My 4-H Story--2001--Seventh Year in 4-H

Note from John: 9/28/10


Sorry for the very poor quality of the images.  They were scanned from a paper where these photos were printed from our printer, which just made them terrible.  They will improve with better photos in the years to come I hope.  First time printing photos on full pages instead of using real photographs in the record book.

My 4-H Story

Written 2001

Age: 13

Year in 4-H: 7

     I can't believe another year has come and gone.  And it has been a very busy one.  We did a lot of things and saw a lot of things.  Hello, my name is John Trammell.  I am a junior member of the Grand Terrace 4-H Club.  My sister, Ashley, is 10 years old and she is also in 4-H.  My dad, Steve, is the photography leader and my mom is the resource leader for the club.  I have a pet cat named Buster.  This year I set up my own 20-gallon fish tank.  I am learning how to keep it clean and how to keep my fish healthy.  I just finished 7th Grade at Clement Middle School.  This year I was in a speech and debate class.  I really had fun in that class.  I was also involved in the Youth Coalition group again this year through my school.  The Youth Coalition is club put together by the City of Redlands.  Teens from the middle schools in the Redlands Unified School District come together and do community service projects.  In the Grand Terrace 4-H Club I was elected to Club Communications Officer and Club Photographer.  I am also the recycling chairman.  As club communications officer I called everyone a day before each meeting and reminding the members about the meeting and what they needed to bring to the meeting.  I designed a calling roster on the computer that helped me keep track of whom I talked to and whom I left a message for.  As club photographer, I took the pictures at the different club events and county events as necessary.  This way we would have pictures for our club record book and the other members would have pictures for their record books.  As recycling chairman I have everyone collect the aluminum cans and plastic drink bottles.  They give them to me and then I take them to the recycling center.  The money I get I give back to the club, which then can be used for things the club will want to do.  I like doing this project because it helps the environment and it helps the club with a little money so that we don't have to do too many fundraisers.  My projects for this year were Junior Leader in Photography, Food & Nutrition, Breads, Photography, Wildlife, and Dog Care and Grooming.  

     Like I said in the beginning of my story this has been a very busy year for my family.  So let me start my story with the special trip we took at the end of June and the beginning of July 2000.  

    

     My family went on vacation to Yellowstone National Park.  We drove there going through several States.  We like to camp, but not the tent kind of camping.  We have a little 18-foot trailer that we use.  My mom calls it her mini house on wheels.  On the way to Yellowstone we made some stops along the way to see some other interesting things.  One of the places we drove through was Zion National Park.  It was very beautiful with all those different colored rocks.  Like I said, we just drove through but decided that this is one place we will be coming back to for a longer visit.  We drove through Salt Lake City and caught a glimpse of the Great Salt Lake.  What we saw on the other side was Promotory.  Located there is the Golden Spike National Park.  That is where the two railroads come together.  In Idaho we saw the Snake River which the Oregon Trail travelers had to cross.  Once in Yellowstone we, my sister and I joined the Junior Ranger Program.  We filled out a special newspaper and earned a special badge.  The reason I am talking about this is because our Wildlife Leader said that we could use our wildlife learning experiences as part of our Wildlife project.  Yellowstone is a very beautiful place.  It is also huge.  The rivers are clean and big.  We saw black bears, grizzly bears, moose, bison, elk, antelope, and coyotes.  We looked real hard to find the wolves, but had no luck.  We even picked up some trash that other visitors carelessly had thrown out.  The trash would have been a hazard to the wildlife.  The geysers, the mud pots, and all the hot (and I mean very, very hot-over 700 degrees Fahrenheit hot) springs and pools are very interesting (and stinky too).  We stayed there for 5 days.  It was very hard for us to leave but there were other things we wanted to see too.  Then we went to the Grand Tetons.  There we saw nesting Bald Eagles.  In the nest were two baby chicks.  And we also got to see nesting Osprey.  They are just like eagles but a little smaller and they dive under the water to catch their fish.  They Osprey also had chicks in the nest.  We also saw more moose.  After that we went to Mt. Rushmore National Monument.  After Mt. Rushmore we went to Jewel Cave National Monument.  At last the last thing we went to see was Crazy Horse.  All of the things that we saw I will learned about in 7th grade science class.  And while we were on this trip, my dad also made this an intermediate photography project.  I learned a lot about composition, patience, and lighting.  It was a real challenge to take some of the pictures but I managed to get a couple of real good ones.  I took a lot of photographs on this trip.  And while I'm on the subject of club projects, my mother also incorporated my hobby project of rock collecting.  All along the way we learned about the rock formations, the different mineral make-up of rocks and how Yellowstone was formed.  I collected rocks and also bought some really interest rocks.  I also bought some really neat fossils. 

     In August our club had a wildlife meeting and club beach party at San Clemente State Beach.  The wildlife part was spent on a nature trail there and we learned about what plants and animals might live in this type of habitat.  Brianna Sallows planned that part.  The beach party part was my duty.  I was asked about 4 days before the party was to take place so I did the fastest planning ever.  I called everyone and we decided that it would be easier if everyone just brought his or her own picnic lunch.  Everyone was also to bring their own beach stuff like umbrellas, chairs, towels, sun screen and whatever else they would need.  We really had a fun time.  We want to do this again.  

