Finishing the 4-H year

How can it be September already?  My husband bemoaned the loss of July, but August disappeared just as fast!

The county fair and state fairs are all in the rearview mirror. (Although State Fair exhibits still need to be picked up from the Extension Office!)  Looking ahead some of our 4-H families will continue their livestock showing at the Norfolk Beef Expo in Norfolk next Sunday and a few more will be heading to Ak-Sar-Ben later this month to round out their year. Otherwise, 4-H is pretty much in “remission” during the fall season, but it doesn’t have to be that way!

4-H members are encouraged to truly finish out their 4-H year by completing the 4-H Career Portfolio. This is a way to keep track of all your 4-H, community and school activities. It provides an opportunity to apply for special awards ranging from achievement certificates and pins to activity vouchers and possibly trips to National 4-H Congress in Atlanta, GA or even National 4-H Conference in Washington D.C.!  Don’t sell yourself short and bypass this opportunity to really finish the 4-H year by taking credit for all you experienced and learned.

This type of record becomes a diary of sorts…you refer back to it countless times to settle family disputes (“Yes, Brownie had a heifer calf 3 years ago…) to completing (and winning) college and community scholarship applications easily! When all the information is in one place it’s amazing how often you use it! And the 4-H Career Portfolio was never easier than now to complete as you can fill it out on your computer, save it there and add on to it the next year! Of course you need to print it out to submit it for 4-H awards, but it is designed so well, if you forgot to include something last year you can add it at any time to make your record more complete for this year.

To get started on the 4-H Career Portfolio go to http://4h.unl.edu/careerportfolio and download the five different 4-H Career Portfolio sections. The information on how to fill out the Portfolio is also helpful. Then you can take off filling in the information and save it to your computer. If you have never started this process, there’s no better time than the present. Just put the first year you (or your child) was in 4-H listed first and then keep adding on to the record. There is an example page in every section to help you decide where to enter each type of information. The copy and paste feature on the computer works great for a lot of activities that are repeated year after year! With a right click of your mouse you can insert more rows to your form and keep on keeping on!

When my children did record books I sat at the computer and asked them questions to help fill in the blanks. It kept them involved and speeded up the process for me.

If you’d like to have a little help, I will offer workshops to help you get started on Wednesday, September 25 at the UNL Extension Office at 6:30 p.m. If you have a laptop computer bring it along and we’ll get you going. If you’d like some help with this for your 4-H club please give me a call at 402-374-2929 and we’ll make sure you get the help you need to get started.

Also, make sure you fill out the Awards Application Sheet to put in the front of the 4-H Career Portfolio. This lets us know what awards you want to apply for. They will be available in the Extension Office very soon.

Since my world fills up with Medicare Open Enrollment activities October 15-December 7 I am setting the deadline to submit the completed 4-H Career Portfolios for Monday, December 9^th. The 4-H Celebration will be held early next year to present the awards.

Don’t let your 4-H year fade into a distant and fuzzy memory, complete your 4-H Career Portfolio to keep those memories sharp so they can pay off for you now and in the future.

Mary Loftis,

Extension Assistant
UNL Extension – Burt County
111 North 13th Street, Suite 6
Tekamah, NE 68061
Phone: (402) 374-2929

Fax: (402) 374-2930

Internet: mloftis2@unl.edu