My 4-H Story--2000--Sixth Year in 4-H

My 4-H Story

Written 2000

Age: 12

Year in 4-H: 6

     This year has gone by very fast.  There were some changes too.  Hi. My name is John Trammell.  I am a junior member of the Grand Terrace 4-H Club.  I have a sister, Ashley, that is also a 4-H member.  My dad, Steve, is the Photography project leader, and my mom is a resource leader that fills in where ever she is needed.  I live in a new house that we moved to in March of 1999, about a year and a half ago.  I went to Clement Middle School this year as a 6th grader.  And that starts out my year.

     Back in July of this year, we were struggling a little bit because my Oma had just died and my mom was swamped with things that she had to do.  She wasn't sure what to do with Arroyo Verde 4-H Club.  She talked to George Saunders and then decided that Arroyo Verde 4-H Club will join over to Grand Terrace 4-H Club.  It has helped her out a lot and she feels like the kids didn't get cheated from what they deserve.

     In August we took a mini-vacation and went to San Diego for a long weekend.  There we went to a special showing about Diamonds.  That was a really neat place to go.  We spent a lot of time there learning about Diamonds and where they come from.  I learned a lot about how diamonds were formed.  This was actually my first project meeting for the new club year.  

     In September I started school at Clement Middle School.  That was a new experience.  I have always been in small schools, but this one is a big school.  I will actually be changing classrooms for different subjects.  I took several fun classes too.  One of them was Marching Band.  That was a lot of fun.  I play the Clarinet.  When we marched in the Redlands Christmas Parade, we put little lights on our instruments so we looked great.  This parade was at night.  We also played at Pharoah's Lost Kingdom.  We marched in the Loma Linda parade also.  Then I also joined the Chess Club.  There I got a leadership position of being in charge of the equipment.  Being in charge meant that I made sure all the pieces were there and all of them got put back right.  I learned a lot in that club.  One other thing I signed up for was the Youth Coalition.  This is through the City of Redlands and they do fun things for the teenagers in the community.  We did some things at Clement, but mostly we did things at the Community Center.  One thing I did was work the Haunted House.  That was a lot of fun.  I got to scare my sister, my mom, and dad.  I also worked at the dances.  At the Valentines Dance, I again took the leadership post in doing the pictures of the kids that wanted them.  I used a Polaroid camera.  They were a lot of fun.

     And then there was the things we did in 4-H.  Once we started going to the Grand Terrace 4-H meetings we got very busy.  There are a lot of project leaders in this club.  Of course I signed up for Photography, but this time I also signed up as the Junior Leader.  I also signed up for Foods and Nutrition, Wildlife, and Hobbies.  That was going to keep me busy.  I also am the Club Photographer again this year.  I sure like taking pictures of things.  

Being a Junior Leader for the first time was very interesting.  I didn't know really where to start.  My leader gave me some ideas.  First I had to learn to get organized.  There were several members that signed up for the photography project and the leader was going to need help calling everyone and keep track of who came to the meetings.  He gave me that job.  So I sat down at the computer and made a phone roster and an attendance sheet.  That really helped me when I needed to call the members about meetings.  Then I had to be sure all the members got a photography project report form so that they could fill it out as we did the meetings.  I did had that out to everyone, but I really wasn't sure if they filled them out after each meeting.  That is something I could work on for next year.  One thing that I think went really great is that more of the members entered their photos into the County Expressive Arts Exhibit and the San Bernardino County Fair.  My leader and I took all the entries up to the fair.  At one of the meetings we had everyone fill out the entry forms and we made sure they got mailed.  I think that made the difference in who entered the fairs.  This leadership project is one that I will take again next year.

