Once again, the Oneida County Ag Extension Office served up a week of spring break 4-H activities to keep students busy.  A team of educators and volunteer leaders presented jewelry making, crafts, archery, and classes on 4-H projects.  

During the week of activities, Annie Wangsgard introduced students to the art of jewelry making, Extension educator Bracken Henderson brought archery to the group, Carmon Willmore discussed Livestock education, Daisy Hollow’s Chris Jensen led students in a craft class, and Sawyer Fonnesbeck spoke to students about 4-H Demonstrations.

While there undoubtedly are some kids who spent their spring breaks in the Yucatan or Ibiza (are there?), for most students spring break can be a quick thrill of not being in school, followed by the realization that school is where most of their friends and activities are.  For the past few years, the Extension Office has offered a way for kids to stay busy during the week, as well as get some class requirements in for their 4-H projects.  The mix of entertainment and learning was fully featured over the week, as several of the activities provided meeting credit, and all of them provided entertainment.

The Fair always seems like an eternity’s distance into the future, but as the weather (haltingly, it would seem) begins to change regimes, the months tend to zip by fast and furious until before you know it, it’s time to finalize those 4-H projects.

In addition to Carmon Willmore’s presentation on Livestock Education, Sawyer Fonnesbeck also gave students some pointers on their upcoming required oral presentation components.  Not only is “Demonstration” a specific ribbon event within the fair season, but as Fonnesbeck pointed out, spoken presentations are a required element of 4-H projects.  Even more important, oral presentation skills are essential in a wide range of professional and organizational settings.  There are very few careers in which people never need to communicate or present information to others, and Fonnesbeck provided some insights on the topic useful for specific 4-H applications, as well as more general use.

He stressed the importance of enthusiasm, and engaging with the audience.  In his capacity as an Extension Educator, Sawyer has observed literally hundreds of student presentations in his time, and noted that the ones that seem boring to the presenters seem even more boring to their audience.  

In addition to projecting enthusiasm, he noted that it is also important to involve the audience in the discussion, which he did by asking questions and incorporating the input of his listeners into the discussion.  In addition, he noted the visual aids can be extremely helpful and important for a demonstration.  As he noted, there are a lot of things that people will know what they are, but perhaps not necessarily know the name or function of.  A well-chosen visual aid can shortcut a lot of explanation, and also provide a good image for audiences to use an index for remembering the presentation content.  As Sawyer mentioned, some learners do best with print material, and some through visual or auditory material, but most do best with a combination of the three.

Fonnesbeck also stressed the importance of choosing a topic that is interesting to you as the basis for the presentation.  It is a well-understood reality that when you are excited about and interested in a topic, that excitement and interest come right across to a listener in a way that makes the discussion more enjoyable for everyone.  Another aspect of that maxim is that being extremely interested in a topic often provides a speaker with a good command of the details related to the topic, which allow them to expand on concepts for an audience, and answer questions in an engaged and meaningful way.

Throughout the presentation, Fonnesbeck spoke directly to the 4-H kids (as well as volunteer Tressie Carter) about some of the issues and concerns they have had with their presentations in the past.  As is usually the case, once they were warmed up to the discussion the students had a lot to say about what they felt made for a good or bad presentation.

Kristal Ford was very successful at the Eastern Idaho State Fair in her last years with 4-H in the Presentation category, and a number of other students have followed suit.   Last years, members of the Schrenk and Leavitt families competed in the Demonstration category, and hopefully will do so again this year.  Demonstrations are a great way to both learn about topics that are of interest to students, as well as practice public speaking, organization, memorization, and other valuable life skills.

Once again, the 4-H spring break offered a fun and productive outlet for some of that pent up spring break energy that has to go somewhere!   The Extension Office and members of the 4-H community will now set their sites on gearing up for this year’s fair, which is less than half a year off at this point.  As projects are chosen and events get calendared out, we’ll keep you apprised about what this summer holds for Oneida County’s 4-H and FFA kids.