[insert awesome council member's name here]

Hello all my lovely 4-H friends!
May was a great month, wasn't it? Of course, I'm a little biased because it was my birthday month! But in a weird way, it's hard to accept that I'm finally 19.  There's no more getting away with that "4-H age" stuff once January comes along, I can't cheat this time. This is really it.  I don't like to think about it because technically I still have until the end of December to be in 4-H, but now that I'm 19 and summer has come along, I can't help but think about how many "lasts" I have crammed into the next 3 months: last year as a 4-H camp counselor, last year as a 4-H entry in the fair, and last Achievement Days/last day as a member of State Council.  Because after all that, I don't have much left to do in my 4-H career.
Wow. I guess I'm realizing my own 4-H mortality.
(That's the best way I could think to describe it. Don't judge.)
So, being 19 and realizing my days as a traditional 4-Her are numbered, I'm doing what anyone would do when they realize their own 4-H mortality, and I've been frantically trying to think of ways to stay in 4-H!! Can I be a leader in my club?? Will I ever be able to be staff at a state event?? Will people remember me??
Will people remember me? I think that's one of the most common questions anyone in my position has asked or will ask in the future.  Especially State Council members.  
In my experience, I've heard many reasons why 4-Hers join Council.  We want to be leaders, we want to make the most of our 4-H experience, it's our last year in 4-H, etc. But one reason that I think comes subconsciously is that we all want to be remembered in some way.  We know that we can't stay in 4-H forever, and many of us will never have the ability to be club leaders or become Extension educators or any part of the Penn State staff.   Especially if you're a shy person like me, it's easy to feel that you haven't made a difference.  So what better way to be remembered than to wear a fancy green jacket and promote this great organization in our state for an entire year?
But the thing is, not everybody can be remembered. It's impossible. And if anyone random out there can name every single person who has ever been on council from memory, that's seriously weird.  
Usually, when referring to a council, people don't say "the 2011 council" or "the 2008 council". They say "[insert awesome council member's name here]'s council".  And there are a few awesome council members who get their name in that slot very often. Others, not so much. Maybe I haven't done as much as some of my predecessors, and I don't deserve to have my name in that space.  But I hope that at least a few people will look back at what we did this year and say, "Oh yeah, that was Sophie's council!" 
Have a jubilant June! 
Sophie Hutchinson, Council Representative

State Achievement Days

Greetings once again Pennsylvania 4-H! 

Just a few days ago I found myself surprised that my junior year is almost over! As of next Friday I will have completed another year of school. I started thinking about how a few years ago I used to look at the "big" juniors and seniors and wonder what it must be like to be them and here I am now, one of them, and I don't feel any different than that significantly shorter version of me did a few years ago. I'm older and bigger, but I don't feel like I am. It's an interesting phenomenon that I'm thinking I'll keep feeling especially as I get older. I guess I'll have to wait and see if I actually ever feel older!

With the end of the school year means the beginning of summer and with the beginning of summer means that the 4-H State Achievement Days are coming up! This is a calling to all PA 4-H members 13-18 saying that I want you to attend the 4-H State Achievement Days! 

So for those of you who don't know or haven't heard about achievement days, it is an educational three-day program for the demonstration and recognition of the achievements of 4-H members in competitive and noncompetitive events. It is held every year at the Penn State University Park campus. This year the event will go from July 28th-30th. 

The majority of the people who attend enter into the competitive tract. There are many competitions from air pistol to canine super bowl to presentations. There is even tractor driving! There are a lot more I didn't talk about too! So make sure you talk to your extension educator about all competitions! For those of you who don't want to compete but still want to go to state days, there are noncompetitive tracts that you can do instead. In the past there has been the science symposium, noncompetitive questing, and a few other events too! I'm not sure which of these will be available this year, but, again, if you want to know more, ask your extension educator.

I myself have gone to state days every year except one since I was 13. I was in noncompetitive chorus one year (that event isn't available any more), the noncompetitive science symposium, and the presentation competition. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself every year and highly recommend the event to all 4-H members that are old enough. I always look forward to going back to state days, seeing friends from the years before, and making new ones as well! Last year was when I met the majority of the other people that I was to be on state council with! Let me tell you, I'm sure glad that I did meet them and that meeting them has made the past year so much more amazing and fun. 

So once again I want to see you all at the 4-H State Achievement Days going from July 28th to 30th!

See you then! 

Jesse Isenberg
2013/2014 Pennsylvania State 4-H Council
Vice President of Operations

You Live and You Learn!

