2009 4H Fair Race 3 Miler
COLDWATER – On Friday a light drizzle and 75 degrees made for perfect 3-mile running conditions. The Fair Race every August has been sunny and 90+ degrees in recent years. The 4H Fair 3 Mile Run started and finished at Waterworks Park. The route is flat and fast and passes through the Fairgrounds Amphitheater. This year’s overall winner was Jay Bilsborrow nearly breaking the course record with a time of 14:37. The women’s winner was fifteen year old Gabbie Bates with an outstanding time of 18:53. Age division winners were Mitchell Klingler (Male 18 & Under, 16:02), Gabbie Bates (Female 18 Years & Under, 18:53), Jay Bilsborrow (Male 19-29, 14:37), Tricia Rzepka (Female 19-39, 24:11), Bob Bates (Male 30-39, 16:12), Sharon Demeester (Female 40 & Over), Danny Higbee (Male 40-49, 17:52), Dan Washburn (Male 50-59, 18:50), Steve Dobson (Male 60 & Over, 25:05).
Popular Author Applauds Free Confidence Boosting Public Speaking Program – Education
Popular originator Martin Ng has applauded the elimination during a New York 4H Club in Liberty to proffer untenanted obvious speaking training to teenagers. According to Mr Ng, the training could not solely boost in dealing in later bounce, but boost belfry away teenage mad turmoil.
Singapore – Popular originator Martin Ng has applauded the Liberty 4H Club’s elimination to proffer untenanted obvious speaking training for the treatment of teens in the district, saying that it not solely provides dealing skills, but can boost division away teen angst.
“There acquire been diverse mad robustness benefits seen from obvious speaking training, according to studies.
“Public speaking training is such a overdone imperturbability builder – the earlier in bounce that people inhale an oath in it, the greater the lessons are infatuated to heart”, said Mr Ng. I would like to finance the Liberty 4H Club’s aggressiveness government-sponsored and extended worldwide”, he continued. It runs fully 8 weeks, and includes units on influence and obvious speaking.
The training is hosted during Sullivan County 4H and Mike LaFountain of the district Toastmasters Club. The go takes an hour a week, and is untenanted for the treatment of participants between 13 and 19 years of duration.
A brand-new determination of the program’s about confirmed the following advantages for the treatment of participants:
• Better self confidence
• Increased affinity with other students and parents
• More motivation for the treatment of thing building
• Better big name at exams and interviews
• Better awareness of group concerns and values
The Mental Health Statistic Improvement Program also recently published on the reassuring effects of obvious speaking, noting assurance, imperturbability and self-worth as the essential peremptory effects of obvious speaking training.
Mental Health Ireland has been race obvious speaking training and summits for the treatment of teens for the treatment of a handful years at this decidedly moment.
“I in savanna words acquire debt that dollop kids brook outfit relating to themselves is a overdone evidence in the direction of fixing a myriad of group problems.
Mr Ng’s soft-cover, ‘Surviving Speaking Disasters’, is bounty online and well-reviewed during a attendants of obvious speaking experts. Public speaking training is a overdone system to boost kids brook outfit relating to themselves – this close-fisted investment could parsimonious reverenced benefits down the line”, said Mr Ng of the Liberty untenanted training.
About Martin Ng:
A dealing hold from Singapore, Martin Ng uses his finely honed obvious speaking skills in the go of his hourly chore for the treatment of training, presentations and making pitches. Martin’s e-book, ‘Surviving Speaking Disasters’ (available at www.survivingspeakingdisasters.com), is satisfactorily regarded during bounce coaches and mavin presenters, as satisfactorily as hourly dealing people.
Local 4H youth attend Heartland overnight camp
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
George Anderson Daily Dunklin Democrat
 |
| Members of the Dunklin County 4H Club, including, front row: Scott Jackson Smart, counselor, of Clarkton, Mo.; Sam McHaney, of Kennett; Britlyn Pikey, counselor, of Kennett; Tatum Lowry, of Kennett; Joe Mobley, of Kennett; Back row: Dalton Jackson Smart, of Clarkton; Cheyenne Long, of Kennett; Max Mobley, of Kennett; recently attended the Heartland 4H Camp at Bloomfield, Mo.Photo provided |
BLOOMFIELD, Mo. — Eight members of the Dunklin County 4H Club, along with 57 members from six counties, recently attended the 2009 Heartland 4H Overnight Camp.The eight members who attended the camp included Kennett residents Sam McHaney, Britlyn Pikey, Tatum Lowry, Joe Mobley, Max Mobley, and Cheyenne Long, as well as Clarkton, Mo., residents Scott Jackson Smart and Dalton Jackson Smart.
The camp, which took place at the SEMO Youth Camp at Lake Wappapello, ran from July 14 to July 16, according to 4H Youth Specialist Clara Green.
