Dear 4-H Families,

As the Focus is getting ready to print, Chelsea and Kim are about twenty miles away enjoying 4-H's week at Camp White Eagle in Adeline, Illinois. Joining Kim and Chelsea are eight other Stephenson County Camp Counselors (Mitch Berning, Sara Earnest, Brandon Lamm, Kelsy Miller, Laura Miller, Willy Miller, Candi Seffrood, and Lindsey Schieder.) These amazing individuals (and Chelsea and Kim) have worked since February training to be the best counselor they each have the potential to be. These counselors work side-by-side with seventeen other teenagers from Ogle and Lee counties. The combination of these counties makes up S.O.uL. The opportunity to be a camp counselor is amazing! Not only is camp in a breath-taking location, but also the people you meet (campers & counselors) are amazing people who touch your life. These counselors asked not only to VOLUNTEER five days with children, they are asked to spend countless hours training and preparing for camp. Each county has an opportunity to plan one evening at camp. This year the S.O.uL theme was "Back to the Future" Stephenson County Counselors planned a 1920's Speakeasy (don't worry it was camp appropriate)! After long months of working with each of these counselors as a fellow counselor and doubling as an Extension Staff member, I wanted to thank each and every one of the counselors for their endless energy, willingness to share their talents, laughing, stepping out of their comfort zones, succeeding at new challenges, and encouraging each other. Words cannot express how truly wonderful each of these counselors are. Thank you for another great year of prepping for camp, and one more successful camp week!

Brandon, Kelsy, Laura, Willy, Lindsey, Sara, Candi, and Lil' Mitchy, thank you so much! You guys are outstanding young adults!! Keep up the laughs and keep the heart and dedication!

With much love,

Chelsea and Kim

As 4–H'ers plan and prepare their exhibits for the 4–H show, we would like to encourage parents to remember to allow the members to do their own work. While it is ok for mom and dad to give a few suggestions, or maybe a little help, it is more important to allow the 4–H'er to do his or her own work. Judging is a time for judges to see the work of the 4–H members, not the parents. Our judges want to know what the 4–H'ers have learned, and how they completed the projects, not what they watched their parents complete. Please remember, 4–H is for youth, and your 4–H member will only gain from the experience if they do their own work. While the 4–H program is a family organization, this is one of those areas where the family should show their support through their words of encouragement! Let's help our 4–H members grow and blossom!

A reminder that all entries for the Stephenson County Fair 4–H Show are due Friday, July 15^th by 4:00 p.m. at the Extension Office!!!! The same goes for the Fair entry forms as General Project's Day - if the form is received after the deadline, the 4–H'er is not eligible for State Fair, Trophy, Champion, or Reserve Champion. Please plan ahead and get those forms in as soon as possible. The sooner, the BETTER!

Remember, if you are planning to sell your animal at the Jr. Livestock Auction, you must enter and exhibit at both the 4–H and Jr. Open Shows. Be sure to check the Stephenson County Fair Book for the Jr. Open Show deadline. Animals that can be sold at the Jr. Livestock auction include: steers, swine, goats, poultry, rabbits, and sheep.

Federation Pop Stand at the Livestock Sale!

Federation will be selling pop, water, chips, and candy bars at the Jr. Livestock Sale on Saturday, August 27^th. Please stop and help support the 4–H Federation!

PIZZA, PIZZA!

The 4–H Federation will again be selling Pizza Hut Pizza and Pepsi products at the County Fair in the 4–H Building during lunch and dinner hours. Please call the Extension Office to sign your club up for working a shift. Club members who work will receive a coupon for purchases at the stand and each participating club will earn a percentage of the total profits, plus earn points towards the Club Feud. With your help, the pizza sales will be a success again this year! We look forward to working with you!

Animal Scrambles

If you are interested in taking part in a scramble at this year's fair, watch for information in the Fair Fun Briefing, which will be out soon.

