The date for the 4-H Recognition of Excellence Awards Ceremony has changed from November 8 to November 15 at 3 pm.

The event will be held at Central Catholic High School's auditorium on Airport Road in Bloomington.

We live in a world facing critical challenges that require our collective attention and action. Young people - like all people - yearn to be a part of the solution. As an extension of the summer phase of United We Serve, the 2009 National Learn & Serve Challenge is a sustained, focused effort to promote youth civic engagement and service-learning, a hands-on teaching method that engages young people in solving problems within their schools and communities as part of academic studies and other out-of-school time learning activities.

The National Learn & Serve Challenge will kick off October 5-12, 2009 by issuing a national call to action to schools, college campuses and youth-serving organizations to commit to engaging a significant number of young people in service-learning activities that address the tough problems facing the country.

Young people-from elementary to college age-will help rebuild and renew their local or global community by using the content knowledge and skills learned in the classroom or a community-based program to create and implement innovative solutions to problems within five priority areas:

• Community renewal, including responding to the economic crisis
• Education, including literacy and keeping kids in school
• Energy and the environment
• Health and nutrition
• Safety and security

Get started today! Visit www.learnandservechallenge.org to accept the Challenge. Let us know you are ready to engage young people in service-learning in your classroom, youth group, club, school, campus, faith-based or community organization

A cool link that shows the progression of the construction of the International Space Station.

http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm

Caution - if you have a slow internet connection, it may take a while to load and play.

Receive $400 for your County 4-H Program

Thanks to generous support from John Deere, a $400 award will be presented to one county from each state (and one U.S. territory) with the highest number of individual Biofuel Blast results survey submissions between October 1^st and October 30^th, 2009. The awards can be used toward the implementation and promotion of science, engineering and technology programs in your county. After youth complete the experiment, make sure that they go to www.4-H.org/NYSD to fill out the survey so your county can compete for the award!

In addition, of those who submit their results through the Biofuel Blast experiment survey, five youth names will be randomly selected to receive a 32GB third generation iPod touch. The five youth will also be able to designate a 4-H club, school classroom, or youth organization to receive one of the pictured Fuel Cell Car Experiment kits. Click here for official drawing rules.

Youth Leaders for Literacy Available to Young Volunteers Who Inspire and Encourage Reading

Youth Service America is partnering with the National Education Association to once again offer Youth Leaders for Literacy grants to children and youth, ages 5-25, who offer innovative ways to increase literacy skills and appreciation for reading among their peers. Youth can submit their applications through October 30, 2009.

Youth Leaders for Literacy will award 30 young people from across the U.S. each with $500 grants and $500 in books from the Pearson Foundation. Successful projects will be youth-led and address an established literacy need in the applicant's school or community. The projects will follow the framework of YSA's Semester of Service initiative, launching on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service in January and culminating on Global Youth Service Day, April 23-25. An activity should also occur during the NEA's Read Across America Day on March 2.

Access the application at: http://tinyurl.com/neaysayll

On 4-H National Youth Science Day – October 7, 2009 – millions of young people across the U.S. will participate in a live demonstration of how organic materials can be converted to fuel to supply energy. McLean County will kick off National Youth Science day on Saturday, October 3 from 9:30 – 11:30 am. We are looking for 4-H clubs to volunteer to lead the science experiment with attendees at the museum during this time. A total of 10-15 youth volunteers and five adults are needed to assist in leading the experiment.

The experiment offers several activities to showcase how cellulose and sugars in plants can be used to create ethanol. The National Science Experiment will encourage a national youth debate to discuss the "best" biofuel based on experiment outcomes. Youth will be engaged before, during and after the experiment via several popular communication mechanisms and through the www.4-H.org web site. To download youth and facilitator guidebooks go to www.4-H.org/NYSD.

Please consider adding this activity to your list of leadership opportunities for your members. Interested members need to sign up with Theresa techamb@illinois.edu no later than September 18 --- this Friday!

The 2009 National 4-H Week Promotion Toolkit is now available on the National 4-H Council web site. This kit contains flyers, bookmarks, letterhead, proclamations, certificates, news releases, and news ads. The theme appears to be Meet the Future – National 4-H Week – Oct. 4-10, 2009. Most of the files are in Microsoft Word and can be customized to add your club information if your club is recruiting new members.

Be thinking of creative ways you can promote the week and to use this great opportunity to recruit new adults as volunteers and new youth as members.

National 4-H Week materials available online:

http://4-h.org/brandnetwork/4hweektoolkit.html