Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this February 15th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff, behind the mic.
We're being joined today by our great friend, Jasmine Carbohol,
the bilingual 4-H Associate Educator with Marathon at Wood Counties.
Jasmine, good to see you.
Good to see you too.
Thanks a lot for being here. How you been?
I've been good. I feel like it's been a while since I've been out here.
Thank you. I thought it was just me.
Thank you very much for saying that.
I missed you.
You missed you and it's great to have you in studio too.
And be able to talk with you.
We appreciate not only you but so much of what our friends at Extension
and what 4-H does for our community and learning so much more about 4-H.
Just personally, myself, I've really appreciated you and Laura so much
opening my mind to this world and understanding it more.
To wear over the last couple of years when I run into kids or my sister's kids
or anything, I'm so encouraging about 4-H and so pushing of it and everything.
I really think every kid could be benefited by being a part of 4-H
or at least experiencing a little bit of 4-H.
Thank you.
Yeah.
There's so much that 4-H does nowadays that really covers every gamut, every kind of thing.
And one of the most important things I appreciate about 4-H
is the building of children's confidence, the building of kids' strength and
individuality and being themselves and finding their place in the world.
Like so much of these things happen by being a part of 4-H programs.
Yes, I agree.
And I appreciate you sharing that with people that you know
and we try so hard for our office to get
known and for our youth to really get involved in our family.
So I appreciate that.
We got a couple of events to talk about.
Which one do you want to start off with first?
Well, you go chronologically.
You know what?
It doesn't matter.
Okay.
Well, the No Chess family families.
Family at is.
Family at is.
Family at is.
Thank you, thank you.
So I've been on here before promoting our Hunto's program.
I know if you remember, you know, it's a program that's for
specifically for Latino students in middle school,
in high school and really just giving them the tools to be successful
in school and get graduation and then learn about their poor secondary options.
And so now we've actually, and this usually happens in Marshville,
we haven't quite started it in Rapids yet.
But we have gone to a point that is successful.
We've had families engaged that we are now transitioning
into family nights.
Which is what No Chess family lives, uh, translates to.
And so we're going to be doing monthly family nights.
And now you don't have to be part of the Hunto's program.
Like if you know of any Latino families that want to learn exactly
what you just said, right?
What forages all about and like develop that confidence and just gain
that just that whole insight and all those
opportunities we have to offer through for each and extension.
This is going to be a great place to have families do that.
We're going to be coming together once a month at UWSP.
So we actually formed this really cool partnership.
Now are you familiar with UWSP in Marshville?
They have the coolest maker space.
They have like 3D printing and robotics.
And they do all kinds of stews.
So a lot of our Latino families don't know that either.
And so we are really excited to be exposing them
to a higher education college, first of all.
And second of all, like all these new things that like a lot of us
maybe don't even know about, right?
And so we're really excited.
The goal of our family nights is really to bring families together
to learn about forage, to share a meal together
and then do some activities, some education around that
and really just bring them together
and welcome them into our extension world for each world.
So, you know, everybody out there might not be able to relate to
what it is like to speak a different language
or something in an area that is not the main language spoken.
But everybody knows what it's like to be the first kid
the first day of school and you don't know anybody.
And it could be difficult.
I think everybody can relate to what that feeling is like.
I know for me, me and my family and I moved around a lot
so I experienced that quite often.
It could be jar, it could be difficult.
And it can keep a kid from doing the most important thing
that we have them in school for learning and understanding.
Now try doing that and you don't speak the language
or you don't understand the language
the teacher is speaking or something.
These are things that are important as we build up our society
with a lot of these things that are being incorporated now
and that have always been there.
But we're seeing more of.
And I think too that where you may be able to speak
to this much better than I can, Jasmine.
But we're seeing a lot more Spanish friendly things
not just for Spanish-speaking people,
but for our country, for our communities and everything.
Spanish has become much more,
it's already the most spoken language in the world.
We're more and more people are starting to realize,
well, our world is bigger than America.
And I want my kid to be prepared for whatever the job he's going to,
he or she is going to do in the future.
Understanding some Spanish is very helpful.
So we're understanding a lot more of these things.
And then with a program like this,
we're really working to incorporate more of our Latino families
into the world and into our communities.
Yeah, because you mentioned being that first kid in school,
now think about if you're the first kid going to college,
you don't even know where you're going,
how a campus is, all the different buildings.
And so you think back about, I think back when I started school.
And that was first generation.
And I was just kind of lost.
Oh my god, yeah.
The fact that we were able to partner with UWSP Marshall for this.
So our family is the whole family is on site.
And they're like, hey, this is what it feels like to be on campus.
