Five Hills 4-H looking for new members
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
Dozens of parents and students showed up Monday evening to Williams/Ledger Elementary School for an informational meeting about the Five Hills 4-H program.
Club Manager Heather Valdez walked parents through what 4-H is and how they can sign their child up as well as running through upcoming deadlines to qualify animal projects for the Coryell County Youth Fair on January 7-11, 2020. Competing at the Youth Fair is not just limited to showing an animal. Students can compete with home economics projects as well, from baking to woodwork to fabric and stitch work and more.
The Mission Of Texas 4-H is “to prepare youth to meet the challenges of childhood, adolescence and adulthood, through a coordinated, long-term, progressive series of educational experiences that enhance life skills and develop social, emotional, physical and cognitive competencies,” according to the Coryell County AgriLife website, https://coryell.agrilife.org/4-h/.
While Future Farmers of America (FFA) is aimed at high school students, 4-H is aimed at kindergarten through high school. For students in grades K-3rd, they are considered Clover Kids, while grades 4-12 are 4-H members.
Animal projects for 4-H include raising chickens, goats, horses, cattle, sheep, rabbits, turkeys, swine and more. Non animal projects including clothing and textiles, foods and nutrition, photography, public speaking, shooting sports and more.
At Monday’s meeting, Valdez informed parents that it was too late for new students to qualify to show any chickens, but they could still show rabbits and other animals or participate with other projects. If an item scores high enough, it can go to auction, where business owners and community members will bid on the item, and all money will go back to the student.
Robyne Damond attended the meeting with her daughter Haleigh, 8, and son, Cory, 6. This will be their first year participating in 4-H, but Damond said the family lives in the country now and has had their own vegetable garden for the past five years. They will be getting a horse and a fluffy Angora rabbit soon for Haleigh to raise.
Damond said they hope to be able to show the rabbit in January.
“I thought 4-H was just animals,” Damond said. “I didn’t know that it included Home Ec. and all that other stuff, and she likes art as well, so maybe she’ll be able to do another project in the art sector of the club.”
Damond said she hopes that through the club, both Haleigh and Cory can be exposed to different things and learn about animals and other things.
Lillie Valdez, Vice President of the Five Hills 4-H Club and a junior in high school, said she thought the meeting went well.
“None of us were expecting such a big turnout this year since last year, we had such a small account of people, but I’m actually really excited because it looks like we’re going to have a lot of people interested in the animal aspect of the County Fair, and that’s my favorite part,” Valdez said.
Valdez used to show goats and now shows turkeys.
“It’s just really exciting seeing people from our community coming together and especially since Copperas Cove isn’t really an agricultural type community, it’s exciting to see that that’s still interesting to kids,” said Club President Madison Warren, also a junior.
Warren said she likes being in 4-H because it’s different from other programs offered at the high school, and it allows her to get her community service hours and help out her community.
To enroll, parents and students can visit https://texas.4honline.com and sign up. There is a $25 fee, but if that is a hardship, parents can contact Heather Valdez about scholarships to help with the cost. For questions or to contact Valdez, parents can find her on Schoology or through the Five Hills 4-H Facebook page.