is 4-H (Minot

Emily Burkett’s passion is 4-H

Eloise Ogden/MDN

ABOVE LEFT: Emily Burkett, 4-H Youth Development agent with NDSU Extension-Ward County, is shown at the State Fair in Minot on July 28.

Submitted Photo

TOP RIGHT: Emily Burkett, right, 4-H Youth Development agent with NDSU Extension-Ward County, is pictured at the state 4-H/FFA Land Judging Contest held Aug. 5. MINOT

E

By ELOISE OGDEN

Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com mily Burkett has a passion for 4-H. Burkett grew up in 4-H, having been a part of the organization while growing up in Minnesota. Now she is the 4-H Youth Development agent with NDSU Extension-Ward County.

She has been in Ward County since 2017 and before that was an extension agent in training for three counties – Eddy, Foster and Wells. Prior to that, she was an intern in her home county in Swift County, Minn.

Burkett was born in Fargo, her mother is originally from the Hope area and her dad is from Minnesota, where Burkett grew up.

Burkett was a Cloverbud for one year. Cloverbuds are the youngest participants in the 4-H program. “In Minnesota it’s by grade and not by age so I was a 4-Her from second grade to 13th grade which is one year out of high school,” she said, adding, “I enjoyed my time.”

As the 4-H Youth Development agent with NDSU Extension-Ward County, Burkett said, “A lot of my work is geared toward youth development. I know when a lot of people see me they think of the fairs and achievement days but there’s more than that. There’s a ton of things.”

“Back before COVID we were rockin’ and rollin’ with this program called National Youth Science Day. Now they changed it to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). It’s a program created by 4-H but I would go to the schools and share it and teach it in the classrooms. The most popular and best one that I thought they’ve come out with is called ‘Code Your Dance.’ It’s teaching kids how coding works. It also puts a fun spin in it. You break down the instructions for the ‘Chicken Dance’ so you are teaching them this is like a code when you program computers and the computer can only do what you write. We have them write out instructions

and they have to act out the instructions exactly as they wrote them. This is what the computer is going to read so we have to be as detailed as we can. “I’ve seen it where like the eighth or ninth-graders who think they’re too cool to do this, love it. And I’ve seen it where the little kids are like, yeah. I love that lesson. I taught it to close to 600 students one fall. It was super successful,” Burkett said. She’s taught the program at a number of Minot and NDSU Extension-Ward County. area schools in Ward County. She said they hope to start up the program again. “We’ll get our new lessons sometime in September and then I’ll send it out to the schools to see who is interested.” “It’s fun to take it out in the county and see everybody and as I do it, of course, I promote 4-H because I’m passionate about that too,” she said. Burkett said she has also done day camps in the past but none are scheduled this year. She has helped with the 4-H Camp at Washburn in years past. For a time Burkett was one of the youngest people in Extension so she and a colleague, Rachelle Vettern, taught generations in the workplace. “I loved that,” she said. She said it may not be youth specific but it is applicable for everyone. Vettern is with the Center for 4-H Youth Development at NDSU. “We just created a new curriculum about Generation Z – those are the early college students/high school age kids. It’s fun to share what we learn from the research,” she said. “We do promote kids to be in a (4-H) club because I feel that’s the best way. I can’t be everywhere at the same time and the leaders are there to teach and guide the kids in their club,” Burkett said. Ward County has about 15 4-H clubs across the county, Burkett said. “When I first started we didn’t have a club in Kenmare,” she said. Now there is a club there. 4-H members take part in many programs available to them. Burkett said the 4-H members’ parents are very supportive of them for the programs their sons or daughters take part in.

Programs available to 4-H members in Ward County include various shooting sports and archery, judging contests including livestock, horse and crops judging.

“What’s cool about these are you don’t have to own animals, you don’t have to be on a farm to learn about it. You go to the contest and you are judged on the knowledge,” Burkett said.

She said there’s also hippology (equine knowledge), communication arts or the speech composition component of 4-H, consumer decision making, land, range and meats judging, sewing, speeches and many more.

“If you have a passion for and are interested in learning more, that’s when we come in. We can guide you to where you want to go,” Burkett said.

“There’s a thing in 4-H called the Big M. The Big M stands for Belonging, Independence, Generosity and Mastery. We want people to find their place in 4-H in that order. Ultimately, in the end we want the youth to master what they’re accomplishing or what they’re learning about,” she said.

4-H Achievement Days and then the North Dakota State Fair are the showcases of the 4-H members’ work.

Everyone doesn’t get a championship honor but Burkett said, “To me the ultimate goal is the mastery at the end. If you’re consistently getting better, that’s all I care about.”

“When you go to the State Fair and you go to the Achievement Days, you see the kids who have been putting in the hours with their animals, have maybe spent time to finish that quilt – it’s all these things that I just look around and say, ‘Wow.’ This is incredible.

“Part of the learning experience is maybe getting a red ribbon or a white ribbon or not doing as good as you think you did but we hope we generate an atmosphere to give feedback so that they can improve and come back next year better and stronger. And that’s life, isn’t it? Sometimes you work really, really hard and at the end of the day, it’s still not enough so how are you going to handle it? That’s a good life skill,” she said.

She said one of the life skills that 4-H members learn is public speaker. “Not every kid participates in communication arts, which is the speech component, but many times if you are in a 4-H club you are required to give a demonstration to your small group. If you have been doing that since you were 5, by the time you are in school and have speech class, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say, ‘My son’s teacher told me that she was so impressed with my son’s ability to give a speech even though he’s super shy or he’s not a very outgoing kid.’ This is a skill that’s going to stick with them forever,” Burkett said.

She said they might use that skill when running a meeting and being involved in their community later in life “because they have had the background of participating in a club, using parliamentary procedure, those kinds of skills that are developed, working with people in general,” Burkett said.

To be in 4-H Burkett said, “You don’t have to own a farm, you don’t have to live in the country, you don’t even have to have animals to participate in 4-H. If you are passionate about those things, we can certainly find a way to enjoy those and get involved,” she said.

CROSBY

family-based auction company providing auction sales, appraisal and consulting services. We strive to exceed our customers’ expectations with our experience of more than 30 years. 12520 104th St NW, Crosby, ND 58730 • 701.965.6234 www.hauglandsauction.com

INSURE TODAY FOR YOUR TOMORROW

123 N Main St. - Crosby, ND 701-965-4200 EMAIL: bjins@nccray.com