Has it really almost been a year?

Working with two members of the Kids Helping Kids 4-H Club.

      The saying "time flys when your having fun" holds true with my experience at the University of Illinois Extension. I can't believe that I have been an intern at Unit 13 for almost a year!

Working with Second Wind Running Club

     The past six months have flown by. In late November, the Champaign County Federation started the Kids Helping Kids 4-H club. This club was created to help the other youth in the Champaign County area. This club wanted to raise money to help children with financial restrictions participate in activities throughout the summer. They wanted to do 5K to raise funds for the youth. After this idea, I was known as "race coordinator".



     
   However, I was not the only one who coordinated this race. Ten members of Kids Helping Kids club created committees and served on these committees in order to complete tasks involving the 5K. Committees included: Course Logistics, Refreshments, Runner Logistics, Public Relations, and Giveaways. Each committee was responsible for certain items that were crucial to complete for this 5K to be successful.


The 4-H members and myself learned a lot about event planning and working with other organizations through this 5K. We were able to work with the Urbana Park District, the City of Urbana, Second Wind Running Club, Advantage Adverstising, and Awards Limited. Without the help from all of these businesses and organizations, our 5K would not have been possible. Through all of our interactions, the 4-Her's have improved on their leadership skills and their communication strategies. At the Decemeber meeting, I was able to teach the club members how to give a proper "elevator speech". This was a stragety that the kids would use for promoting the 5K, but they will be able to use it throughout the rest of their professional careers.

The first 4-H Kids Helping Kids 5K was held on April 13, 2013 at Crystal Lake Park in Urbana. We had 61 participants in the 5K with 47 of them finishing. Even though we did not get our goal of 100 participants, we still call the 5K a success. The club did raise money that will be used to help out many kids across the Champaign County area. I was and still am so proud of all of the hardwork the 4-Her's did to make this event a success. It was great for them to see how hardwork and determination can pay off.

The members of the Kids Helping Kids 4-H Club

 

Now that I am retiring the name "race coordinator", it is time to get ready for fair season. I am very excited to start working with all of the volunteers at the 4 county fairs. I am ready to make this fair season the best yet!


Well, the semester is drawing to a close and that means crunch time at the RHFS department at Carle. We have several Progressive Ag Safety Days coming up, for which I am organizing donations and other sponsorship materials.  It's so encouraging to see the different ways local businesses will support the youth in learning safety both on and off the farm.  I'm hoping the productive streak I've been on will continue through the final push towards summer. 

In other news, the curriculum I've been working on all school year is going to be finalized really soon, it is currently distributed among many ag teachers and other professionals in the agriculture field for review. I'm excited to get the constructive criticisms back so I can work towards creating even more effective lessons to teach the high school students how to be safe when working with grain bins, electricity, etc.  I'm happy to see it coming through the final stages or production and knowing it will soon be used in high schools in local communities.