National 4-H Week & Collegiate 4-H Day of Service

[Mike Razim]

National 4-H Week Promotion

National 4-H Week is held every year as a time to celebrate, promote, and share the 4-H positive youth development movement. This year on October 5-11, 4-H youth across the country will be "Keeping It Green" by raising awareness about environmental issues and initiating environmental projects that make a positive difference in their communities.

Throughout National 4-H week and the year, 4-H'ers solve problems in their communities, raise awareness about environmental issues, and make a difference for their futures in the spirit of 4-H's vision to create a world in which youth and adults learn, grow, and work together as catalysts for positive change. 

Attached to this e-mail is an Idea Guide created by the National Collegiate 4-H Advocacy Team with ideas of how to promote 4-H at your university or in your community.

Visit www.4-HBrandNetwork.org to download their promotional kit for National 4-H Week.  The kit is designed to include all the great marketing and media relations materials necessary to help you successfully promote National 4-H Week events and activities in your community.

Collegiate 4-H Day of Service

National Collegiate has decided to adopt National Youth Science day as our Collegiate 4-H Day of Service this year.  On October 8, 2008 the 4-H Youth Development Program is launching the first annual 4-H National Youth Science Day to help build America's future science, engineering, and technology workforce. The National Science Experiment, the designated science activity of 4-H National Youth Science Day, will focus on the environment and will use science principles to teach youth across the country about the importance of water conservation.

Two versions of the service project are available at www.4-H.org. The short version can be used for any media opportunities you have or when time to do the experiment is limited, and the long version can be used to offer youth the full science experience in any school or organization setting. Both experiments can and should be shared with non-4-H groups in your communities.

 

For some, having enough powder for a larger group of youth may be a challenge if you’re working within a short timeframe. If you would prefer to purchase the powder, Steve Spangler Science has packages of it available on their website. Information on how to order the powder is available at www.4-HBrandNetwork.org along with the average number of youth each package will serve. If you find other companies that offer hydrogel polymers in bulk, let us know, and we’ll add those resources to the site as well.

 

A key element of this National Science Experiment is offering youth the opportunity to communicate their findings with others across the nation. With that, you will see many references throughout the experiment encouraging youth to visit www.4-H.org to share their thoughts. This will be part of the launch of the new www.4-H.org site which will also be available during National 4-H Week. If any youth or clubs get a head start on the experiment before National 4-H Week, please encourage them to come back to record their findings after October 6^th.

 

Once again, thanks to Bob Horton and his colleagues at The Ohio State University along with our national spokesperson/partner, Steve Spangler Science. Also, a special thanks to the members of the 4-H SET Leadership Task Force representing ten Land-Grant Universities across the nation that thought through the many levels of this experiment.

 

Also online at www.4-HBrandNetwork.org is a complete media toolkit for you to use when promoting 4-H National Youth Science Day. These materials, which include a template release, proclamation, pitching guide, and more, are available to help you work with your LGU communications office or local partners to showcase the experiment in an event on campus, in your state capitol, or within your local community. Please note: additional promotional materials including flyers, bookmarks, and Web banners will be available later this week.

Thanks,

Mike Razim

Advocacy Team NAB Liaison