The Botetourt County 4-H Program concluded a busy, fun, and educational 2021 in December. Our in-school program continues to flourish and through November and December, we conducted two Reality Store programs for 8th grade students, archery activities for 6th – 8th graders at Central Academy Middle School and numerous 4th and 5th grade activities. For 4th grade students, we finished dramatic reading projects, as well as an oceans program that allowed students to see how currents work, what happens when cold water meets warm water, and how salinity works.
Our 5th grade students completed how-to presentation projects and we conducted lessons on static electricity and the visible light spectrum. With static electricity, students were able to see how static electricity is collected and distributed from various materials and understand what causes that “shock” that they feel during colder weather. We debuted a new program at Eagle Rock Elementary School that focused on the visible light spectrum and students were able to understand how different wavelengths and frequencies act. Students were then able to participate in a bubble activity where they were able to see different colors of the spectrum within the bubbles.
Our community club members and volunteers were recognized for their accomplishments in the 2020 – 2021 year at our Achievement Night on Friday, December 17th at Central Academy Middle School. These clubs are busy making preparations for their 2022 plans and we are excited to see what they will achieve throughout the year.
We are planning for the FFA/4-H Youth Showcase on Friday, February 18th at Lord Botetourt High School. Our community clubs will be on hand with displays of the activities and events that they participate in and we will also be putting on our annual share the fun talent show. More information will be coming about regarding talent show tryouts in the coming weeks.
If you have any questions about how you can get involved with the Botetourt County 4-H Program, please contact Tyler Painter, 4-H Extension Agent at 540-473-8260.