Iowa 4-H Alumni & Friends

4-H Center After working with 4-H Extension for the past three months my views on the organization have changed a lot. I remember stating that I originally thought 4-H was for farm kids, but I was beginning to realize all of the opportunities available to youth. However, I had no idea what I was about to learn and the experiences I was about to get. As you can see from my previous blogs I have met with and gotten to know many of the staff members. My interviews with them have been wonderful and they have really helped me understand each aspect of the programs and how much really goes into the success of Iowa 4-H. It has been incredible to see how hard people work and the amount of determination they have to better the organization and give youth the best opportunities possible. While all of my experiences this semester have been great I really enjoyed visiting the 4-H center. The center made me feel energetic and happy and it got me excited that there are still camps like t

Name: Brenda Allen Current Position: Extension Program Specialist/4-H Youth Development Hometown: Montezuma, Iowa Education: Undergraduate degree in Social Studies Secondary Education. Master’s degree in School Counseling from Iowa State University. Past Work Experiences: Iowa 4-H Center, National 4-H Center, Teacher for 2 years in Albia, Iowa. Hobbies: Volleyball, biking and Ragbrai, reading, church, going to basketball games. Ultimate Goal in 4-H: To help make stronger young people and stronger communities! Brenda Allen has been working with 4-H for 11 years now but has been involved in 4-H her entire life! She says that 4-H had an impact on her development and leadership skills and she is so thankful she got such significant experiences growing up. She even went to Norway with the International 4-H Youth Exchange for 6 months! She lived with five different families and got to experience a different culture and a different way of living. Brenda works with the 4-H

I spent Thanksgiving Break with my dad in Colorado Springs, Colorado a couple of weeks ago and it was an excellent trip! Not only did I get to eat great food, see family and go hiking in the mountains, but I got to go visit with faculty in the El Paso County 4-H office! I have had such a wonderful semester with Iowa 4-H and have learned a lot so I thought it would be interesting to see what the 4-H program is like in Colorado. While there I spent most of my time with Jonathan Vrabec, the CSU Extension Agent. There are tons of projects and clubs to join their as well, and it is very similar to Iowa. However, wilderness and hunting are two of the popular areas they are involved with. They do not have big state fair like we do so most of their showcasing happens at their Youth Conference in the summer. One thing I noticed was that just like here in Iowa the adults and volunteers are so passionate and truly care about the youth. It is amazing to see how much work people put in

Name: Marisue Hartung Current Position: Youth Program Specialist Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska Education: Undergraduate Degree in Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Master’s degree in Social work from the University of Iowa. Past Work Experiences: Worked as a VISTA volunteer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, The Boys and Girls Club, and the public radio station WOI. Hobbies/Interests: Walking, visiting friends, reading and listening to books while traveling, gardening, and going to sporting events. Ultimate Goal in 4-H: To continue learning about 4-H and to help the counties have the best opportunities so that youth can continue to learn and grow! Marisue Hartung has been working as the Youth Program specialist for Jasper, Mahaska, Marion and Poweshiek counties for almost 5 years. She has a long background in youth development and strongly believes in helping kids become leaders. While talking she mentioned that after working with other programs she liked that 4

Name: Abbie Parker Current Position: Program Specialist (4-H Center) Hometown: Fort Dodge, Iowa Education: Degree in Communication Studies with a minor in Outdoor Education from Iowa State University. Past Work Experiences: Worked at Geneva Point Shire, a camp in New Hampshire for two years. Camp counselor and Intern for the 4-H Center from 2004 to 2007. Hobbies/Interests: Hiking, kayaking, sports, working with youth! Ultimate Goal in 4-H: To get every 4-H member to attend the 4-H Camp in the summer! I went out to the 4-H center and had the chance to visit with the Camp Director, Abbie Parker. We walked around the camp and I got to see a few of the different villages and cabins. I was pleasantly surprised by how large the center was. There was so much land and it was obvious that there are tons of things to do and so many opportunities for kids to participate in during the summer. Abbie highlighted on the fact that there are 25 specialty and combined camps. There a

Name: Marc Peterson Current Position: Urban Program Specialist Birthplace: Ames, Iowa Education: Undergraduate degree in Child and Family Services from Iowa State University. Masters in Public Administration from Iowa State University. Hobbies/Interests: sports, church, running, being outside. Ultimate Goal in 4-H? To help 4-H grow and adapt to develop new ways to bring the experience to families that have never heard of 4-H. Marc Peterson works as a 4-H Urban Program Specialist for ISU in Des Moines. He doesn’t work for the traditional side of 4-H, but with the special programs. Marc helps with service learning projects like “Reach Out Iowa”. He also works with 4-H and other organizations to promote community volunteering! The main focus is on middle school and high school kids to get them more involved and helping in their communities. One of the areas that Marc is working on that really interested me is called “Project Life”. This is a new service learning

Name: Mike Anderson Current Position: Campus 4-H Livestock Program Specialist Hometown: Family Farm in Garner, Iowa Education: Undergraduate degree in Animal Science from Iowa State University. Master’s in Animal Science from Iowa State University. Past Work Experiences: Biotronics – Ames, Iowa as a Beef Ultrasound Lab Manager Purdue Extension – West Lafayette, Indiana as a 4-H Youth Educator, Decatur County Hobbies/Interests: Spending time with his wife and daughter, visiting home and helping with cattle shows, and playing sports such as basketball and golf. Ultimate Goal in 4-H: To make things simpler for families and kids to get involved and join 4-H. Also, to provide more opportunities for kids in urban areas to be more involved with animals. When I interviewed Mike it was pretty evident to me that he had been involved with 4-H his whole life. He grew up on a farm with three older siblings and was very involved with his family’s cattle operation. He was in

