2011 West Central District Teen Retreat

The 2011 West Central District Teen Retreat - March 11 – 13 at Betsy Jeff Penn 4-H Center. Cost this year will be $90 which includes lodging, 3 meals on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday and a t-shirt.

Since they will be staying in cabins youth will need to bring sleeping bags, pillow toiletries, etc. Registration begins Friday evening from 7 – 8pm. Friday evening begins with mixers and officer introductions. Saturday’s schedule includes a morning assembly, workshops, afternoon activities and a dance in the evening. Sunday morning will be the closing assembly, elections and adjournment will be around 10am.

Please turn in the attached registration and payment to the Gaston County 4-H Office by February 23rd.

Contact Susan Bugg, Gaston County 4-H Secretary, for additional information 704-922-2110

Gaston County 4-H Achievement Night

Friday, February 18th, 2011 @ the Citizen's Resource Center, in Dallas (Ceremony Starts @ 7pm)

Don't forget to dress the part.  The theme is Blast from the Past

Join us as we celebrate 4-H accomplishments from the past year with dissert and great comradarie.  This year's guest of honor, Ms. Pearl Burris-Floyd, former North Carolina House Representative and Commissioner to Gaston County should be an inspiration to us all.

Don't forget to dress the part.  Have fun... Blast from the Past is celebrating our relationship with the 60's and 70's.  Think Tie Die, Bell Bottoms, Afro's and Dreadlocks, flower power, feathered hair, platform shoes, and peace signs.  I think these paint a pretty good picture of our fun to come.

Call Susan Bugg for additional details.  704-922-2110

4-H Robotics Meeting

Who: Anyone from the community who is interested in or curious about the Robotics Clubs, or robotics competitions. Parents, youth, teachers, administrators, and community partners are all invited.

Where: Gaston County Citizens Resource Center, Dallas, NC (close to Gaston College off of Hwy 321)
Directions:
1303 Dallas Cherryville HwyDallas, NC 28034

When: Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 @ 4:00pm

What: Afterschool/Club Youth Robotics and related competitions

Guest: Marie Hopper, FIRST Regional Director, will be there to present the available FIRST pre-college robotics competitions. Local FRC team is also expected to be there to present their past competitive robot.

4-H Pumpkin Chuckin

Here it comes...

The 4-H Regional Pumkin Chuckin contest will be held in conjunction with the 2011 Gaston County Cotton Ginning Days event (October, 2011). 

Come out to this year's Cotton Ginning Days event (October 9th, 2010) and seek out the 4-H Pumpkin Chuckin contest display. 

We will have rules, workshop calendar, and more event details to hand out, as well as demonstrations and a display from a past world record holding team, Romans' Revenge.

Pumpkin Chuckin

Part 2

Part 3

Think you've got the engineering skills to launch a pumpkin the farthest?

4-H West Central District Science and Engineering Fair

The 4-H West Central District Science and Engineering Fair (November 6th, 2010) is a district wide pinnacle event for 9 to 19 year old youth that have shown an interested in science and engineering. The Fair encourages students to investigate their own questions and interests through scientific inquiry and research. The student becomes the scientist and when completed, their project combines reading, writing, mathematics, critical thinking, and scientific methodology. Participation in scientific research assists students in understanding how scientists and engineers work and encourages them to consider a career in these fields. Workshops for interested groups are available from the fair coordinating committee to assist educators in implementing scientific research into their programs.

Students involved in science fair projects learn the nature of science and skills to help meet the challenges of the future. By participating in the fair, students learn how to isolate, attack and solve important problems, all within the framework of organized, logical thought and study. Participants have an opportunity to progress on to other regional, state, and international fair opportunities.

Our program is aligned with and supports the North Carolina State Standard Course of Study in Science. The NC Standard Course of Study in Science for grades K-12 states that “Learning science is something students do, not something that is done to them.” All grades have the same strands for content teaching of the goals and objectives that include the “Nature of Science” and “Science as Inquiry”. Students taking Honors courses are expected to “complete more independent and in-depth scientific investigations”. Students should be “involved in exploratory, experimental, and open-ended learning experiences.”

To learn more contact the Gaston County 4-H Office at 704-922-2110 or click on the link below.

Information and Forms

The amazing Embryo!

Gaston County 4-H offers the most involved experiential embryology instruction in the state of North Carolina through its federally licensed quail incubation program.

As a Gaston County Schools Department of Instruction approved program, utilizing North Carolina State Standard Course of Study aligned material, the 4-H Embryology Program integrates agriculture, life science, and life skills with formal and nonformal education. Students, parents and teachers have touted this program as the highlight of their academic year. Through direct program assessment we know that youth participating in this program show dramatic improvement in their attitude toward science, increased knowledge of agriculture practices, and science related grades.

