Not a country girl, but still impressed with 4-H
I am a latecomer to 4-H.
Growing up just over the county line in North Lawrence, I had only limited exposure to the organization. In my neighborhood, scouting was very popular, especially with the girls. I went through Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts (little known fact: I won the Girl Scout Bake-off one year at both the local and district levels. I think I’ve baked fewer than 10 times since).
There were a number of children in our church congregation who were 4-H’ers. They were all from Wayne County, right up to the county line in Dalton.
My friends, who lived “in town” and in housing subdivisions, considered these kids “farm kids,” and were awed by the fact they would sleep in the barn with their show animals during the Wayne County Fair. We, on the other hand, were preoccupied with the marching band show at the Stark County Fair.
Even though I grew up in a town of 450 (with a ZIP code but no mayor), I didn’t consider myself a “country girl.”
Thus, the whole concept of 4-H was lost on me. I didn’t want to raise rabbits or sew, so I didn’t see the point.
So it was strange to me that when I landed in The Daily Record newsroom, there were people who came from 4-H backgrounds – and not necessarily “country people.”
My former coworker, the late Eric “E.E.” Johnson really enjoyed 4-H related activities at the fair and throughout the year. He always seemed erudite and bookish, so I didn’t see his connection.
Until one year, a month or so before the fair, when he asked me if I wanted to help him judge writing projects.
“For what?” I asked.
“4-H projects,” he said.
I wondered what 4-H’ers wrote about and, I’ll admit, I didn’t instantly warm to the idea.
“There’s free food,” he said
Now, anyone who knows reporters know any number of us live for the banquet circuit. We’re not paid well and we don’t keep particularly regular hours, so when someone offers you a chance to sit down and eat FOR FREE, you don’t pass it up.
And so it was, E.E. and free food brought me to 4-H.
We got the projects a few weeks before, so we could read through them and prepare questions. I’m not sure what I expected, but these projects were really good. The idea was to follow instructions and guidelines in a project book and write accordingly. There were short stories, poems, essays, critiques – all well done.
I was impressed. I also had no idea what I was supposed to ask the writers.
When we arrived at the fairgrounds, E.E. took over. He never once talked down to the students, nor was he ever harsh. (For those of us who’d had our daily work edited by E.E., we knew he did not suffer fools gladly.)
He asked about their writing processes, where they’d gone in search of topics, who their favorite authors were, if they read this book or that author, what they hoped to get out of writing.
The longer the evening went on, the more enthralling our work became. Not one student was unprepared, even though a number of them had a half dozen other projects to have judged. There was no rush and the “judging” seemed more like an interesting meeting of the minds.
To my knowledge, Eric was a supporter of 4-H up until his untimely death a few years ago. To this day, I am grateful to him for opening my eyes to a whole different 4-H – not the club for “farm kids,” but rather an organization dedicated to the growth of all its members – future leaders, future explorers, maybe even future writers.
Growing up just over the county line in North Lawrence, I had only limited exposure to the organization. In my neighborhood, scouting was very popular, especially with the girls. I went through Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts (little known fact: I won the Girl Scout Bake-off one year at both the local and district levels. I think I’ve baked fewer than 10 times since).
There were a number of children in our church congregation who were 4-H’ers. They were all from Wayne County, right up to the county line in Dalton.
My friends, who lived “in town” and in housing subdivisions, considered these kids “farm kids,” and were awed by the fact they would sleep in the barn with their show animals during the Wayne County Fair. We, on the other hand, were preoccupied with the marching band show at the Stark County Fair.
Even though I grew up in a town of 450 (with a ZIP code but no mayor), I didn’t consider myself a “country girl.”
Thus, the whole concept of 4-H was lost on me. I didn’t want to raise rabbits or sew, so I didn’t see the point.
So it was strange to me that when I landed in The Daily Record newsroom, there were people who came from 4-H backgrounds – and not necessarily “country people.”
My former coworker, the late Eric “E.E.” Johnson really enjoyed 4-H related activities at the fair and throughout the year. He always seemed erudite and bookish, so I didn’t see his connection.
Until one year, a month or so before the fair, when he asked me if I wanted to help him judge writing projects.
“For what?” I asked.
“4-H projects,” he said.
I wondered what 4-H’ers wrote about and, I’ll admit, I didn’t instantly warm to the idea.
“There’s free food,” he said
Now, anyone who knows reporters know any number of us live for the banquet circuit. We’re not paid well and we don’t keep particularly regular hours, so when someone offers you a chance to sit down and eat FOR FREE, you don’t pass it up.
And so it was, E.E. and free food brought me to 4-H.
We got the projects a few weeks before, so we could read through them and prepare questions. I’m not sure what I expected, but these projects were really good. The idea was to follow instructions and guidelines in a project book and write accordingly. There were short stories, poems, essays, critiques – all well done.
I was impressed. I also had no idea what I was supposed to ask the writers.
When we arrived at the fairgrounds, E.E. took over. He never once talked down to the students, nor was he ever harsh. (For those of us who’d had our daily work edited by E.E., we knew he did not suffer fools gladly.)
He asked about their writing processes, where they’d gone in search of topics, who their favorite authors were, if they read this book or that author, what they hoped to get out of writing.
The longer the evening went on, the more enthralling our work became. Not one student was unprepared, even though a number of them had a half dozen other projects to have judged. There was no rush and the “judging” seemed more like an interesting meeting of the minds.
To my knowledge, Eric was a supporter of 4-H up until his untimely death a few years ago. To this day, I am grateful to him for opening my eyes to a whole different 4-H – not the club for “farm kids,” but rather an organization dedicated to the growth of all its members – future leaders, future explorers, maybe even future writers.
Published: March 22, 2011