The Superior Young Producer Contests will again be held during the Illinois State Fair. Exhibitors must enter and show at the Illinois State Fair Junior Department in the respective specie area in order to be eligible for the scholarship award. Awards include: $1000 scholarship and plaque to the "top 5" individuals overall in each species. Species include: BEEF, DAIRY, HORSE, SHEEP, AND SWINE. Complete rules and regulations can be found in the Junior Department Premium Book on the Illinois State Fair website: www.illinoisstatefair.info

This horse camp is designed for any child wanting to have fun while meeting other horse enthusiasts and learning about many aspects of horses. Horse ownership is NOT a requirement. Dates are July 18-22. Camp will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 2 p.m. each day. Lunch will be provided.
Camp is help at Iron Heart Ranch outside of Dixon. This stable is set in an encouraging environment. For further information call: Annette Grover 815-200-3105 or Lisa O'Brien 815-440-8412.

This year due to time constraints, we asked 4–H leader Linda Meier of the Country Cuzins to organize the Window Contest. Thanks so much Linda, job well done!!

The clubs who had June Dairy Day Window Displays, their location, and their rating is listed below:

Country Cuzins, Dakota Lion's Hall 2nd
Davis Rockets, Davis Country Cheese 1st
Freeport Fantastics, NMT Phone Serv 1st
Rainbow Rangers, Christian Supply Center 2nd
GV Golden Eagles German Valley Bank 1st
Pearl Valley Rangers, State Bank, Pearl City 1st
Lena Live Wires, Village Voices 1st
Lena Lucky Clovers, Lena State Bank 1st
Snappy Snazzers, Orangeville Community Bank 1st
Winslow Clovers, State Bank of Winslow 2nd

2005 Special Recognition

Most Educational – German Valley Golden Eagles
Most Eye Catching – Lena Lucky Clovers
Neatest Display- Davis Rockets

Dairy Promotion Poster

The 2005 June is Dairy Month Poster Contest was an overwhelming success this year. There were 90 posters turned into the Extension Office to be displayed and voted on at this year's Ag Breakfast. Thank you to all that participated to make this an outstanding promotion of the dairy industry. This year's winners are as follows:

Cloverbuds: Ryan Gahm, Freeport Fantastics
8-11: Michelle Bronkema, Pearl City Hornets
12-14: Mandy Bronkema, Pearl City Hornets
15-19: Melissa Bronkema, Pearl City Hornets
Leaders: Bonnie Campbell, Davis Rockets

The posters were narrowed down to the top 10 in each category. The public then voted on their favorite in each category at the Ag Breakfast. All other posters were on display for the public to view at the Ag Breakfast as well. Once again thank you to all who participated and we can't wait to see what is done next year.

This year we will be having a Cloverbud Adventure. We will be meeting at Krape Park in Freeport for a fun-filled afternoon. Our adventure is scheduled for Thursday, June 21, 2005, from 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Watch for the flyer for this great adventure for the Cloverbuds.

A Day of Cloverbud Camp

A Day of Cloverbud Camp will be held on Saturday, August 13, 2005, at Camp White Eagle, for kids ages 5-10. The day will include exploring camp by swimming, canoeing, hiking, making a craft, and playing games. It's a great way to check out camp. Registration cost for the day's event will be $7.00 per person. It is a great time for the whole family to attend. The day at camp will start at 10:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. (815-772-4075) Please pre-register for this event by contacting Whiteside County Extension Office by August 1, 2005.

A huge thanks goes out to all the young ladies who volunteered to be counselors for 5^th –6^th grade girls interested in a Science related field. Those wonderful counselors include:

Sara Earnest
Kerstin Curry
Lindsey Schieder
Laura Miller
Kelsy Miller

These lovely ladies did an amazing job with keeping the girls occupied and entertained! Thanks for all your help!