Green said 4H members from Bollinger, Butler, Dunklin, Mississippi, Ripley, and Stoddard Counties spent the three-day-event learning craftsmanship from various leaders.
“The 4-H members also learned about Native American Art works from Arrowhead Fred [and] a spokesman from Scott City taught them about various tools that Native Americans used and how they used them,” Green said. “Gary Tyler of SEMO University, continued the effort of discussing ideas and themes of Native American culture [and club] members danced to the tunes of Allen Shulse.”
Green said volunteer leaders, Phyllis Flanigan, Ronnie Martin, J.T. Brehmer, Jerry Hale, Angie Hale, Iris Elfrink, A.B. Hale, Kim Lowry, Martha Mobley, Dawn Smart, and EMT Artie Smart, provided expert assistance throughout the camp experience and deserve a special “Thank you.”
“[The club members] had a really good time at camp and it was a bonding experience for them,” said volunteer Kim Lowry of Kennett. “They got to meet kids from all over the different counties. The really cool thing about it is they don’t always have time to bond at rodeos, [but] at camp, it is a more relaxing experience.”
During the course of the camp, meals were provided the Butler County 4H Council, the Stoddard County Extension Council, Tyson Food, and Jeff and Lisa Brown of Dexter, Mo., according to Green.
Green also said the University of Missouri 4H staff, 4H members and leaders made several donations and spent time benefiting the 4H youth from the six counties attending camp.
Grooming goats for the Westport Fair
Local youngsters prepare for the showmanship competition
< Previous
Next >
*
Pictured here back in April at Lyons Brook Farm, (from left) Erinn Harrington, Kelly Amaral and Katelyn Harrington hold newborn kids.
*
Richard W. Dionne Jr.
Haley Armstrong, 11, of the Westport Animal Tenders, shaves a goat named Hidden Treasure at Lyons Brook Farm on Wednesday. She is readying the goat for an event at the Westport Agricultural Fair.
*
A favorite of the goats at Lyons Brook Farm, Kelly Amaral, 10, receives a kiss from one of her fans. She has been showing goats for the past three years with the Westport Animal Tenders.
*
Pictured here back in April at Lyons Brook Farm, (from left) Erinn Harrington, Kelly Amaral and Katelyn Harrington hold newborn kids.
*
Richard W. Dionne Jr.
Haley Armstrong, 11, of the Westport Animal Tenders, shaves a goat named Hidden Treasure at Lyons Brook Farm on Wednesday. She is readying the goat for an event at the Westport Agricultural Fair.
By Jill Rodrigues
Article Tools
Print
Email
ShareThis
WESTPORT — Other girls her age might spend their time taking dance class or shopping, Haley Armstrong said last Thursday, not cleaning and trimming fur on goats.
But then they miss out on the love of caring for goats, watching the kids romp about on their spring-like legs, and observing goats give birth — “kind of gross, but like a miracle at the same time” — said 11-year-old Haley, of Tiverton.
Haley’s interest in raising farm animals, however, is homegrown. Lyons Brook Farm, on 76 Drift Road in Westport, where Haley and four other local children learn to care for show goats is owned by Haley’s grandmother, Sandi Porter-Farias. So Haley’s had a hand in farm work all her life.
Not so for Kelly Amaral, 10, of Westport, who has been showing goats for the past three years with the Westport Animal Tenders (both Kelly and Haley think the club’s name sounds too much like bite-size breaded chicken pieces). Her love of animals drew her to participating in the local 4H program. And then the fun of showing how well she can handle a goat in front of a judge is what’s kept her there.
Westport’s 4H club is at its lowest membership this year, with seven members, since Ms. Porter-Farias and her late husband started the program in 1998. She teaches how to show goats to five members, while another two members, Westport brothers who raise sheep, learn on their own and through university agricultural programs.
“Sometimes we get an influx with a whole bunch of kids,” said Ms. Porter, who took up raising goats after she retired from teaching Westport elementary students. “And then they all leave.”
These programs teach children about more than just the responsibility of caring for an animal, Ms. Porter-Farias said. They have to do community service. This past year the Westport Animal Tenders collected food for local pantries and participated in Relay For Life, a fund-raiser for cancer research. At the fair they’ve entered, children must give a visual presentation on any research topic of their choosing. And they have to keep records of their projects, community service, caring for the goats and awards they’ve won.
“It teaches you how to be a leader,” Haley said.
“I used to be really shy but that’s changed,” Kelly said. “I just started to talk more to people.”
Readying for the fair
Katelyn Harrington trimmed the fur of the goat, Just In Time, she planned to show at a Connecticut fair last weekend. Having joined the club in the last year, this was going to be the first time she entered a showing competition. Her sister, Erinn, 9, is also a newcomer to the club.
