Fint-Clark, who leads  4-H youth growth efforts right here for the service, it’s fairly obvious that children right here like what’s on the market.

She and Tanton are about to embark on their fall session of studying actions and 190 returning 4-H’ers signed up two weeks in the past when the primary name for registration went out.

Fint-Clark, she stated, additionally appreciates the overture by county voters on the polls who virtually all the time vote within the affirmative for the surplus levy come election day.

“We’re coming to you from a spot of gratitude,” she instructed the BOE.

Brigid Wilson stated a whole lot of roots spring from the four-leaf clover that serves because the group’s brand.

“4-H instructed me methods to work together with others,” stated the Morgantown Excessive scholar, whose affiliation goes again to her kindergarten days.

“It taught me methods to be a volunteer.”