July!

Hello to one and all!!!

Wow did the month of July fly by! So much happened this month between the New Mexico trip and State Achievement Days. I guess it is better to start at the beginning and work toward the end.

At the beginning of the month we were all preparing for our trip to New Mexico State University. It was a great experience and we had a blast (I know that I did!). After the New Mexico Council visited Pennsylvania for our State Leadership Conference, it was decided to return the favor and attend their State Conference. We flew out of the State College Airport on July 12 and ended up in El Paso, Texas later that afternoon. After the flight, three total, we had a nice drive through the mountains up to Las Cruces, New Mexico. Throughout the week we participated in an array of activities that included a carnival, visiting the NASA testing facility, the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, and presenting two leadership workshops. Our first workshop was on public speaking. We got the members involved by using our Fish Bowl method and having them practice impromptu ideas. The other workshop focused on people skills. We presented ways to be able to speak with people and how to stay yourself while being professional. The New Mexico 4-H members also taught us a few things along the way. At their dances, they Two Step to everything, and we had the chance to try it for ourselves. That week brought us even closer as a team and gave us the chance to show ourselves to another part of the country. It was time to head home to cooler temperatures and a different time zone on that Friday. All of our luggage followed us to New Mexico and it kept up on the way home too. The only trouble we ran into was on our final flight from Detroit to State College, when the plane's navigation did not work and we had to stay in the airport until 12:30 am on Saturday. This gave us the chance to talk to others in the airport about 4-H.

Then there was State Achievement Days!! As I am still unpacking from this past week, I look back on what happened. We started out with the amazing video, that Alex was a genius with. Our theme for the week was "Rev Up" so what better to do than have a race between the Head, Heart, Hands, and Health? All in all the message behind the race was that when all 4 of the H's work together is when they are at their best. Dean Bruce McPheron gave the opening welcome and our State Program Leader, Ms. Christy Bartley presented the awards to three incredible 4-H members. Following opening ceremonies came this years keynote speaker, Ms. Laurie Stewart who spoke on an array of topics spanning from respect to peer pressure. For Wednesday the contests began and the council had a meeting over lunch with Ms. Bartley to bounce some ideas around about the program and things we thought of during our visit to New Mexico. Thursday brought on Closing Ceremonies and the awards which went amazing. After that everyone cleaned up and headed home.

This is only a summary of what went on for the council over the past month and believe me that so much has happened. Keep watching for more updates from the 2009 State 4-H Council to see what we are up to and what is going on in Pennsylvania 4-H.

Good bye for now!
Laura Pifer