By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The 4-H year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 each year. That made Tuesday's appearance by Michelle Beran with the Cottonwood District of K-State Research and Extension before the Barton County Commission a recruitment call. Beran said a goal for the upcoming year is to get more kids into the program.
"We currently have about 130 4-H members this past year in our program," she said. "That does not include 5-6-year-old Cloverbuds. That's 7-18s. That number is down a little bit but that number is down statewide. We are looking at lots of different ways to do some recruiting and to build those numbers back up across the county."
Beran updated the commission on projects involving 4-H members in Barton and Ellis Counties. A group of 4-H20 Ambassadors toured a water plant and spent a day at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center with the goal of learning how to present conservation management information to groups of all ages. The Ambassadors also went on a field trip to Garden City last spring to tour a golf course and see how the facility manages water use. Forty-two 4-H members qualified to take entries to the Kansas State Fair, and Beran transported nearly 70 entries to Hutchinson.
"We have seven active clubs across our county, so we are looking forward to the enrollment process getting started and adding some new young people this year," she said.
The commission also heard from 4-H members Ailey Williams and Melody Braddy, who discussed how 4-H has benefitted them. The board proclaimed Oct. 6-12 as National 4-H Week.
Youth who turn seven before Jan. 1 of the current 4-H year are eligible to enroll, and youth who turn 19 before Jan. 1 of the current 4-H year are ineligible to enroll. Children who celebrate a fifth or sixth birthday before Jan. 1 of the current year are eligible to enroll in the 4-H Cloverbud program.