Everyday it seems like something new can be learned.  My pap is, well you get how old, and still learns something new each day he says.  As this school year comes to a close I've been writing in a lot of yearbooks and reflecting back on the year.  As I think back there is some much I have learned and I'm not just talking about the math, biology, and chemistry I was forced to learn.

Here is my top eleven things I learned this year!

1. Double check and even triple check ones work.  Especially when it involves technology!
2. Every leadership opportunity doesn't always need to be taken.  You may just need a break.
3. Cramming for a big test doesn't work even when you think it does. Your test score will show it.
4. Helping someone is a great thing but you can't babysit them as they try and accomplish something.
5. It's true! You find out who your friends are in life the older you get.
6. Don't wish for something to be over because when it's over you will want it back.
7. The harder you work the more luck you seem to have.
8. Don't judge someone by what someone else thinks of them.  Everyone has their own opinions for a reason.
9. Ask for help on something. Experts didn't become experts by guessing their way through things.
10. Get ready for things the night before. Don't set your alarm earlier because we already know morning people are few and far between.
11. Live in the moment! Don't think about what is going to happen next. Focus on the now!

There are my big life lessens from completing my junior year in high school.  Senior year here I come!

Happy learning,

Megan Anderson

Good bye May 2014! Hello SUMMER!!

May sped by and I'm still wondering where it went but when I stop to think about what I did this month I start to see why it seems like such a blur.  
For school, May is the month to get it all done!  Reports, projects and finals all with deadlines that can't be postponed or ignored.  The End Of Year Family and School Picnic for my school was at Hershey Park. I chatted with all my teachers, had great food and rode the coasters - good times!
Wrestling Off-Season has been an experience I won't soon forget.  Memorial Day weekend I went to Virginia Beach for a tournament.  When we weren't on the mat, we went to the ocean.  I got sunburned - lobster-like is an understatement. 
Perry Co 4-H State Citizenship Day was a blast!  We went to the Capitol and spent time with Representative Keller.  Plus a trip to the Military Heritage Museum and Trail, the fish hatchery, and King's Gap State Park. 
Thinking of Perry Co 4-H event participation - I participated in the Farm Safety Puppet Show.  This is my third year participating in the puppet show.  It's a lot of fun!
Prom 2014 was memorable too.  I went with a friend to Susquenita High School's Jr/Sr Prom.  It was at the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum near Hershey.  I had a good time but couldn't wait to get back into farm clothes. 
May also contained the normal list of 4-H club meetings.  But the high point of May for Perry Co Livestock Club is tag day!  I took 2 hogs, and 2 market wethers for tag day, so add those to the steer, rabbits and dairy goats for my list of projects.  Did I forget to mention that next month I start my projects with my community club too?  This year I'm taking leather, gardening and clay.  
Wow looking at this list of what I did this month, I wonder how I managed it all besides working and classes too.  But when I think about summer, I think about my time as a  4-H State Council Representative coming to an end.  Maybe summer doesn't have to get here so fast after all.  

Until next month, 

H Wyett Johnson

Time Flies!!

Hello Pennsylvania 4-H,

I feel as though this year has really flown by. It was just last August that I became apart of State Council and in two short months I will be passing it on to a new council.  But before that happens I have  a lot going on!!!!! First I am currently working on my senior project which is spending 72 hours following around a working person in the community. For this I chose to follow Devin Cunningham my Delaware County 4-H Extension Coordinator. On Friday I will conclude working with Devin and go on my summer family vacation to Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio stopping at Pittsburgh along the way to see family. After coming back from Ohio I will then do a presentation on all I have learned shadowing Devin and complete my educational career at Marple Newtown High school. After that it is June 7th where I will be having a face to face meeting at Penn State the heading up to Kentucky for our 4-H exchange trip!!!!! WooHooo! Then I will fly back a day earlier then the rest of the council (I am trying to pack everything so I ding have to check my bag- let's see how that works out) on June 11th. On June 12th I man graduating from Marple Newtown High  School!!!!!!

Well thanks for reading about my upcoming life!

Forever 4-H,
Alexandra Adams
Pennsylvania State 4-H Council Vice President of  Internal Affairs

Prom!:)

On Friday May 23, 2014 I had my senior prom! I was really excited to go to my last prom but also sad too because prom is one of things I will actually miss when I go off to college. Our theme for
prom was the Great Gatsby and it was held in the Watson Inn in the Moon Room which was downstairs. Before prom I went to a pre prom dinner at my friends house and it was good. The decoration were cute and it totally fit the Gatsby theme. Then after dinner we took a lot of pictures and then we were off to prom! The decoration was beautiful! They has mini cupcakes, a champaign bottle filled with bubbles and chocolate coins in a little bag. I also got nominated to be on the prom court for prom queen so I was very excited about that. I didn't get it which was okay I just happy that I got nominated. I will have to say that it was the best prom ever that I been too and I couldn't ask for a better night then spending with my class of 2014 and my awesome friends.