     In September school started.  That kept us busy getting used to the new toutines of going to bed earlier and doing homework again.

October started out with National 4-H Week.  Our club set up several different displays at difference places.  The committee I was on did a display at the Redlands Mall.  I was in charge of the photography.  We had a large empty storefront window for a whole week.  When it was all done it looked great.  We also put fliers out in front of the window in case anyone was interested in joining 4-H.  Achievement Night was this month too.  Our club did very well.  We had an Outstanding Senior Member award and an Outstanding Junior Member award.  I was so surprised that I got the Outstanding Junior Member award.  It is a really special feeling when they call out your name for something special like that.  At the end of October, the Rancho Rebels held their annual Halloween Horse Show.  They asked me to be their official photographer.  It was a really neat learning experience trying to take pictures of horses.  Everyone had a great time and when I mailed the photos to the club, they loved the pictures.  There is one picture that I liked so I used it as one of my photos that I entered into the County Expressive Arts Exhibit.  That picture got Best of Show and the County Medal.  I would love to do the pictures for the horse show again.

     November got busy with many events.  The City of Grand Terrace had their Grand Terrace Days and our club set up a booth their.  They also had a cookie-baking contest.  I entered into the contest.  But I didn't win any awards.  One of our other club members won a second place.  When we baked our cookies, we all made several extra dozen cookies and donated them to the senior retirement home.  We donated a total of 15 dozen cookies.  The people at the retirement home really enjoyed them.  Also in November is the PTA Reflections program.  I have been entering that now since 3rd grade.  I even had one photo go to State PTA.  This year I again entered into the Reflections program.  I had one photo that went all the way to District Level.  My family also took a trip to San Antonio Mission so that my sister could do her mission report for her homework.  There while my sister was busy doing her "stuff" my dad took the opportunity and we did another intermediate photography shoot.  This time I had a photo that was a real winner.  I showed it to one of my teachers and he actually bought a copy of it from me.  I also entered it into the San Bernardino County Fair and got a Best of Show on this photo.  This is the second time I had a photo that got Best of Show at the fair.  I am entering it into the State Fair Best of Show Competition.  This is very exciting. 

     In December our club had their annual Christmas Sleepover party.  The Christmas party was in a house that is next to the church where we meet.  We had games to play.  There were games, singing, dancing, and a gift exchange.  We also brought homemade cookies that we donated to the senior retirement home.  This year though we had to do the party between Christmas and New Years since some of the club members didn't get out of school until right before Christmas.  

     Food Fiesta was on January 20th this year.  I did a table setting called Danger! Men Cooking.  I got that idea while we were on vacation in Cody, Wyoming.  There my mom bought me the apron so that I could make my setting complete.  With the table setting I served Fire Starter Chili.  I got County Winner and I also got a cookbook.

Next we had to get ready for County Field Day.  I did a demonstration that won me a County Winner position for Regional Field Day.  I also participated in the club skit.  We worked hard on our club skit and we all had fun doing it.  On March 3rd our club served at the Highland Woman's Club scholarship Luncheon.  We have been doing this for several years.  This year was fun as usual.  The Woman's Club made a generous donation to our club so that we could use it to do fun things with like taking a field trip.  The weekend right after Field Day was Fashion Review and the County Expressive Arts.  It was really sad to see that hardly anyone was there.  I hope that next year more 4-Her's will participate in this fun event.  My sister entered in the Fashion Review and the County Expressive Arts.  I just entered in the Expressive Arts part.  One of my photos got County Winner and Best of Show.

     April was a very sad month.  My grandpa, on my dad's side, died.  We knew that he has been sick, but we really didn't expect him to die this soon.  I really miss him.  But I will always remember him in my heart.

    In May we entered into the San Bernardino County Fair.  OUr club entered a lot of photos and sewing things.  All our members won many ribbons.  I also entered my table setting and zucchini bread.  This is the first time I entered in the baking contest.  Next year I hope to do better.  I also went to Regional Field Day.  I did great this year and became a Regional Winner for the first time in demonstrations.  The next thing that came up was our display at the Orange Show.  Our club leader thought we should do a display booth so we did.  I was in charge of putting together something about photography.  I had to tie that somehow into agriculture.  I used the idea that photos are printed on paper that comes form trees.  We didn't do so well.  We got 6th place.  Next year we need to do something better.

    Elections for the next year's officers were held and this time I ran for the treasurer's position.  Of course I also went for club photographer.  I was officially elected as the treasurer and photographer.  I will also be doing the recycling thing again for next year.  To finish off our busy year, my family took an end of the year trip to San Simeon.  We wanted to see Hearst Castle and check out the surrounding areas.  We did our camping thing again.  It was really nice.  There we did some rock collecting, photography, and wildlife stuff.  Every trip we take my parents make sure that my sister and I learn something new.  We always have a lot of fun.

     So as you can see I did have a very busy year.  I love doing the projects and doing different chairmanships.  I really like doing the photography and the foods stuff.  4-H has been a really good experience for me so far and I am only half way into the program.  I look forward to learning more neat things and doing a lot more stuff.  You will be hearing from me again next  year.