Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lincoln 4-H Club Helps Community
LINCOLN — Lincoln 4- H Club meets monthly and serves children who are 5 years old up through 19 years old.
Each session opens with a business meeting, run by the students, followed by a craft activity.
Dawn Bowers, co-leader of the Lincoln club, said one of the goals of 4-H is to get students involved and serving the community.
Originally, 4- H clubs were created to teach different aspects of agriculture, Bowers said. However, today, most members do not live on farms and clubs have moved into many other subjects, such as science, robotics or food science.
“We’ve gotten to be more urban so more students can be involved in 4- H now,” Bowers said.
Lincoln 4- H Club is involved in several community projects, including helping with the city’s new community garden, clean-up days and recycling. The members also help with a petting zoo at the Washington County Fair.
Chloe Dawson, 11, is president of the Lincoln club and she has been a member since first grade.
She competes in the Washington County Fair, mainly with food preservation projects. She preserves jams, jellies and pickles with produce she grew in her family’s garden.
Chloe said she enjoys being a part of 4-H because it helps develop leadership skills and teaches responsibility.
As president, Chloe said she is learning parliamen- tary procedures for running a meeting.
Other officers are Kristin Rhine, vice president; Abby Bowers, secretary; and Hayden Pack, treasurer. Lincoln has about 17 students and youth who attend meetings each month. Most times, the meetings are held at Central United Methodist Church in Lincoln.
This is Kaydance Glisson’s first year to be in 4-H and she said she is coming to learn more about the club.
“I wanted to help animals and I love helping our environment,” said Kaydance, 11.
Mileen Olson, 13, said she joined because she likes to create things and to be around her friends.
Students created a picture using recyclable items at their last meeting. They glued plastic items onto a cardboard base and covered the items with aluminum foil to create a 3D picture. Mileen’s finished product was the face of a pig.
In January, club members learned about recycle candle- making from Elizabeth Hill with Washington County Environmental Agency. Hill demonstrated how to melt the wax, using recycled candles and crayons, and set up a candle- making area for students to make their own candles. The members will be able to enter the candles in the Washington Country Fair in August.
One of the benefits for students who stay with 4-H, said Bowers, is that they can maintain a record book of all they’ve accomplished over the years. As high school seniors, members can then take this resume and apply for and possibly earn college scholarships.
“It’s a good organization for kids to be involved in,” Bowers added.