The Illinois 4-H Poultry Judging team placed 8^th out of 20 states in the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference held November 17, 2011 in Louisville, KY. The four 4-H'ers who made up the team were: Nathan Koester, Scales Mound; Meghan Price, Peotone; Codie Geisz and Corey Wachter, both of Elizabeth.

In addition to the 8^th place overall, the team placed 9^th in Production Hens, 7^th in Market Poultry, and 8^th in Market Eggs. For their overall placings, each member of the team received a bronze pin. Individually, Nathan Koester placed 7^th in Production Hens out of 81 total 4-H'ers who competed in the Judging Contest. Ken Koelkebeck and Pam Utterback coached the team and financial support was provided by the Illinois 4-H Foundation, the Illinois State 4-H Office, and the Department of Animal Sciences.

We are currently recruiting individuals to assist with the scoring of our State 4-H Award Applications on Saturday, January 28 in Champaign. While we primarily target volunteers and former State 4-H Award Winners, if staff have the approval of their County Director to attend, this would be a great opportunity to learn about the application and judging process that offers youth a chance to attend one of two National 4-H events.

The State 4-H Office covers mileage, lunch, and if judges live farther than 1-1/2 hours from Champaign, the hotel for the night of January 27th. (Staff would need to pay for the hotel and submit a reimbursement voucher for milage and hotel to the State 4-H Office following the event). We try to recruit 30-35 judges for the 1 day judging in January. The morning starts with orientation at 9:00 a.m.. Judges are divided up into teams to cover the eight program award areas. Judging of most areas is generally completed by early to mid-afternoon; however larger areas may take until late afternoon.

Judges cannot have any personal ties to applicants -- relatives, 4-H leaders, or providing assistance to them in preparing their applications. So please be attentive to who you recruit for these positions!

Judges need to complete a Judge's Preference form as to award areas that they are willing to cover. So while I do not need final information regarding commitment or hotel until January 17, it is exceedingly beneficial to have interested individuals contact Deb Stocker prior to that time to receive the preference form.

We are in the process of contacting past judges for their interest in helping in January.

Our second judging date covers the Legacy of Leadership Scholarships, the Illinois 4-H Livestock Scholarship, and the Illinois 4-H Key Award applications. We will be scoring those applications on Saturday, March 17 at the State 4-H Office in Champaign. For that date, we could use up to 12 judges to cover the 3 areas. Judging starts at 8:30 a.m. and generally finished by mid-afternoon. Lunch and mileage are furnished. Again, if you are interested or have an interested volunteer, please contact Deb Stocker at dstocker@illinois.edu.

The 4-H Great Debate Planning Committee has selected Friday/Saturday March 23-24 for the 2012 event. Please add the dates to your Unit calendar. Additional marketing materials will be available after the first of the year. On-line registration materials will be available mid-January and we are planning to make direct contact with 4-H members in 9-12 grade via email and social media.

For newer staff...4-H Great Debate is an opportunity for high school aged 4-H members to participate in a mock debate in the Illinois House of Representatives Chambers. Participants will select up to three bills (predetermined by the committee) that they will debate either for or against during the debate. This is an excellent opportunity for youth interested in learning more about the Illinois legislative process and hands-on experience researching a particular topic of interest. During the event participants will hear from a legislative consultant and a current member of the Illinois House of Representatives.

While the State 4-H Office is no longer coordinating international 4-H youth exchanges, we still offer inbound and outbound opportunities through the States 4-H Exchange consortium (states4Hexchange.org).

So if you have 4-H'ers who may be interested in spending part of the summer in Japan, Australia or Norway, please point them to the information at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/state4h/members/international.cfm That's where they'll find application forms and the 2012 brochure with further details about the available programs.

This is on the public website, so please feel free to share the URL with leaders and interested families.

There are still TWO openings for youth to apply to attend the 2012 National 4-H Conference in Washington D.C. March 24-30. The deadline has been extended to Wednesday, December 21st. If you have high school youth ages 15-18 by January 1, 2012 who would like to explore the 4-H program outside their county, represent Illinois on a national level, educate federal legislators on the 4-H program, and explore issues of interest to young people, then this trip is for them!

Information was included in the November 30th post to The Leaflet, as well as the Illinois 4-H website on the National 4-H Conference page. The Fact Sheet and Application are also posted on the website and the 4-H contacts portal. Funds are available to help youth who might find the $350 participant fee out of financial reach - please call Deb Stocker for more information.

We have four members of the Illinois 4-H Youth Leadership Team already attending this conference - we would love to include two more young people from Illinois!