“I’m a little nervous, but I’m really excited about it,” said Katelyn, a 12-year-old Westport resident.
Advertisement
Fall River Country Club
All of the girls will compete in either showmanship — how well you handle a goat — and fitting — how well the goat is groomed — in five fairs over the next few months. They’ll be showing at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, July 17 in the dairy goat competition at the Westport Fair.
Trimming the goats’ fur with clippers makes the coat look nice, Haley said. “If it gets too thick, it doesn’t look too pretty and a lot of stuff gets stuck in it,” Haley said, especially because goats have a penchant for rolling in dirt.
As Haley and Kelly groomed a goat, Ms. Porter-Farias noted that they start trimming on the hind legs and work their way in the opposite direction of hair growth, and slowly, she emphasized.
“Are you following that hair line?” Ms. Porter-Farias asked Kelly.
Haley ticked off what she’s learned in trimming a goat’s coat: “Keep the clippers down. Don’t lift the clippers until you’re done with what you want to do. And you don’t rush.”
Members also have to wash the goats in the summer, feed them, and fill their stalls with wood shavings as bedding and some hay for nibbling. They do it all except clean out the stalls.
Handling a goat is the hard part since an adult goat can weigh two or three times what the girls weigh. Last Thursday, all four of the girls there said they’d been dragged around by a particularly ornery goat named Patches.
“This goat tries to trip me in the show ring,” said Kelly, as she led Rascal around by the collar. “I fell in Barnstable (county fair) but I got right back up.”
Judges frown upon walking behind a goat while showing it, Ms. Porter-Farias said. “It looks awkward.” And they can’t pass the leash from one hand to another to turn around with the goat.
“We teach the kids that they’re a sandwich,” Ms. Porter-Farias said. They’re on one side and the judge is on the other side and the goat is in the middle. You’ve gotta keep the jelly in the middle.”
None of the girls are in this club to win showmanship awards. Erinn, Haley and Kelly said they’d like to raise animals, like goats, horses and chickens, as pets and for sustenance when they get older.
Their shared interest in animals gives several of them another common dream to work with animals. Erinn said she’d like to be a veterinarian, or a basketball player. Katelyn said she and a friend of hers have talked about one day opening a veterinary business. Kelly said she wants to be a marine biologist.
“I want Sandi’s job,” said Haley, who imagined taking over her grandmother’s dairy goat farm. “I’d like to keep 4H going, too.”
The Luck of the Irish
John Lennon ,Yoko Ono
Kids in the country
Moving kids to the country. If you’re considering moving outside the city – even beyond the suburbs – with your family, no doubt you’ve wondered what kind of impact it will have on your children. Certainly the first concern is how they will leave the friends and activities they’re used to and adapt to a whole new community and all it does – or doesn’t – offer in comparison.
Generally speaking, the younger the child, the easier the transition. Children under eight years of age may barely remember things from their former digs once a few years have gone by in the new location. Needless to say the transition can be more difficult the older the children are. There are windows of opportunity, however, as they graduate from grade school to middle school, middle school to high school as many of their friends may migrate to different schools all together at that point. And as they move into larger school communities and mature in their own right, it’s likely their group of friends will change anyway.
Moving to the Colorado countryside is a dream many adults have, and with good reason. The crime rate is lower, the pace is slower and the surrounds bring about a peace that is hard to come by in the constant stimulation of city life. But it is a big move if you have a family. Here’s what to expect – depending, of course on your exact location – if you take the plunge
Education – First of all, don’t assume that just because you’ve traded a large school district for a smaller one that you’ve doomed your child’s future. Check out greatschools.net to see how the country school you’re considering stacks up against the school your child already attends.
Activities – Most of your child’s activities will be school-based, though your choices will be more limited. Don’t expect anything franchised – such as Little Gym or Gymboree – unless you’re willing to travel a bit to attend. A 4H club offers excellent, affordable learning opportunities for children beyond livestock including aerospace, forestry and even theater arts. And living closer to nature affords more chances for spontaneous hiking, fishing, biking, kite-flying, nature walks and even geocaching.
Faith – In a small town, there will most likely be at least one faith-based youth group for your child to attend as well as a Sunday school class. However, depending on your faith tradition, you may have to travel to attend a synagogue, mosque or Christian denomination other than those represented in your town.
Safety – While there are fewer overall safety concerns in the country don’t be fooled. There are still dangers including meth labs and a greater instance of chewing tobacco use. And without multiplexes and malls, restless teens might find their own dangerous diversions. As with any locale, parents need to be diligent in overseeing just what their kids are up to.
All in all, the country is a great place to raise a child. What it lacks in cultural opportunities, it makes up for in the confidence a child learns growing up surrounded by friendly, encouraging faces. And, when you need a bit of big city culture, there’s always the family vacation.