This past Sunday afternoon, I volunteered at Cloverland which was held in Nevada, Iowa. It was great to see all of the parent’s and their kids come out and have some fun! I helped at a table making bubble wands using colorful pipe cleaners. The kids loved making different shapes and getting to test their wands. Even Cy had fun blowing bubbles! There were many activities including: - Face Painting - Balloon Animals - Decorating Cookies - Coloring Pet Rocks - Games There was also: - Food - Blow-up slide - Fire Truck - and much more! This was such a great event for families to attend and spend time together! It was a beautiful day and everyone had so much fun! Erika Pletcher

Name: Holly Bignall Current Position: 4-H Program E-SET Coordinator Birthplace: El Paso, Texas Other Locations: Illinois, Germany from age seven to eleven, and Iowa Education: Undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Northern Iowa. Master’s in Women’s Studies, Philosophy, and Religious Studies from Iowa State University. Past Work Experiences: University of Northern Iowa - Cedar Falls, Iowa as a water quality project research assistant Fort Dodge Animal - Fort Dodge, Iowa as a lab technician The Imaginarium (hands on science museum) - Waterloo, Iowa as a science education director. Hobbies/Interests: Being a mom, reading, biking and dancing. Ultimate Goal in 4-H: Have a positive impact on kids by providing them opportunities to discover the fun and excitement of science, engineering, and technology. Help them become well-rounded citizens of this country, their communities, and their families because of the growth they experienced in 4-H. I had the

I am new to the 4-H world and was not a member growing up. I honestly thought 4-H was a club only for the rural community, and the farming aspect of the state fair was the only big event that 4-H participated in. I had no idea how wrong I was. There are a lot of families that have no idea how much 4-H has to offer, and my goal is to take a good look into the heart of the organization and spread the 4-H story. At the end of the summer I volunteered at the event "Stitch This" at the state fair! I was amazed by the creativity and originality of the high school participants. I spoke with one particular girl and she told me that she was really passionate about fashion and creating outfits. She said she was so glad that she found the opportunity to express herself through this 4-H event and that she loved to be challenged! I was amazed by the ideas these contestants came up with and I thought it was such a cool event at the state fair! There are many opportunities in 4-H an

My name is Erika Pletcher and I am a junior majoring in Child, Adult and Family Services at Iowa State. This is my first semester at ISU as I transferred from the University of Northern Iowa this fall. I grew up knowing that I wanted to work with kids, but I always thought I wanted to be a teacher. Last spring I did my first level of student teaching and that is when I realized I wanted to work outside of the classroom and in more of an extracurricular/activities setting. I realized that I could still teach kids and young adults without being an actual teacher. My ultimate goal in life is to be a leader to kids and show them all of the opportunities they have. I just started interning with 4-H and I believe this is one of the best places to begin. I hope to learn more about 4-H and the programs they have to offer as I continue my journey. The one quote that I try to live by and I think is very important is “Do what you love and love what you do”.

The following article was published in the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman's Editorial Section on July 28, 2010. It was written by Rita Cook, an intern with the Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers. It is a strong tribute to the impact 4-H and county fairs have on youth and their development of key life skills such as public speaking, creating and achieving goals, coping with the disappointment and being humble with accomplishment. The Magic of an Iowa County Fair is as Strong as Ever Cowboy singer Chris LeDoux said it best: “Well, there’s a full moon in the western sky, and there’s magic in the air. Ain’t nothin’ I know of, can make you fall in love, like a night at the county fair.” Kids and their parents from all over the nation congregate to exhibit their 4-H and F FA projects at county fairs. Those of you who have attended a county fair before have probably felt “the magic.” For those of you that haven’t, allow me to paint you a picture. More than 30 years ago, two kids felt th

This is the latest 4-H story we have received and we would like to share it with you. This was received from Dr. Christopher D. Hill. "My earliest memories of 4-H in Iowa started with showing model rockets at the Winnebago County Fair and giving presentations on bicycle safety that advanced to the regional Clay County Fair. My experience blossomed to include raising and showing livestock, presenting in local, area, and state settings, and much more. My three sisters and I were all able to serve as members of the State 4-H Council over several years, and I certainly will not forget days and days of fun and hard work to make the Iowa State Fair a success. 4-H is an organization that encourages Iowa's youth to become true community citizen leaders; skills that continue to help 4-H alum succeed in life. 4-H helped me to learn the importance of giving of my time and abilities while honing the proficiency of those same talents. With my family's help, 4-H helped plant the seed of

Story County 4-H volunteers are hard at work this summer compiling photos, stories and contacts from their history. They have been sharing those photos and stories with the 4-H Foundation and we'd like to share them with you. Here are photos that were pulled from the book Milford Twp and Proud of It! by authors Dale Hughes and Jurine Borton (Moore). Both are former Story County 4-H'ers from the Milford Hustlers in the late 1940's and early 1950's. The photos are from Milford Township 4-H clubs in the late 1930's-1960's. The number indicated behind each name is the year they graduated from Milford Township. 1939 - In 1964 this group photo was taken of the first Story County Fair Board of 1939. This was 25 years after this Board developed and built the first buildings on present site in the then SW corner of Nevada. Pictured from left are TC Henryson, Story City; Victor Rilery, Ames; Otis Warren, Milford Twp; Dick Jay, Ames, who was the first board president; an