The past month of March was quite busy for young people in Tyrrell County’s 4-H Program

On March 6th,Tyrrell County 4 H held a S.T.E.M (science, technology,engineering,math) fair.

Beforehand any interested 4 H member was encouraged to pick up a trifold presentation board from the extension Office, and get to work on a S.T.E.M project.

Around 12 young people registered and began their projects.

Previous years, 4 H S.T.E.M fairs have been quite large, and open not only to Tyrrell County 4 H, but also surrounding counties.

Previous STEM Fair locations have been at the Vernon James Center in Roper, and Tyrrell County Elementary school.

This year however, it was scaled down and just held at the Tyrrell County Extension Office.

It was quite encouraging to see a good turn out of proud young 4 H members proudly bring in their tri fold boards that they had been hard at work on, and set them upon the display tables.

The younger entrants 8 and under were not judged.Examples of some of their projects were as follows:
“Testing Lung capacity, by using water,”
“Evaporation and effects on sugar and salt”
“Observing the effect of food dye in celery and growing crystals.”

Older participants were awarded prizes.
Examples of their projects are as follows:
“Studying the effects of Gluten in Flour.”
“Comparing Baking Powder and Baking Soda,
Studying Backyard Insects,
Comparing the use of honey, sugar and molasses to feed yeast in bread making,
“Comparing food marinades effect in meat, and the coloration of potatoes.”

Judges had been invited to the event to preview the entries, however  the focus of the event on the actual day was not on who won, but on congratulating all the participants for taking the time to prepare and present a science project that they had learned about, and wanted to share.

The participants were all awarded one prize that they were most excited about. A stipend towards a Tyrrell County 4 H summer event !

 

Now that the S.T.E.M was over, the focus turned to the next big event in March.District Activity Day.This 4 H event is held annually.It is a very large event, and is eagerly awaited for by  4 H members!

Previous locations have been as far away as Tarboro, but this year( and last year) the College of the Albemarle Elizabeth City was the chosen place.

District Activity day, is a day for 4 H members from the 22 surrounding counties to give presentations.

There are a wide variety of subjects that can be chosen from to present on, ranging from forestry,egg cookery, to horse care, to sewing( to name a few at random ! )

Having been involved in 4 H presentations for 8 years now, I can proudly say that Tyrrell County should be proud ! Every year we have great participation ,and every year we walk away with wonderful awards! It really is a commitment and something to be proud of also,for the participating children and youth.

There is a lot of work involved.The subject has to researched. Then it has to be written about and turned into a script that will be memorized by the day of the event.In most presentations, boards need to be prepared that visually explain the subject. And usually there are props that need to be made to accompany the presentation.

Even though there seems to be endless hours of preparing , seeing the children gain many life skills makes it all worth it.They learn to research, and prepare the whole presentation, and persevere. But the skill to speak in public cannot be out weighed.On the day, they all have to stand in front of three judges and present. The Cloverbuds, who are 5 until 8 are not judged. They stand and present to three people, and they are asked questions about their presentations, but it is all very casual and encouraging for them.

Ages 9 and up, it is far more formal.It takes quite a lot of courage for participants to stand there and follow all the instructions they have been learning. Speak slowly, speak clearly, stand still, make eye contact with the judges, look at all the judges, do not fidget, and do not forget to smile !!!

There is such a sense of accomplishment at the end, and it is so lovely to see the proud faces after they have finished, whether they won a medal or not.

This year Tyrrell County had entries as follows.

Lydia Swain , “Bread cookery”, won silver .

Sam Clough, “Cross breeding potatoes”, won gold.

William Shreckengost,” Back yard bugs,” won participation ribbon.

Layah Fauth, “Songs written about events in history” won bronze.

Jacob fauth “Yoyo’s” won gold.

Clover Buds:

Stephen Spruill “Magic”

Ruthie Fauth “The Secret Garden”

Carter Brouche “Making a lego movie”

Darcey Brouche “Making snow cream”

Anabelle Grayson “Weather safety”

Tucker and Brodie Flemming ” Celery coloration with food dye”

Another section of the District Activity Day, is 4 H Entertains.

This year, Jon Mark Swain entered with a Cecil and Leonard comedy skit, and was chosen to go on to compete in Raleigh.

Gabby Smith sang and played guitar.

Layah Fauth sang, and was chosen to entertain at the closing award ceremony.

 

This year there were roughly 230 presenters from the 22 counties.

The auditorium at the college was packed at the closing ceremony.

The representative of The College of Albemarle addressed  us all before the very excited presenters began to be called up to receive their awards. She commented that she was very happy the 4 H had chosen this venue, and that she was very happy to offer the  COA premises for such an excellent educational program.

 I would like to thank the very wonderful Tyrrell County people that helped behind the scenes to encourage our children.Thanks for being involved in our children’s lives.

And of course, well done children !!!!!!

 

The month of April is now upon us, and the next 4 H event will be the Livestock show, which will be held at Tyrrell Hall on 16th April.

Tyrrell county has a record breaking amount of children participating this year, and welcome the community to come and share in this exciting event.

Call 796 1581 for further details.