Reminder

State 4-H Livestock Judging Contest
Saturday, Aug. 23rd
ISU, Kildee Hall

Entry Deadline: August 1 to State 4-H Office

Rules:
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/4H/Agriculture/documents/lhlvstkjudgingdescription.pdf
New for 2008: Individuals will be allowed (i.e. counties that do not have enough kids to make a team, or counties that want to bring extra kids)

Entry Form:
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/4H/Agriculture/staff/Documents/lvstkjdgent.pdf

Mike Anderson
State 4-H Ag Program Coordinator
Iowa 4-H Youth DevelopmentExtension 4-H Youth Building, ISU
Ames, IA 50011-3630
ph: (515) 294-8617
fax: (515) 294-1047
mikeande@iastate.edu

Oppurtunity for Youth Service on the SIYAC Committee

Statewide Organization Continues Representing Youth in Iowa
Promotes Working with Legislators and Youth Civic Engagement

Des Moines, IA – With a goal of making the voice of youth heard in the State of Iowa, the State of Iowa Youth Action Committee (SIYAC) is now recruiting for its 8th year of fulfilling that purpose. SIYAC works with legislators, state agencies, and other statewide organizations to raise ideas & questions relating to youth issues SIYAC members and their constituents face.

“SIYAC is the voice of the youth in Iowa. It is youth empowerment, a powerful, positive force for positive changes in Iowa.” –Jeralyn Westercamp, SIYAC Chair

The State of Iowa Youth Action Committee or SIYAC (pronounced sigh-yak), is a committee that was chartered into existence in May of 2001 by Governor Tom Vilsack. SIYAC members are chosen through an essay and interview process each spring and come from all parts of the state. This year SIYAC is expanding from 16 to 21 members and is still accepting applications for the 2008-2009 school year. SIYAC is seeking applicants from western Iowa, northeast and southeast Iowa as well.

This past year, SIYAC focused on ways to reduce the rising rates in childhood obesity. Their work in partner with other health-related entities saw the passage of the Healthy Kids Act which requires the Department of Education to adopt rules establishing nutritional content standards for foods and beverages sold or provided on school grounds in public and non-public schools. The bill also requires students to engage in a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day. In 2008-2009, SIYAC is excited to continue their partnership with the Iowa Department of Education in the sponsoring of a youth forum focusing on the promotion of physical activity and healthy behaviors. Past successful partnerships resulted in mandatory guidance counselors in every school district, anti-bullying legislation, lowering the age of poll workers to sixteen, and state-wide keg registration. SIYAC continues to work towards strengthening local youth civic engagement efforts.

“Iowans benefit when all youth are engaged and contributing in their communities. Experiences and connections children and youth have growing up affect their success in school, work, and life. SIYAC provides experiences and connections members and hopefully legislators will remember for the rest of their lives.” – Amy Croll, former SIYAC State Coordinator.

SIYAC is currently recruiting members from specific geographic locations for the 2008-2009 school year. Applications can be found at http://www.icyd.org/images/stories/SIYACApplication2008.doc. The deadline for 2008-2009 applications is August 8th, 2008. For more information, contact Bryan King at Bryan.king@iowa.gov

Agriculture Day at the Science Center of Iowa

Hi there! Just following up in regards to our Saturday, August 9th Agriculture Special Event at The Science Center of Iowa. I wanted to extend the offer to some of your 4-H kids who would be willing to share their Ag knowledge/projects with kids and parents from 10-12 on Saturday August 9th in our Founders Hall area. This would be an informal setting where participants could come up and interact and learn what they have been working on through 4-H. Let me know if this is something 4-H would be interested in! Thanks!

Brian Waller

Brian C. Waller
Special Projects Coordinator
Science Center of Iowa
401 W. MLK Jr. Parkway Des Moines, IA 50309
Phone: 515-274-6868 xt. 238
Fax: 274-3404
brianw@sciowa.org

4-H Alumni Day at the Iowa State Fair

Iowa State Fair
4-H Alumni Day

Thursday, August 7th, 2008
4-H Exhibit Building

There will be a reception throughout the day, starting at 9:00 a.m. for 4-H Alumni. Stop by, reconnect, and reminisce about your days in 4-H!

Wear green or your clover to show your 4-H pride!

Join us that evening for an Alumni Talent Show. Have a talent you’d like to share? Contact kfrazee@iastate.edu or call
515-294-1537 to enter!

A request from the Media and Joe Leisz

A friend of mine (Peggy Nitchel) from the Ames Jaycees is looking at doing a number of articles on 4-H and 4-H families in Warren and East Polk County (she’s an editor and writer with a couple of newspapers covering communities in your areas)…

Anyways, the stories she wants to profile is how the high costs of fuel and feed are affecting 4-H’ers and their families leading to the county fairs. She was thinking about those with livestock projects, but this would be a neat opportunity to share how broad 4-H is, and how transportation costs impact our other project areas – like clothing, photography, woodworking, etc. Plus, there should be a side bar about how people can help with scholarships or something. She’d also like to do a profile of a 4-H family (or families) that was affected by the flood; again we’re looking at ways to raise that long-term awareness to encourage people to help…

If you know of families that might be willing to share their stories please let me know; I can either contact them with a brief introduction, or you could do that, and we can then get the info onto Peggy. Stories would run in the next couple of weeks.

Joe Leisz
Iowa 4-H Foundation
515-291-4402
jleisz@iastate.edu
www.iowa4hfoundation.org

Updated Show Time from the Fairboard

The decision has been made by the Fairboard to move up the time of the Advanced Cattle Feeders show from 11:00 AM to 10:00 AM on the morning of Friday July 18th at the Polk County Fair. It was discussed at the June 18th meeting at the recommendation of a 4-H member, and was approved by superintendant Mike Cory. This move was due to the difficulty that exhibitors had in exhibiting in both this show and the Livestock Judging Contest.

Show your support for 4-H with at 4-H Liscense Plate!

Support the Iowa 4-H Program through your vehicle license plate!

The Foundation and the Iowa DOT have a created an Iowa 4-H License Plate. We need 500 pre-paid orders in one year for the license plate to be issued. License Plate Applications can be found on our website at www.iowa4hfoundation.org or can be picked up at your county courthouse.


Contact Ashley Graff (agraff@extension.iastate.edu) or Alicea Murra (amurra@extension.iastate.edu) for more information regarding the Truck Raffle and the 4-H License Plate.