Your Reporter
Divya Reitz

National 4-H Conference

Hello again Pennsylvania 4-H! 

This past month I had the tremendous honor to be able to attend the National 4-H Conference! For those of you who don't know the National 4-H Conference is a civic engagement opportunity for 4-H members all across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It takes place every year in Washington D.C. at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center. This year there were over 200 delegates in attendance. 

The first night (Saturday) there were opening ceremonies. After that we had an activity where each state got together and made a poster and cheer/song/saying about their state that they presented to the entire delegation. For Pennsylvania, we made sure to emphasize that we were the great state that gave them Hershey's chocolate! Following that we had the traditional pin exchange that happens at every national 4-H event. 

The next morning (Sunday) we had amazing speaker (Grant Baldwin, whom I highly recommend for any occasion)! Then the delegation split up into roundtable discussion groups that we had chosen before we came to conference. We had one session in the morning and one in the afternoon.  My roundtable's topic was educational gaming! Most of what we did that day was get to know each other and do icebreakers! The other part of what we did that day was talk about what kinds of experiences we have had with educational gaming. 

That day we also had a morning and afternoon session of a strength finders workshop. In the evening, the whole delegation was able to participate in an African dance workshop!

The next day my roundtable got down to business in researching about educational games because the next day we would be presenting to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy! We split into three groups. One group created a handout, one created a powerpoint, and one created speeches for each of themselves. I was in the group that created the speeches and would be giving them the next day. All of the separate groups collaborated in order to make sure that we all had the same information and so we knew that we were all including that information in our tasks. After the long day of hard work, the night was finished off by a fun version of clue, but with real people! 

On Tuesday, each of the roundtable groups travelled to places all across Washinton D.C. to give their presentations to different government groups. As I said before, my roundtable was going to present to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The presentation went very well and the best part was, the people that we presented to were genuinely interested and cared about what we had to say to them. After the presentation, they walked to the White House with us to get a picture! 

After that, we finished up the day with monument tours! This picture was taken the exact moment I was told we weren't supposed to sit on the cherry blossom trees! I was telling them to take the picture quickly!

On Wednesday everybody at conference went to Capitol Hill to meet with representatives and senators from their state to tell them about 4-H! Our Pennsylvania delegation split up into two groups and each group talked to three people. After each group had met with their repsrestatives and senators, we met up and had lunch in the packed dinning area! Since we had a little time before we needed to catch the buses back to the Cinference Center, we went and toured a few places. Our Pennsylvania delegation toured the Library of Congress and the Botanical Gardens! They were both amazing places that were definitely worth seeing! After we took the buses back to the Conference Center we had a dance/celebration that was a great way to end a great day!

Thursday came very quickly and was, unfortunately, the day that we had to go home! After many goodbyes and farewells, I rode home to Pennsylvania after a fantastic weekend at the National 4-H Conference! I am very glad that I was fortunate enough to be able to attend and would recommend Conference to anyone who has the opportunity to attend!

Until next month, 

Jesse Isenberg 

2013/2014 Pennsylvania State 4-H Council
Vice President of Operations

Endings and Beginnings

Hey Everybody!
So graduation is almost upon us, for those of us that are graduating this year. And that means that it is time for not only endings but also new beginnings. I just had my first taste of that today.
Today, was my final FFA Banquet (sorry, I know it's FFA). It was a very bitter sweet moment. Not only was it the beginning of the end of my agriculture education, but it also reminded me that my time in 4-H is almost over. But, I still have a little bit of time for that. Anyway, back to my banquet. I spoke about how much FFA has taught me. I was reminded of how much I love agriculture by seeing all those excited members. It reminded me of how much I love seeing fellow 4-H members talk about their 4-H experience. And it caused me to think of all the things that 4-H has done for me; so here is my list:
1. Leadership skills (obviously :) )
2. Public speaking
3. It has given me friendships that will last a  lifetime (love you council fam!)
4. Self-confidence
5. Networking skills
These are just some of the many skills that 4-H has given me over the past 10 years. And I am sure in my last two years, I will gain even more skills.

Signing off,
Lydia Lion
Secretary.