Halfway Through Already?!

Can you believe that some of us are halfway through our internship? I'm still in shock after the amazing two weeks I finished. As I am wrapping up in the office today and realized that my time in this position has reached its halfway point kind of puts a damper on things. Nonetheless, the past two weeks have been phenomenal with Fleming County 4-H. Although, I feel like I have been living life out of a suitcase the past two weeks, it's always good to travel. It seems like these past two weeks have lasted a lifetime but somehow quickly came to an end.

Starting out week five with packing up and heading off to Lexington, KY for State 4-H Teen Conference with three Fleming County teens. As we arrived to campus the girls faces portrayed the "what did we get ourselves into" look. We grabbed our luggage and went to get rooming assignments. Automatically they started meeting people from all across the state which included members of the State Teen Council. The week was filled with sessions, tracks, workshops, commons food, meeting new people and of course dancing. The girls came with that look but left the conference with a completely different one. They have already started begging Staci and myself to go again next year.

We rounded out week five with the Dairy Club presented a workshop titled "Moo to You". This workshop was for 1st graders going into the 2nd grade. They started by reading a story about a dairy cow and then colored a picture of the cow from the story. They then learned about heavy cream turning into buttermilk then butter by shaking a small jar. They tried their own butter and buttermilk and loved it. They participated in a dairy mart activity by learning about dairy products in the store and important facts about the dairy industry. I then tested their knowledge and what they learned by playing a jeopardy game with them. I thought that there would not be many point given just because I thought the questions would be over their head. Boy was I wrong. They knew almost every single question that I asked them and some provided extra information with their answer. They completely blew me out of the water during this game. After the jeopardy game they enjoyed some dairy products like pizza and kool-aid or milk for lunch.

Monday had finally came and boy was I dreading it, it  was the start of the 4-H Sewing Camp. Now I have never sewed a day in my life and I was afraid of sewing my finger to one of the kid's projects. Fortunately there were much more qualified individuals to do the teaching and all I had to do was walk around and make sure everyone was working. Surprisingly it was not that bad and I actually learned a few things about sewing myself.  Fortunately for the kids sake and my fingers sake, I would not be back for the remainder of the camp.

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Shortly after returning from Teen Conference it was a rush to unpack and then turning right around to pack back up for the State 4-H Livestock Judging Contest. Fleming County took 6 seniors, 2 intermediates and 2 clovers to Muhlenberg County to compete. We left out at 5:00 am on Tuesday and arrived at the expo and convention center. I was the card collector for the second group of seniors. After 11 classes and the seniors gave their 4 sets off reasons the contest came to a close. We went back to the hotel to change and freshen up then it was off to grab some food and a movie. If anyone is ever around Muhlenberg County I encourage you to check out a local restaurant called "The Purple Onion". We watched the new X-Men movie and loaded back up for the hotel. The next morning with Butterflies in their stomachs and anxious for the results of their hard work, we left for the awards breakfast. We are extremely proud of every single one of our kids. In the clover division Aaron Utterback placed 11th in Sheep and his sister Jenna was the highest placing 9 year old in the contest. Jenna received the "Rookie of the Year" traveling trophy which will have her named engraved on it. In the intermediate division, Cole Conn placed 9th overall individually. Our seniors racked them up, Jessica Conn placed 6th in sheep, 9th in swine, 10th in reasons and 13th overall, Jonathon Farris placed 10 in sheep, 6th in swine and 17th overall, Cody Burke placed 8th in beef and 11th overall, Cassie Porter placed 20th overall, Bobbi Jo Porter placed 12th overall and Jeffery Edmond placed 5th in swine, 7th in beef and 14th overall. Overall the team placed 4th.

We also had our 4-H Dairy Judging team compete in the State 4-H Dairy Judging contest. They were the 2nd overall team. Today I am helping Staci get things prepared for the Fleming County Shooting Sports Invitational this weekend and since we will both be out of the office next week, we are getting prepared for Clover Bud Camp which is next weekend.

Until next time,

Cameron Earlywine

University of Kentucky

Career and Technical Education