ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The Five State Fair recently wrapped up, and much of the fair’s fun is centered around the works of 4-H youth.
Fairs of the past featured two of Seward County’s most well-known 4-H groups, Wide Awake and Onery Otters, and recently, a new group joined the ranks of local youth in the organization.
What makes the Heritage 4-H Club unique, though, is the youth from the group, as well as the leaders, are homeschool students and parents.
Leader Carrington Meyers said the group was formed to get the young people in homeschool environments out into the communities by doing activities such as visiting nursing homes and helping out with events in the area.
Club President Luke Buchman said Heritage 4-H provides a consistant way to do those activities.
“We usually meet on Wednesdays,” he said. “We thought ‘We should start a 4-H club. Then we can sign up for the activities in 4-H, and we’ll have a consistent way to be able to do things as a club.’”
Meyers said paperwork was required to file the 4-H club as an official group, and she said officials with the Wild West District K-State Research and Extension office, which heads up local 4-H activities, were quite helpful with that process.
“If we had any questions whether it was coming in person or e-mail, they would always answer our questions,” she said. “We got a lot of information.”
Fellow leader Mirella Buchman said after student officers were chosen, the process was easy, and the Heritage club now has 23 members.
As most youth are quite energetic in any given situation, Luke said those in the new 4-H group have been less so during the club’s meetings.
“There’s a little bit of bouncing around, but that’s to be expected because they’re kids,” he said. “But for the most part, they sit quietly and listen during the meetings.”
Mirella said one of the club’s activities is archery, and the sport was part of another reason the decision was made to form a 4-H group with homeschoolers.
“It gives the kids more of an opportunity to be involved in the community and other events,” she said. “We did Club Days where the kids got to perform their talents, whether it was playing piano or reading. We went to Brookdale last week, which was more of a community volunteer thing so the kids could go hang out with Brookdale residents, and they had a little talent show. They do the honor dances once a month.”
Other activities include sewing and crochet classes, and Meyers said through Heritage 4-H, young people gain many other helpful life skills as well.
“It also helps the kids get out of their shell because they have to stand up and talk to a crowd and be judged at Club Days on what they’re talking about or what they’re showing,” she said. “It promotes self-confidence too.”
Meyers said some of the sewing projects done by members was recently on display at the Five State Fair, and others participated in several other fair events.
“We had a couple doing the dog training, archery, and shotgun shoots,” she said. “I think there’s air rifle too, pistols and BB guns. Any artwork they’ve done, they can submit that to the fair too. If they’ve signed up for photography, they’re able to present photos at the fair.”
A popular activity for many of today’s 4-H youth is robotics, and Mirella said the Heritage club has two teams from that pursuit as well. She was unsure if those students submitted items to the fair, but she did say some entered animal shows with goats and pigs.
The Heritage club is still relatively new and without a treasurer. Meyers said the club is not spending any money at this time, and activities are planned based on what other Seward County 4-H groups are doing.
With two other existing 4-H groups already in place in the county, Meyers said Heritage members can join in with the activities those groups are doing.
“We usually do,” she said. “That’s how we join all the other activities. For shotgun shooting, we have to pay $25.”
In addition to members from Seward County, Heritage 4-H does have youth from neighboring Stevens County and in the Oklahoma Panhandle from Beaver County and Texas County.
Mirella said the group takes many field trips and was scheduled to start planning club activities was scheduled to begin in July.
“We’re definitely learning as we go,” she said.
As the Heritage club is still new, the group’s reporter, Elizabeth Phan, said getting the 4-H club has been hard for youth and leaders alike.
“I personally knew nothing about 4-H,” she said. “It’s a new experience. We’re all learning together.”
Meyers said the Heritage club likewise gives homeschooling parents and young people more opportunities to get together as a group.
“It gives us more opportunities for things like the shooting or sewing classes,” she said. “A lot of this stuff is offered at public school. A lot of the kids already have this. It allows us to be part of that too and have those experiences as well.”
Those wanting to join the Heritage club, and other 4-H groups, can call the Wild West Extension offices in Liberal, Hugoton and Sublette. Sign-ups can also be done online at www.wildwest.ksu.edu.
Meeting times are posted online, and the Heritage 4-H Club meets at 1 p.m. every Wednesday at the 4-H Building next to the Seward County Extension office at 1081 Stadium Road in Liberal.
“If that works with your meeting time, you can join,” Mirella said.