In the past two years alone we have had more than 2,256 students from over 128 Classrooms participate, of which 90% reported an increase in interest of related scientific concepts, 84% reported an increase in science related grades and topic comprehension, and educators reported across the board increases in overall scientific interest, skills, and knowledge.

The 4-H Quail Embryology program is designed for the 2nd grade, however, other grade levels do participate to support reinforcement of related scientific concepts. Participating teachers receive, classroom incubators, free quail eggs and teaching materials. They will also have the option of purchasing additional supporting resources at cost through the local 4-H office.

For more information please contact the Gaston County 4-H office at 704-922-2110

County Activity Day - Competitive Presentations

Great performances this year and some really awesome improvement over previous years for several individual competitors.  Our County competitive placements are as follows...

In the 11 to 13 age group...
Victoria M., Gold for her Presentation My Dog Phebe in the Small & Companion Animals category

In the 14 to 18 age group...
Arielle G., Gold for her Public Speaking performance entitled Equine Cloning in the Horse Public Speaking category.
Emma I., Gold for her Recycling Presentation in the Soil, Water & the Environment category.
Margo L., Silver for her Horse Presentation entitled Appreciating the Power of the Horse.
Madeline L., Gold for her presentation entitled Grid it Out.
Faith F., Gold for her Horse Presentation on the American Quarter Horse Association
Mary Beth E. & Katie E., Bronze for their Horse Presentation on Quarter Horses

Practice, Practice, Practice... Gold and Silver award winners at the County level are invited to compete at the District level; this year in Mecklenburg County.  Score sheets will be sent out shortly so that everyone can begin working on specific areas of recommended improvement.  Again, awesome performances overall!

Project & Cumulative Record Award Winners

The results are back for District Project and Cumulative Record Award Winners.  Awesome job by all!  Specific awards are as follows...

In the 16 to 18 age group
Faith F., Bronze in the Animal Science category
Rachel I., Gold in the Consumer & Family Science category

In the 13 to 15 age group
Emma I., Silver in the Citizenship and Civic Educaiton category, and Gold in the Science, Technology & Computers category
Sarah S., Bronze in the Communication Arts category
Margo L., Gold in the Consumer & Family Science cagegory

In the 11 to 12 age group
Landon R., Gold in the Environment & Natural Resources category

In the 9 to 10 age group
Nolan R., Silver in the Environment & Natural Resources category
Alaric B., Silver in the Science, Technology, & Computers category

4-H Fashion Review and Talent Show...

Cleveland and Gaston Counties combined forces this year on April 23rd to kick off the first annual combined county Fashion and Talent Show, with great performances and rave reviews.

4H members from both Gaston and Cleveland County participated.

Achievement Follows..

Talent Show…
Sara S. (first place) - performed Revelation Song… a praise dance, self choreographed
Audrey D. (second place) - performed ‘Kool Dudes’ on the Piano
Kathryn D. (third place) - performed ‘Hear the Cross’ on the Piano

Fashion Show…
All garments shown were hand made by the models showing them.

Cleveland County Senior Division (ages 14-19)
Anna Marie V. (first place) – created a long dress out of complementing blue and black satin

Cleveland County Junior Division (ages 9-13)
Jonie S. – made a matching blouse and paints

Gaston County Cloverbuds (ages 5-8)
Megan J. – made a original denim blend gathered skirt
Savanna P. – showed off her sun shirt with an intricate pattern of x’s and o’s, hearts and little red, black, and white bows

Gaston County Junior Division (ages 9-13)
Tiffany H. (first place) – created a pink pajama pants crawling with green turtles
Audrey D. (second place) – made a pink pajama pants with green and pink flowers
Kathryn D. (third place) – showed a brown pajama pants patterned with blue and pink flowers topped with an elastic waist line

Gaston County Senior Division (ages 14-19)
Rachel I. – created a short straight line dress with slanted pockets, collar and bow

Because of their achievement at the fashion and talent show…

Anna Marie V. and Rachel I. will be invited to represent their respective counties in the State 4-H Fashion Review this summer held in Raleigh, NC.

Sarah S. and Audrey D. will be invited to represent Gaston County at the South West District 4-H Entertains competition in Charlotte.
 
Contributing Editor: Sarah S., Gaston County 4-H Youth Council Reporter

Gaston County 4-H Pool Party

Come out and mix with other county 4-H clubs.  Members, volunteers, family, prospective 4-Hers, you're all welcome.

Where: Bessemer City Pool
When: Saturday, June 12th, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
What: everyone attending is asked to bring a "pick-up" (e.g. chips, snack, dish, etc.) and a 2L drink to contribute to the event food.