By Kevin Tatum
STATE 4-H HORSE SHOW
Perry, Georgia, will be buzzing with horse flies (and a lot of people and horses) as the State 4‑H Horse Show will be held there at the Georgia National Fairgrounds starting Monday, June 11, and running through Saturday, June 16. Coffee County will be well represented with 19 4‑H members competing in various competitions throughout the week.
4-H members registered to compete include Elijah Carver, Elizabeth Crews, Cody Davis, Emily Freeman, Cody Hayes, Emma Hayes, Morgan Hodges, Lacey Lewis, Cheyenne Lowe, Maleah Martin, Jadyn Nugent, Madison Payne, Cassie Jo Perkins, Harrison Russ, Erin Tucker, Anna Unger, Abbi Vaughn, Kali Yates, and Cloe Yeomans. These 4-H members learn their skills at various trainers’ farms, but Mrs. Sandra Sears gives leadership to the 4-H Horse Club and has for more than 25 years now. She gets a lot of help from other 4-H volunteers and especially the Extension office secretary, Mrs. Lisa Craigue. She has worked for many years assisting Mrs. Sears in coordinating Horse Club meetings, keeping records, and registering students for horse events. Mrs. Sears and Mrs. Craigue have made a great team to help provide educational opportunities for students interested in horses.
We want to wish all of these students the best of luck as they compete in the State 4-H Horse Show. There is no fee to watch these horse shows, so if you are in the Perry area that week, stop by and support these 4-H members in their endeavors.
CAMPING SEASON IS HERE
With school out for the summer break, it means it is camp time for 4-H members. Georgia 4-H offers summer camping opportunities at five 4-H centers around the state including two on the Georgia coastline at Jekyll Island and Tybee Island, one in the mountains at Dahlonega, one in the outskirts of Atlanta at Hampton, and the world’s largest 4-H center near Eatonton. Each year, each county puts in a request for the camp and the week that they would like to camp for their Cloverleaf 4-H members. This is usually done around late July or August for the next year. Counties are then notified around late August or September when and where they will be camping for the next summer. Summer camp for Cloverleaf 4-H members (grades 4-6) this year will be held at Camp Jekyll the week of June 4-8.
Junior 4-H members (grades 7 & 8) will camp as a district. Since Coffee County is part of the Southeast District, we will camp with other counties from southeast Georgia. This camp usually rotates between Fortson 4-H Center at Hampton and Camp Jekyll on Jekyll Island. This year, our Junior 4-H members will be camping at the Fortson 4-H Center the week of June 25-29. Junior 4-H members usually have one other camping opportunity which usually rotates between Wilderness Challenge Camp at the Wahsega 4-H Center near Dahlonega and the Marine Resources Camp at the Burton 4-H Center on Tybee Island. This year, both of these camps were offered to our Junior 4-H members.
Senior 4-H members (grades 9-12) also have the opportunity to attend 4-H camp during the summer. The last few years, Senior 4-H camp has been held at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center near Eatonton because it is the only camp facility large enough to hold all the 4-H’ers who wanted to attend. While at this camp, these 4‑H members get to spend a day at the University of Georgia campus and learn more about 4-H’s tie to UGA. This year’s Senior 4-H Camp will be held July 2-6. Senior 4-H members also have the opportunity to participate in a Senior Extreme Camp at Rock Eagle’s Pioneer Camp. It’s a more rugged camp and is only open to about 40 participants statewide.
If you have questions about the Coffee County 4-H Club program, or questions around the farm or home, please feel free to contact the Coffee County Extension office at (912) 384-1402. Remember, we are YOUR local connection to the University of Georgia.