It might be cold outside, but I’m already thinking about summer as I started meeting with our Junior Camp Team this week. This year, our team includes myself as camp director, eight adult 4-H volunteers with backgrounds in education and health care, and 43 teen camp counselors. You can check out our Team Directory on our website.

For the third year in a row, we started our training with a 6 hour workshop at Rolling Plains United Methodist Church. We are so thankful for the church’s support of our local 4-H program by allowing us to utilize their facilities at no cost.

We kicked off the morning with introductions, as we welcomed a new adult volunteer, Kevin Wagner (club volunteer for Norwich Stovetop Stitchers & Critters), and eight new teens to the mix. This year, I’m working to find ways to get some of our veteran counselors more involved in teaching and mentoring the younger counselors. I asked Lane Heil, a 5th year counselor and Freshman attending OSU-Newark and is also serving as a State FFA Officer to lead the group in team building activities. During the next hour and a half, Lane incorporated a variety of fun activities into teaching the counselors that professionalism is important in their role and it’s all about how they ACT. They discussed the importance of Accountability, Communication and Teamwork as a part of our 2018 Camp Team.

Next I taught them about the Essential Elements of Positive Youth Development and how we can ensure that these elements are present in our camping program. After some down time at lunch, we held our counselor orientation. We spent much of the afternoon brainstorming camp theme ideas. After developing three separate themes – we finally voted on our 2018 camp theme. Stay tuned for an announcement, hopefully in late January!

The 2018 4-H year will mark the fourth year of volunteer fingerprint screening for our club and committee volunteers who support Muskingum County 4-H. The Extension Office has previously notice to our volunteers who need to complete screening  this year in order to continue service with our office.

The deadline for completing fingerprint background checks is Sunday, December 31, 2017. In Muskingum County, 4-H volunteers should have their background check done at:

MUSKINGUM COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
1840 East Pike
Zanesville, OH 43701
Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Use 2151.86 as the reason code you are having the background check completed.  

Holiday hours may affect the above mentioned hours when fingerprints can be taken. Please call ahead to make sure the Sheriff’s Office will be open.  

You just never know where you might find your county 4-H Educators!

On Tuesday, December 19, I had the privilege of participating in Roseville Elementary’s first “Kindness Day.” Teachers and members of the community from organizations like the Muskingum County Animal Shelter, Muskingum County Library System and Philo Athletic staff came together to teach students how to be nice to others!

I worked with 5 groups of students in grades 3-6 – they learned the definition of a compliment and practiced complimenting their classmates. Compliments started out as things we could easily see – “I like your shoes” and “cool hair cut” to those things that are harder to see – “you have a big heart” and “I like how you are always nice to people.” They also realized the importance of saying “thank you!” with sincerity when a compliment is received.

I made sure to let all the students I met know that there is a 4-H Club – Flying R – that meets right at Roseville Elementary. I hope they get a few new members from my time there!

Compliment Circle with 5th graders at RES.

Notes for Members and Volunteers

Beginning this year, all 4-H member and volunteer enrollments will transition to the 4HOnline enrollment system. Families and volunteers will need to log on to the website to enroll in 4-H. No paper enrollment forms will be required or accepted. More details about 4HOnline Family Enrollment will be shared at the 2018 Mandatory Volunteer Training and will be available in the 2018 Muskingum County 4-H Family Handbook.

Notes for Club Organizational Volunteers 

Club Organizational Volunteers will need to designate one volunteer from their club to be a club data manager. It can be the organizational volunteer or a delegate. This individual will be responsible for approving club enrollments using 4HOnline and will have access to a variety of reports to help organize club information. The club data manager is expected to share club rosters with other club volunteers. The club data manager should attend the 4-H Online educational session during the 2018 Mandatory Volunteer Trainings.

Please designate your club data manager to Stefanie by December 31. 

As many of you know, the Muskingum County 4-H program requires ALL volunteers to participate in one Mandatory Volunteer Training annually to remain an approved 4-H volunteer.  This includes committee and camp volunteers. We will be offering three opportunities for you to complete this requirement. All trainings will take place at Mid-East Career and Technology Center, Zanesville Campus. Dates of the 2018 Mandatory Volunteer Trainings are:

1. Monday, January 8, 2018; 6pm – 8pm
2. Thursday, January 18, 2018; 6pm – 8pm
3. Saturday, January 20, 2018; 10am – 12pm

Volunteers will be able to choose one of two educational sessions:

• 4-H Online for Club Data Managers –  click here for more information on club data managers)
• 4-H Fundamentals

Please RSVP at least two days in advance and select your educational session by registering here.