This is sustainable because some of the families that we work with too.
I experienced it with my parents.
They either graduated from college in their countries,
which is different than here,
or didn't make it past high school.
And so it's a whole new concept.
And being on campus is just a whole different feel,
like then in a church or a school or wherever we do our Windows program.
So this is going to be really unique.
The different dates of February,
we're going to, our first date is going to be February 29th.
Our second date in March will be March 18th.
And April will be meeting April 4th.
And in May, we'll be meeting May 30th.
And every single night except for March is going to be around 630.
And we want the whole family to come together.
We want to expose them to everything we have to.
Because 4Hs for UW are kindergarten all the way through 13th grade.
So really the whole family can come for these family nights.
And if you have listeners that know of Latino families
that maybe are interested in my Navi in the Marshall area,
but might want an opportunity like this in the area
that they live in, wherever they're living from, contact me.
I am happy to look into expanding this
into our other towns, our other communities in Wood County.
Right now it just happened that we had the right partnership
at the right time.
And we've had a Windows going kind of in Marshall.
But the goal is to grow it,
to reach as many families as we can,
as many youth as we can.
So if any of your listeners are thinking like,
this sounds really cool.
Or if you work somewhere like at a school
that you think this is something that would be great
in your school, let me know.
Or Laura, you know, we'll give our information a little later.
But please keep us posted,
because we're always ready to partner.
You know, our communities are only becoming more and more Spanish-friendly.
And we're having more Latino families in our state and everything.
So I imagine that this is not only going to be well attended,
but needed much more as we go forward here.
This isn't the last time you'll be doing something like this.
I imagine.
Right.
And so that's important.
And we also understand, I am sure part of the conversation here
and the understanding here is a breakdown in communication.
So if you're hearing this,
and you know some Spanish-speaking families
or anything out there that may not hear this information,
as Jan Mane has asked,
you know, please spread the word about this.
We are great at advertising here in radio,
but we all know that the biggest advertiser in the world
is word of mouth.
Yes.
Nothing does better the word about.
I agree.
So spread the word about this event.
And Jess Mane, as we're kind of wrapping up
this part of the conversation,
I did want to let people know a little bit more
about the Hunto's family and the Hunto's family club.
Yes.
And how they can be a part of that.
Yes. So for our Hunto's family club,
they can definitely just call me or email me.
And I usually run them once a semester.
And really to qualify, I mean, this is a big word,
but really for families to participate,
we just ask that they have students
in either middle school or high school
because our lessons are very much towards that age group.
But we provide childcare during our Hunto's family nights.
And so we still always ask the whole family to come.
And it's interesting because now that we've had families
kind of graduate from our Hunto's program
from last year, like I've been staying in touch with them.
And hearing how before they started,
Hunto's got involved with our programming,
they never thought that graduation
or post-secondary options were an option.
They didn't even know how to get there.
And their students or high school students
are motivated now.
You see them just, they're not as scared.
They're not as afraid.
They're participating in class.
They're working so their grades are good
and keeping their grades good
because now they have this hope.
And now they see that it's possible, right,
to you have all these options.
And so, yeah, so that's really exciting.
And I get really passionate about it.
I don't blame you. I got me in it.
So yeah, and then these family nights
are going to be just a great way
to keep incorporating our families
into our community and into 4-H.
And just kind of keep them equipped with those tools.
Well, let's go over the dates one more time
for the Notches Familiaries.
Familiaries? Familiaries.
Thank you.
So this month's February, it'll be February 29th at 6.30.
March 18th at 6.
And April 4th at 6.30 in May 30th at 6.30
at UWSP Marshfield campus.
And anybody interested can give me a call.
I speak Spanish.
So 715-261-1244.
That's my direct line where people can leave a voicemail.
And again, if you know families that are Latino
and they want to participate, maybe participate
in something like this, I'm happy to talk to them.
We'll give that information again before we wrap up.
I can, I've been dying to talk about this with you.
I'm so excited.
Wood County 4-H days creative art stay coming up.
I'm so excited for creative art stay.
I wanted to make sure that we started promoting it early.
It's coming up on April 6th.
It's a Saturday.
And the biggest change this year with creative art
stay is that we are moving locations.
So usually, traditionally, we've had it in Pittsville.
And so this year, we're trying to hear in Rapids.
So I was like, it's important we start promoting it now
because I'm hoping we see more people
from our Rapids community attending.
So it's at the Wisconsin Area Middle School here
in Rapids, on April 6th.
And so for those of you that don't know,
creative art stay are youth, our 4-H youth,
enroll in different types of performing arts categories,
right?
So one act plays, demonstrations, skits.
