4-H Presentations

For some reason, I have not had a chance to post about our past Saturday. Time to catch up on posts.

This past Saturday (March 5) was our county's 4-H Visual Presentation Competition. Unfortunately, I went on a blog-hiatus the end of last year and did not post about this great opportunity. Catherine was blessed to be able to represent the State of Massachusetts at the National Round-Up in Kentucky last November for the Individual Visual Presentation (or as we like to call them: VP's)

Some basic background information:

VP's are done by all members who wish to participate: Cloverbuds (under 8 - Julianne), Juniors (8 - under 14 - Isabel) and Seniors (over 14 - Catherine). The member may do an individual presentation; which is what Julianne and Isabel did; Catherine can no longer do this one as she went to Nationals for this; a group presentation; or speech, Catherine's choice this year.

The Individual VP's consist of a speech at least 5 minutes (cloverbuds) or 7 minutes (juniors) which should be memorized, and at least 3 posters and many 'props'. The member presents her VP to a room of people, usually the parents and other presenters, and the judges.

The judges are then allowed to ask questions at the end of the presentation to help them to determine how much knowledge the presenter has of the subject. The judges fill out a comment sheet for each presenter to help them with what they did well and where they could improve. The comments sheets are always positive and usually very helpful.

The top presenter in each subject class is then awarded a blue ribbon and a chance to represent the county at the State Competition coming up in April.



So off we went early Saturday morning for the County presentations, which, thankfully, were held at our local agricultural school only 15 minutes away.

Julianne:

Julianne did her presentation on Horse Colors. She, with the expert help of her older sister, Catherine, created her posters and wrote her speech. This was her second presentation:

She did a good job and it was great to get the comment sheets from the judges. As a cloverbud, this is a chance to 'practice' for when she is a junior and can go to States. And really, when you were 6 did you memorize a speech to present to a bunch of people you didn't know? I had enough trouble with that in college, never mind 1st grade.

Isabel:

Isabel did her presentation on the piano. She brought Catherine's keyboard and some miniature pianos to show different types of pianos.

Isabel did a fantastic job. This was her third presentation, but her first as a junior. (She looked so little standing next to other juniors.) She was awarded the blue ribbon and will be representing our County at the State Competition April 2nd! Mom is a loser and will not be there I will miss this as I will be at Mom's Day Out and have had the tickets since last year. I am sure I will have more chances to see her at States.

I do have orders to Catherine and Dad to take lots of pictures at States!

And, as an added bonus: she was awarded a special green ribbon which means she was selected to do her presentation at The Big E, the large regional fair coming up in September out in Western Mass. There is always a 4-H weekend and she will be allowed to have a spot to showcase her presentation with other green ribbon winners. Ugh, a whole weekend of livestock A great opportunity for her and the family.

Catherine:

Catherine was a little burnt-out from her trip to KY for VP's. Her past year was spent with her presentation on "3-day Eventing"; concept and research starting November 2009, practicing, a lot, up until the County Competition in March 2010, the State Competition in April 2010 (in which she had to do her presentation 2 times, the first to win her class, then the second to win the entire horse division to go to Nationals). Then began the National practices, which consisted of revamping and polishing her entire presentation to 'kick-it-up-a-notch'; then weekly practices one hour away for the entire summer; New England Regionals in Maine in October 2010, and then Nationals in Kentucky in November 2010. Understandably, she really wasn't ready to start all that again as soon as she got home in November for group presentation. She and her friend are planning to do this next year.

So, she opted for the Extemporaneous Speech this year. This is where she goes in the presenting room, picks a topic from a can then goes in the hallway for 5 minutes with a pen and note card. Then she has to come up with a 3 to 6 minutes speech about this topic. This is for seniors only. She did an good job and is the alternate for State's.

All in all, a fun, if nerve-wracking, morning.