4-H camp teaches communication skills

Heather Cory

Learning about communication, Gabriel Irenze, right, gives step by step instructions to his camp councilor, Sean Moore, right, on making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich during 4H’s Health Rocks camp at Potosi Pines Camp on Aug. 19. The activity was designed to show how easy is to leave out important information when communicated.

By Ashley Livingston (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 | 3:15 p.m.

Blindfolded, the young campers instructed their counselors on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Sounds easy enough.

Laughter, however, soon erupted among onlookers as imprecise directions resulted in bread being placed peanut butter side down on the plate and grape jelly plopping out of an upside down turned jar.

It’s all about effective communication, said 4-H Community Base Instructor Sandy Sanders.

“What kids need to realize is even if you may know what you want you may not communicate it effectively,” she said.

The PBJ Exercise was one of many interactive lessons a group of local 8- to 15-year-olds participated in during their mid-August weeklong trip to 4-H Camp at Mount Potosi.

While the younger members of the group learned from different exercises, the older counselors and counselors in training gained insight from their positions as teachers and caretakers.

Camp counselor Alyssa Barker and counselor in training Rebecca Wright, both from Silverado High School, said among other things their role in 4-H has helped with a fear of public speaking.

Additionally, “It helps you greatly in school,” Barker said.

Despite the wide-spread association with rural areas, farm animals and crop growing, 4-H, which stands for head, heart, hands, and health, is also alive and well outside of the fields and mountains and in the concrete urban sprawl of Las Vegas.

Walter Barker, the children, youth and families specialist for the University of Nevada Reno Cooperative Extension, the entity that runs the 4-H in Nevada, said while when 4-H first started it catered to an agrarian community, it has changed with the times and to fit the location.

The modern 4-H hosts group activities that go way beyond that traditional association and serve to develop life skills in all areas, he said.

To help promote an understanding that the program is multifaceted, the local 4-H hosts the camp, which serves to give participants a taste of the many programs that the group makes available in town.

Barker said her favorite part of camp was the rocketry program in which they launched rockets into the air.

Another program campers were excited about was a GPS exercise.

Barker said the group learned how to use the equipment during the day by recording coordinates and images of different sites.

Members then went out after dark and had to find objects like quarters using only coordinates.

The GPS and rocketry programs also take place in a more in-depth introduction to 4-H that is done at community sites in town during different times of the year called The 12-week New Faces New Places program.

It emphasizes science, engineering, technology and also exposes attendees to the healthy living, arts and crafts, cooking and photography programs available through 4-H.

Once the program is finished, local groups are encouraged to form their own 4-H club specializing in the program of their choice.

Barker said there have been no schools or community groups from the Silverado area that have expressed an interest in participating in the introductory 12-week program. The program has been held in north and west Las Vegas and Henderson.

Those with an interest in 4-H may call the extension’s office at 222-3130 and request to speak with someone in 4-H.

The 12-week program is free with the exception of a minimal cost for materials, Barker said.

Ashley Livingston can be reached at 990-8925 or ashley.livingston@hbcpub.com.

Ashley Livingston can be reached at 990-8925 or ashley.livingston@hbcpub.com.