Alexander County 4-H Newsletter

ALL 4-H members and volunteers MUST be enrolled in 4-H Online to participate in any programs or clubs that are provided by Alexander County 4-H.

For more information and to start the enrollment process please visit the following link:

https://alexander.ces.ncsu.edu/2022/01/time-to-enroll-in-4-h/

If you have any questions regarding enrollment or need help with enrollment please contact DJ Salyer at 828-632-3125. Again, no child or volunteer can participate in 4-H events without being enrolled.

District Activity Day

District Activity Day registration is due May 30th. If you would like to participate in presentations or 4-H Entertains contest please let DJ Salyer, 4-H Agent, know ASAP. dj_salyer@ncsu.edu

District Activity Day (DAD) is a 4-H Presentation public speaking competition for youth to present information on the topic of their choice. 4-H Presentations are a huge part of North Carolina 4-H. It is one of the most successful way to help a young person learn how to do a public speech. It focuses on members teaching others what they know about a particular project/subject matter. They are sometimes called demonstrations or illustrated talk or a formal speech. The speech/presentation should be between 5 and 12 minutes. District winners compete at the state level. State winners in sponsored categories receive cash awards! In specific categories, the State-winning seniors may go on to compete at the National level.

Alexander County 4-H Garden Club met in April to learn about how soils are formed, what our different soil layers are, and how different soils filter water differently. One of the experiments we conducted demonstrated how clay soils can filter out green food coloring from colored water, whereas sandy soils did not. The group also learned about erosion and why it is important to have healthy plant material rather than bare soils. Of course we had to make our very own edible soil layers as well….(or I guess maybe one giant layer of sugar haha!). Our 4-H Garden Club also planted some gourds for a long-term project of making birdhouses out of the gourds eventually!!

If you are interested in having your kids join our 4-H Garden Club, please send me an email at cari_mitchell@ncsu.edu and feel free to join us at our next meeting on May 11th at 5:30pm!

What is AIRE: AIRE (Application, Resume, Interview, and Essay) is a workforce development and college prep program, and it’s how NC 4-H selects youth to participate in National 4-H Events. Any 4-H youth member ages 11 – 18 is welcome to participate.

AIRE registration is open until June 5, 2023. There is a two-step registration process: 1) Register to participate in 4-HOnline (Look at the “Events tab” on your profile page when you log in to 4-HOnline); then 2) Upload your AIRE documents using the QR code.