The Illinois 4-H Youth Leadership Team has scheduled the next Speaking for Illinois 4-H (SFI4-H) Training for Saturday, March 3 in Breese at the Clinton County Extension Office (Unit #23). Registration is already open for this training.

SFI4-H Training is open to Illinois 4-H members ages 14-18 with the approval of their local Extension office. Extension staff are expected to work with and use the skills learned by these members to recruit new volunteers, present to civic groups, seek donors for programs, and/or provide information to local and state elected officials. Youth receive advance training in public presentations, Positive Youth Development, BIGM, using state and county statistics, how to tell their 4-H story, and speak with donors and elected officials.

The following items and links have been posted on the 4-H Contacts Portal (Youth & Adult Volunteer Leadership Opportunities = Speaking for Illinois 4-H) to help you promote this program. This includes all the paperwork that is also needed to register for this event.

SFI4-H Fact Sheet - Winter 2012

SFI4-H Promotional Brochure

SFI4-H Promotional Flyer (Updated for March Training)

SFI4-H Fact Sheet (updated for Winter 2012)

SFI4-H Application

Agreement to Assume Risk Form

FI4-H Media Release

Link to 3/3 Training Registration Site

Information has been forwarded to the webmaster and items should be updated on the SFI4-H page on the 4-H website shortly: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/state4h/members/leadership_sfi4h.cfm.

Youth who have completed the SFI4-H Training will be invited to participate in the Legislative Connection dates at the State Capitol this spring. SFI4-H and Illinois 4-H Youth Leadership Team members who can attend any of the Legislative Connection dates will be assigned to visit specific state legislators to discuss University of Illinois Extension and 4-H programming accomplishments. Those dates have just been finalized and are scheduled for April 18-19 and May 15-16. More details will be sent to SFI4-H youth later in the spring about registration and responsibilities.

Registration for the 2012 Citizenship Washington Focus trip to Washington, D.C. is slated to close December 15. At that time we will be deciding whether we will travel by ourselves, join up with another state, or cancel the 2012 trip.

CWF offers Illinois teens ages 14-18 (by May 1, 2012) a chance to explore our nation's capitol city, visit with federal legislators, meet youth from across the state and across the country, and learn about the federal legislative process. They debate current issues that are in front of Congress and learn how bills are designed, discussed, and passed or vetoed. Tours of many historical sites and federal memorials are included in the CWF program, lead by CWF Program Assistants who are trained as official Washington, D.C. tour guides. Delegates stay at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, MD; only a few miles from the Capitol area.

Information and a promotional brochure are available on the 4-H website CWF page.

We are working to secure funding for all delegates to help decrease the $1,120 registration fee; however that commitment will not be confirmed until 2012.

Counties that provide scholarships to 4-H members to attend this trip should make sure that those members complete the on-line registration form by the December 15th deadline. The $375 deposit is also due within a week of the registration deadline. (All funds will be returned if the trip is cancelled.)

We would like to announce that slight revisions have been made to the Illinois 4-H Legacy of Leadership and Illinois 4-H Livestock Scholarship Applications. Both applications are due, postmarked by March 1, to the State 4-H Office.

If you are providing information to 4-H members who are high school seniors or college freshman, PLEASE make sure that they have the 11/2011 revised copy of the applications. These are posted on the portal (Awards, Scholarships & Recognition = Scholarship Applications) and are posted on the Scholarship page of the 4-H website. All applicants MUST be currently enrolled 4-H members in order to apply for these scholarships.

The primary revision to the Legacy of Leadership Scholarship application is the notation of the change of address for the State 4-H Office. We cannot guarantee that applications sent to the old address will reach us in time for judging, so it is imperative that the new address be used.

The revisions to the Livestock Scholarship application also include the change of address. However, the criteria for this scholarship has been changed and worded for more clarification: Applicants must have been enrolled in a Livestock Project a minimum of 3 years during their involvement in the 4-H program; must be pursuing a college degree related to the agriculture industry; AND plan to be actively involved in the agriculture industry after graduation (such as farming, teaching, large animal veterinarian, etc.)

Both applications now include a type-in .pdf format for the 1st and 2nd pages of the application. The remaining portion of the application includes open-ended questions as in the previous applications and members can format the pages as they wish.

If you have any questions related to the Scholarship Applications, please contact me at dstocker@illinois.edu.

4-H Program Coordinators, Community Workers and Educators:

Please hold Tuesday, Jan. 17 and Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 for All-Team Meetings. To reduce your travel time and expense, we'll hold them in four locations around the state. County Directors are invited to attend, too, if their schedules permit.

More details coming soon – meantime, mark your calendar!