They bring arts and crafts.
They, they, we have like a people's choice
where people that come to the event
to just watch her kids perform can vote
for like photography and Legos.
We have creative drawing contest going on this year
also that we're bringing back.
And then we have Vocal and Instruments, Solos,
Dan's performances.
So really, our 4-H youth,
this is one, their biggest event of the year
when it comes to kind of arts.
And, and we always invite the community to come
because you can come.
It's free, watch them support them.
You, you know, we, we have the schedule the day of
and you can just kind of see all these different things
because our youth work so hard.
And so we have concessions that,
that we have our teen leaders run that day as well.
So it's just a fun family-friendly event.
And then if you have youth, then maybe you're like,
oh, I really, like, you know, I'm not in 4-H,
but I really enjoy that.
How can I get involved?
We'll tell you that day.
We'll recruit you.
Yeah, yeah.
This is such a fun event.
It's such a, I know so many people growing up.
We miss or we loved in grade school or anything,
you know, are at the, you know, you'd have an activity place
where everybody go up there and try talent shows.
I couldn't think of the term talent show.
Yeah, talent shows.
Talent shows, they were so much fun as a kid
to attend those would be a part of them.
Some of the first times that I actually got to be in front
of a crowd were the six grade talent shows
and that that I did.
And it's part of the reason I'm in this chair right now.
Yeah.
These events are fun to attend.
We have a great time in them.
You get to vote on some of that stuff.
But I don't ever want to lose sight
of building kids' confidences.
And not every one of these kids may go on
to do something in the arts.
But wherever they go, they're going to want some confidence.
They're going to need some confidence.
And you're going to want them to have confidence
because you're going to be, you know,
working with them and the jobs that they're in.
Or if they're in retail, maybe going in
and buying something from them or what have you.
This stuff builds up kids.
It builds up their confidence.
It makes them feel stronger.
And that's part of the importance of the arts.
And Jasmine, I apologize, but I have to get on my soapbox
for a half a second because for many years,
Wisconsin has been in the back of the pack
and funding the arts in this state.
We just had a report out yesterday.
Wisconsin is last in the country
and it's funding towards the arts.
This is important, not just because the arts are important
and our world would be vastly different without them.
What are you going to do tonight when you go home
if you ain't got a TV show to turn on or something like that
or some music to listen to?
That stuff's important.
But also, again, what it can do for kids,
how it builds them up.
It's entertaining, it's fun.
But I didn't, I'm not acting right now.
But I'm working a job with the skill sets that I have.
Skill sets that I tuned and I've been working at since sixth grade
the first time really performing in front of people.
This stuff builds kids up wherever they go in life,
they're going to be able to take these things and build off of them.
Absolutely.
And you know, one of the things that we do at Creative Arts
is that our club can also do a play.
So we get everybody involved in the club.
So you get to see really like when you say,
like you never know what something like this
is going to do in someone.
What's going to lead them into a career possibly
or just better public speaking skills
or just that confidence of being in front of a crowd
and or just hearing the applause,
just seeing the support.
Like somebody came to see me perform.
Like that's really awesome, right?
So yes, I'm so excited for this.
There's such a variety of things to going on.
That is fun.
The Creative Drawing Contest.
What is that?
Can you tell us a little more about that?
So you're bringing back this Creative Arts Day.
Creative Arts Day has been around for a couple of years,
not quite a while.
And before, I've been in this position for about two years.
So I'm still kind of new.
And so we didn't have this Creative Drawing Contest.
So what this is, and we're bringing it back
is that youth that come to the event that day,
they have only that day.
So they can't submit things ahead of time to sit down
and draw whatever comes to their mind
related to our theme.
And our theme this year is let the creativity soar.
And so they basically have that four-hour spam
there to submit their drawing.
And then our judgeable judge it and pick a winner.
And so it's just very like on the spot, fun.
And so it's going to be a little different from what I've
known.
So we'll see the youth, how many of them engage.
But they were kind of excited, our committee,
that helps put this on.
We have youth representation on there.
And they were excited to bring it back.
And so that's also important to us right
to hear what the youth are saying
because at the end of the day, this is their programs.
This is their county, this is their events.
And so yeah, so it's going to be interesting, for sure.
The photography and Lego building sounds
like a lot of fun too.
I say this what I should journalistically mention.
I love Legos, played with them a lot as a kid.
So I should mention that.
It is so hard.
It's so hard to vote because there's so many,
the kids for our photography and our Lego building,
they bring their best of what they think is their best
photograph.
And then we mount it on the wall and people go around
and we divide it by, yeah, by great groups.
So we have our younger, then our middle,
and then our high schoolers.
