State 4-H Congress comes to Raleigh for four days of fun

Media contact: Marshall Stewart, cell 919.215.8683 or marshall_stewart@ncsu.edu

State 4-H Congress will be in Raleigh June 22-25, attracting 521 youth and their adult leaders for activities including presentations on a variety of subjects, leadership and citizenship training, service opportunities, officer elections, awards and more.

This marks the first year that State 4-H Congress in North Carolina has moved from its traditional mid-July schedule. For the first time, youth will be able to choose between traditional 4-H Congress activities and two learning tracks on citizenship and leadership.

4-H is the youth development program of North Carolina Cooperative Extension, which is based at North Carolina State and North Carolina A&T State universities and offers programming through county centers across the state. 4-H Congress activities will be held on N.C. State’s campus, the N.C. State Fairgrounds and at other locations around town.

Below is an outline of daily activities for State 4-H Congress. News media who need further information can contact 4-H Program Director Marshall Stewart, listed at the top of this release, or stop by the 4-H Congress host and hostess table in the lobby of N.C. State University’s McKimmon Center. (See campus map.)

Saturday, June 22
State presentation finals, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
N.C. State University North Campus
SAS (32A), Poe (24) and Riddick Halls (39): See this campus map for directions.
Delegates will participate in competitions designed to demonstrate their knowledge of subjects ranging from landscaping to sewing to wildlife. State winners, many of whom go on to compete in regional or national contests, will be named in more than 30 subject matter categories.

Outdoor cookery competitions, 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
N.C. State University’s Court of North Carolina; See this campus map for directions.
Smoke will rise from N.C. State’s Court of North Carolina Saturday morning, but no need to sound the alarm. 4-H’ers will bring their grills here to demonstrate their expertise in preparing a variety of char-broiled recipes. Television personality and barbecue expert Bob Garner will be on hand to tape the event for UNC-TV.

Opening assembly and Honor Club tapping, 8:30 – 10 p.m.
McKimmon Center, Room 1
4-H delegations from across the state will open 4-H Congress with a colorful parade of county 4-H flags. During the assembly, new members of the 4-H Honor Club – the top honor a 4-H’er can receive – will be tapped in a candlelight ceremony.

Sunday, June 23
Hands to Service assembly, 9 – 11 a.m.
McKimmon Center, Room 2
4-H’ers will engage in two service projects during this session. Some will use patterns to cut out pieces of shoes for Sole Hope, a non-profit that provides close-toed shoes to children in Africa. The shoes are constructed in Africa by women who are paid a living wage for their work. A second group will stuff teddy bears for Victory Junction, a camp in Randleman for children with chronic conditions and serious illnesses.

Citizenville, 2:45-4:30 p.m.
McKimmon Center, Room 2
Youth participating in the citizenship and leadership tracks that begin Monday will participate in this introductory session, facilitated by Greensboro’s Center for Creative Leadership.

Monday, June 24
AIRE interviews, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
McKimmon Center, Room 5
Application, Interview, Resume and Essay is a four-step process by which youth are chosen to attend national 4-H events such as National Congress, National Conference and International Leadership Conference. Youth complete interviews at 4-H Congress.

NC Spin taping, 3:15 – 4:30 p.m.
McKimmon Center, Room 2
Tom Campbell of the NC Spin talk show will host a panel discussion session with 4-H Congress delegates, who will have the opportunity to ask the panel questions.

Clover dance and state 4-H officer elections, 8:30 – 10:30 p.m.
McKimmon Center, Room 2

Candlelight clover, 10:45 – 11:15 p.m.
Dorton Arena, N.C. State Fairgrounds
In this closing tradition for State 4-H Congress, 4-H’ers form a giant four-leaf clover lit by candles.

Tuesday, June 25
Citizenship track delegates visit the N.C. General Assembly, 9:30 – 11 a.m.
4-H’ers participating in the citizenship track will travel by buses to the N.C. General Assembly building for legislative visits.

Spoken Word track wrap up, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
McKimmon Center, Room 1
Sacrificial Poets of Chapel Hill will lead 4-H’ers in creating poems about their 4-H experience. Some youth will be invited to perform their poems. Sacrificial Poets is an award-winning spoken word poetry organization serving middle school, high school and college-aged youth in the Triangle area.

Farewell luncheon, 11:45 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
McKimmon Center, Room 1
David Pittman, Duke University director of student activities and an N.C. 4-H Honor Club member, is the capnote speaker for the luncheon.

More than 237,500 young people between the ages of 5 and 19 participate in North Carolina 4-H activities each year with the help of 20,780 adult and youth volunteers.

For more news from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, visit the CALS News Center:  www.cals.ncsu.edu/agcomm/news-center.

– N. Hampton