     Then of course I was in the Photography project.  I entered several of my color photos and several of my Black and White photos into the Expressive Arts Exhibit this year.  I was very surprised when one of my color pictures got a Blue Ribbon with a Best of Show too.  Then, I also got County Winner for that picture.  That is the first time any of my pictures got County Winner.  Then at the San Bernardino County Fair one of my Black and White photos got a Best-Of-Division.  I got a ribbon and plaque for it.  Then I really got a surprise.  In the mail I got a $25.00 check from Mitsabishi group for my winning photo.    I have never won any money from the San Bernardino County Fair before.  I always get money from the Perris Fair.  But that isn't the only place my photos got prizes.  This year again I entered the PTA Reflections program.  Two of my photos won at the school level and then went to the PTA level.  The one won there and went on to PTA district level.  That one won at District Level but wasn't chosen to go on to State Level this year.  Last year my photo went all the way up to State Level.  Oh well.  There is always next year.  

Foods and Nutrition was fun this year.  I learned to cook new and different foods this year.  I also learned to keep better track of what I made at home.  I didn't know that there was a supplemental form that went with this project report.  I was surprised to see how much I really do cook at home.  A couple of things I did in this project was entering the Foods Fiesta.  I made a Mexican Casserole.  I was a County Winner in that event.  I couldn't believe it.  There were so many others there, but I guess I am really becoming a good chef.  My mom calls me "Chef John."  Then I did a demonstration at County Field Day on "How To Make A Mexican Casserole" and I was a County Winner again.  This is turning out to being a great year.

     This year I started in the Wildlife project.  We went up to the Willow Creek burn area.  There we saw what damage at fire can do.  But we also saw the healing power of Mother Nature.  We were already seeing new green growth.  We learned about owls, owl pellets, and bugs.  My family made a trip to the Living Desert and there we got to see some native wildlife and some that come from other countries.  This is another project I will doing next year again.  

     Breads was also something new for me.  I guess I wanted to do it because I like to cook.  I like to eat bread too.  My aunt uses a bread machine but I wanted to learn how to make breads.  This year I learned to make breads without yeast and breads with yeast.  I will certainly take this project again.  

    Once of the major fun things I did this year was being the chairman for the Club Sleepover and Christmas Party.    I arranged all the games and some of the crafts.  Almost everyone in the club came.  Not everyone stayed over night.  Several people had to go home since they had other things happening the next day.  At the party we did a game called Christmas pictionary.  The kids against the leaders.  The kids of course won the game.  We did name that Christmas tune.  We made gingerbread houses from graham crackers and we made salt shaker Angels.  On top of that we decorated cookie bags and we baked cookies.  The cookies were put into the decorated bags and were then taken to a retirement home the next day.  For dinner we had pizza and drinks and cookies.  The next day for breakfast we had orange juice and muffins.  The adults had coffee.  This was a lot of fun and I hope we get to do this again next year.

The other big fun thing we did as a club this year was enter the Share the Fun skit for County Field Day.  At first we were having a hard time deciding what to do.  There were several good ideas, but we finally decided on trying to do something like the TV show, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", except we would call it "Who Wants to be a 4-Her."  Once we got the idea, it just started really rolling along.  We did auditions for the different parts.  Then we had to decide what questions we needed to ask.  Everyone had to write at least 3 questions and then we chose the best ones.  Then we had to work on what the contestants were going to win.  They weren't going to win money so we decided that with each right answer they earned an H in the 4 leaf clover.  And we decided that we needed music.  One of our members had a keyboard.  So she was in charge of that.  She tried to find some of the funniest sounds, especially when someone would make a mistake or lose.  Everyone in the skit had to do a prop. Everyone got a part and no one was left out.  We had a lot of fun with it.  We did a lot of practicing.  Then came County Field Day.  I couldn't believe it.  The audience loved it and participated with us.  And we were the County Winners.  We would get to do this for Regional Field Day.  Well-we became Regional Winners.  WOW!

     Our club was the host for the Fashion Review and County Expressive Arts.  It was held at the church where we have our meetings.  Another club did this with us.  We did the Fashion Review and the other club did the Expressive Arts.  I took all the pictures.  My leader showed me how to do the settings and do some action shots. I learned a lot of new things about taking pictures.

     Well, I have come to the end of this year.  I can hardly believe that this year is over.  It has been a very busy year.  I really like being a part of the Grand Terrace 4-H Club.  All the kids in that club accepted us and we have made new friends.  I think next year will be just as fun and may even be busier.