So really it's fair.
And you get to vote one time in each category.
But the amount of submissions that we have for each category
is really hard to vote for one.
And then we usually wrap up our after our performances
and our judging and all of that with an award ceremony.
So after all that's done, you can stay
for the award ceremony and see kind of those,
those best of everything.
Yeah.
With something like this, Jess,
I mean, it sounds like we have some participants already.
Can you take more?
Yeah, we're open.
This is exclusively for our 4-H youth.
So definitely if you have a 4-H,
that's thinking about it, have them submit,
but the event itself, anybody can come to that.
So please, please come support our 4-H's in this.
With something like this,
when we're encouraging kids to be a part of it and everything,
can we give some loose examples of some of the kind of arts
or entertainment people can bring to this event?
If they're thinking, well, I might not know how to play in it
or I might not know how to act or something,
but I can do this or this.
Yeah, so if you're not acting, which is fine,
I'm not an actor either, that's not.
But if we have a dance, like I said,
if you like to dance and you have a dance number
or an instrument that you play,
the other part is this arts and crafts part for youth
where they can bring anything from something
they've painted on a canvas to something they made out
of any type of material.
So anything that you can really think of
as under the art and craft kind of category works,
we have some amazing talent.
I've seen lots of great,
even just self portraits and drawings
and just the variety of just things that you see
is amazing and it blows you away.
So really, and that's for like, you know, all of our ages.
So like you see some of our even our little youth,
like our younger youth members,
like bring just the awesomeness things.
We've got such a creative community.
And it's fun to see that whether it's the young
or the old being a part of it.
I imagine that a lot of people out there
that are creatives as adults
are gonna really love this event too.
Wanna remind you of that?
And you know, this is one of those events
that also showcases some of our partnerships
that we have with some of our volunteers.
So like we try to do different projects throughout the year.
And sometimes we think the fair is the only place
that our 4-H youth can display their items.
No, here's another example of an event
that we can, you know, so I know that Laura's works
really hard with doing a lot more art-related projects.
So I think she did like a charcoal drying earlier,
like last year and then we've worked with some
of the local art places that we have here in Rapids
and in Marshfield.
So all those things that the youth are making
at those events, this is one of the opportunities
that they can bring them to.
You and Laura do an amazing work over there.
We appreciate you so dang much.
And the other people that have worked with you
and teammates and everything.
But we know that you only got a handful of,
you only got so many hands.
Yes, we are always looking for more hands
if people can volunteer and help out.
Are we looking for that?
Always, you know, I, especially if you have a skill
or something different that you feel,
well, I don't know, I do something maybe unique
and I don't know if youth would like it.
We'll just call us up because the basically what we'll do
is we'll say, what do you want to teach?
What do you want to share?
What skills and we'll say, let's partner up.
Let's see when we can do it and let's just offer it
and then we have youth register.
And it's been working great with some of our local partners
and we're always looking for more.
And as far as volunteering, we have lots of clubs
that are always needing more adults, right?
So like if you're thinking, you know,
I don't have youth at home anymore,
but I have the time.
I'll always start club sharing looking for more leaders
for more volunteers.
We always have trips that we go on throughout the year
and camps that we put on.
I'm actually going to, we're doing winter camp this weekend.
So we always need volunteers for that and so.
You're going to get me to quit radio,
just work with you.
Right?
Just so much fun.
You guys have such a good time.
We would love you.
You know, everyone would have so much fun with you.
I love it, I just got to be at more of the events though.
And I can start with not just familiars.
Yes, not just familiars.
I got to get it right.
You'll get it.
You'll get it.
So that'll be UWSP Marshville every month
starting this month on February 29th from 6.30.
March 18th at 6 April 4th at 6.30 and May 30th at 6.30.
And that'll be for Latino families.
We'll be serving a light dinner.
We'll have activities, some education.
And they can call me for that at 715-261-124.
And don't forget Creative Arts Day coming up Saturday, April 6th.
Yes, and remember this year we're doing a here in Rapid.
So I hope you can come check it out.
It'll be at the Wisconsin Rapids Area Middle School.
Yeah, Rams, just a couple of blocks from us right over here.
And we usually start around for the public.
We usually start around 10.
Excellent.
Jasmine, thank you so much for the time.
We appreciate you.
Thank you.
Don't be a stranger.
I'll try not to.
Yeah, looking forward to seeing you again real soon.
And say hi to Lauren, all of our friends at 4.50.
I will.
We'll have more good magazines in for you
to wrap up the week tomorrow.
In part one, Wisconsin State Senator Petra
Testinal will be joining us.
And in part two, child caring with Kelly Broschart.
Right here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