We are pleased to announce a new website -- "Dr. Arbor Talks Trees" -- that was developed by Greg Stack, Extension Educator, Horticulture; Ron Wolford, Unit Educator, Urban Horticulture & Environment; and Molly Hofer, Extension Educator, Family Life.

This site designed for sixth through eighth graders focuses on tree anatomy, how to identify trees, and the inner workings of trees. You can visit the site at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees3/

It is the third site for children discussing trees. The first site, Trees Are Terrific, is for K-2 and can be found at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees1/ and the second, The Secret Life of Trees, is geared to third-fifth grade students. It is at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees2/ and is in Spanish as well as English.

These sites can be very useful in teaching young people about nature and their environment.

All 4–H leaders/volunteers are encouraged to attend the July 26^th Leader's Meeting. There will be a 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. meeting at the Extension Office. Leader's Award Application packets will be handed out, along with important Fair information. Please make every effort to have your club represented by someone, IT IS THAT IMPORTANT!! If your club has a designated Fair Coordinator, this is the meeting that they should strive to attend.

Each year the State 4–H Office offers awards for 4–H Clubs and 4–H groups that have done outstanding programs during the 4–H year. There are several areas in which clubs can apply: Agriculture, Community Involvement and Global Understanding, Environment and Natural Resources, Food Nutrition & Health, Home & Family, Mechanics & Technology, and Personal Development. If your club has done an outstanding county community service project program, or other event, please contact the Extension Office so you can apply for these awards. All applications must be received at the State 4–H Office by August 15^th.

We have many 4-H'ers who graduated this year. For those who are going away to college, we want to encourage you to work with your 4-H leader, and try to finish your last year in 4-H. You only need to attend three meetings in a year in order to be eligible to show at either General Project's Day or the Fair. Also, we'd be glad to mail you a copy of the 4-H Focus to your college address. Give us a call as soon as you know what your address is, and we will make sure you continue to receive a copy. Good luck, and have a great year!

Sponsored by 4–H Federation
Take a look at your lawn. Soon you may find a flock of flamingos living there! Don't want any flamingos? Send them to someone else's yard first. You can call the Extension Office with your suggestions. The flamingo wrangler charges $5.00 to gather up the flamingos and deliver them to someone else's house. The flamingos stay about three days and they migrate to their next lawn. Watch out - you may just be the next victim of a flamingo flock!

• The 4-H Building will stay open all day Saturday through 9:00 p.m.
• The 4-H Building will open noon – 2:00 p.m. for the public on Sunday, and Pizza Hut Stand will be open
• The 4-H Building will close at 2:00 p.m. and teardown will take place from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. on Sunday (all clubs need to be done tearing down by 5:00 p.m.)

In order to increase the public's awareness about the wide variety of amazing projects our 4-H'ers do and to help promote 4-H, please note the following changes:

All General Projects need to be brought to the Fair for display in the 4-H club booths on Friday, August 19 and Saturday, August 20, excluding projects too large for club booths. 4-H'ers with projects too large for display in the booths are asked to make a poster with a picture of the project, their name, club name, project name, and the answer to one of the following questions:

• What was your favorite thing about your project?
• What was one thing you learned from your project?

Fair tickets will be distributed upon delivery of projects.

State Fair projects tickets will be sent

If you are unable to deliver your own project, you may give written permission to another 4-H'er, parent, or volunteer to drop off your project and get your ticket. A form will be provided by the Extension Office.

4-H'ers can make their own animal project poster OR clubs can make one poster for each animal species project area. The poster should include a picture of each member's livestock project. Kids in dogs and cats should make a poster too, i.e. Beef project poster, Dairy Cattle project poster, etc.

4-H'ers whose ONLY projects are Livestock or Dogs will receive their Fair ticket prior to Fair when the office receives their Fair Enrollment Form.

Those 4-H'ers showing ONLY Food or Horticulture projects will receive their Fair ticket on Monday, August 22, when their projects are shown.