Seasons Greetings!

Season’s Greetings PA 4-H!
I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season full of food, memories, and relatives. As the New Year sneaks around the corner, your PA State Council is busy preparing for one final event: State Leadership Conference! As the papers pour in, the t-shirts are printed, and the members are registered, the anxiously awaited State Leadership Conference (SLC) grows ever closer. With a larger array of workshop choices, an enthusiastic keynote speaker, and a sweet spy theme, what could be better! Also at SLC will be the changing of the state officer team, however; it will be a little different this year because the program year is changing. Since this term is only six months, the officers of the 2008 and 2009 team have been asked to step in and join a transition team which will fill in until State Achievement Days in mid-July until the new team takes over.
Not only do you, the members of PA 4-H, get to take part in the awesome event known as State Leadership Conference, but you can also give back to those in need. This year’s state project is “Checkout the Silver” and it only takes a few seconds of your time and you can do it in the comfort of your own home. I know you are probably asking yourself “Wait… How is that possible?” Not only is it possible, it is true! By simply saving the tabs from the tops of your soda cans, you can allow a family to stay with their youth while the youngster receives treatment in these challenging times. These soda tabs will be collected at State Leadership Conference and donated to the Ronald McDonald House located in Danville, PA.
I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone. I remember getting my jacket at SLC like it was yesterday. State Council has challenged me in so many ways for the better. I had never had an opportunity like this before and I probably never will again. It has been an honor to take part in this and I couldn’t have survived without the rest of the 2009 team.

Your final quote:
“The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor." -Vince Lombardi


As always, if you have questions please feel free to contact me!
Jessica Lehman
j.lehman09@gmail.com
PA State Vice-President of Internal Affairs

2010...Here We Come!

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the Christmas Season with your families. Much of my month has been spent doing just that and also finishing my first semester at Penn State.
I completed my search for SLC sponsors this month when I sent letters to over 50 businesses in the Lancaster-Harrisburg area. Thank you to all the donors across the state for their generous gifts to help make SLC 2010 possible!
In preparation for SLC, I've been working on a special PowerPoint that will play during the closing ceremony. This is one of the ideas that came from our trip to New Mexico this summer. As Reporter, it is also my duty to put together a scrapbook of all of our activites this year. That has been a big project for me in the past weeks.
The next event for State Council will be at the Farm Show. On January 8 we will attend the Governor's Dinner. On the 9th we will take part in Farm Show Opening Ceremonies and then do a demonstration called "Biofuel Blast".
After Farm Show, we do our Hotel Walk Through to plan our SLC set-up. Next is SLC 2010...License to Lead! Hope to see you there and bring all of your soda tabs for the collection!!

Countdown to SLC: 29 DAYS

Jeanette Blank
State Council Reporter/Historian

December Updates

Season's Greetings Pennsylvania 4-Hers!

I hope that you all had a wonderful winter break! As a council, we did not have a formal meeting. However, we are starting to prepare items for the Leadership Conference coming up on January 29th.

Our next event is the 2010 Pennsylvania Farm Show. On January 8th, we will be attending the Governor's Dinner and the following day we will be attending the Opening Ceremonies. I will also be there on the opening Sunday to give presentations at the Penn State Ag Booth about my 4-H experience. I will be making a presentation about my angora rabbits and background about the rabbit industry.

Hope to see you at Farm Show and SLC!

Until next time,

Alex Stepnoski
Council VPC

Hello PA 4-H,

It is hard to believe that the end of 2009 is just around the corner! The State Council has been busy keeping up with preparing for the State Leadership Conference which is coming up in a few short weeks. I hope you all are ready for some fun! The first thing we will be doing in 2010 is the PA State Farm Show. Saturday is Opening Ceremonies and only speaking for myself, I am proud to represent the 4-H program there. For all of you exhibiting at Farm Show, good luck with everything, you are at the largest competition for our state and represent the 4-H program through it all. The 4-H program will be having stage shows throughout the week and the council will be doing a few things with that as well at the 4-H booth were some of us Council members will be hanging out to answer questions and to talk. Come on over to chat and see what is going on.

The big event is almost here!! The 2010 State Leadership Conference "License To Lead" is approaching fast. I cannot wait to see all of you there. With all of the helpful and fun workshops, the amazing speakers, and of course all of you in attendance this conference will be a blast. So grab your notebooks and get ready to learn and obtain your License To Lead. The Council is still working hard at getting everything put together for the weekend.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. See you all in 2010!!

Laura Pifer

Happy Holidays!

Season's Greetings Everyone!
I can hardly believe that I am halfway through my senior year of High School and Christmas break is just next week! Things have been crazy as our council has been busy planning for SLC and are getting ready for the Farm Show. I can hardly wait to have the whole team together again! We have some great surprises for everyone at conference. You all will get to see sides of our team that have never been revealed including a special side of me. We have an amazing opening ceremonies planned along with new icebreakers to play. We hope you have fun as you get your License to lead!
On the other hand, it is sad as we approach our last month together, but know we will always have our great connection as the 2009 State 4-H council team! We have had some great memories and I have had the time of my life making a new "family"
Hope to see you all soon at either the Farm show or SLC!
Your Council Secretary,
Christy Lambert

Hello everyone! I hope all of your Thanksgiving breaks were filled with great food, family, and laughter. I know mine was. Just after Thanksgiving I did not go Black Firday shopping like many of you may have, I did one a little better. I boarded a plane to The beautiful state of Georgia. I was in Atlanta for The National 4-H Congress from Friday to Tuesday. During that time I was one of many representing Pennsylvania. I know I speak on behalf of everyone that went when I say that we learned a lot about the 4-H in the different states and Puerto Rico that were represented. We participated in workshops such as speed meeti ng where we had a few minutes to meet different 4-H'ers, Teambuilding, and then a few unique workshops that were selected. My selected workshops were Bake Bread:Build Communities, one on how to travel more efficiently, And Irish Step Dancing. At Congress we also participated in a service project. I did my service at an elementary school. There I got to help a second grade class prepare for their Christmas Program. Wew made costumes and decorated them with glitter. The children were very excited to work with us and had questions for some of us about where we were from. We later concluded on Tuesday with our closing ceremonies and ultimately the plane ride home. At the Pittsburgh airport we said our goodbyes to our Western region delegates and decided that everyone should attend the State Leadership Conference.
At the State Leadership Conference we have workshops planned for Saturday, we offer the opportunity to meet 4-her's from across the state and we have a service project Check out the Silver. Remember to save your soda tabs for the project and sign up for the State Leadership Conference before the deadline! It's coming up fast so hurry.

please comment with any questions you may have, I hope to see everyone in January! =)

Have a Happy Holidays,

Jamie Forinash
President