Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for the April 4th, 2024.
Have your host, James J here, and I am joined by our great friend, Laura Huber, 4-H
Educator with UW-Madison Extension Wood County.
Laura, good to see you.
Oh, it's great to see you, too, James, though I'm going to just say, is it really April
4th?
Yeah, I know.
It doesn't look like it outside your-
No, it doesn't.
That's the whole reason I give the date, because the weather's not telling us what
time of year it is.
We were, man.
Laura, we always enjoy talking with you, getting an update on the 4-H, how things are going
with you all.
I purposely did not do something we usually do.
I like to ask where you'd like to start or something like that, but I didn't do that
because I wanted us to be able to have- I've talked to our audience a lot, and one of the
favorite interviews is this one, and in part because we talk very freely, and we just kind
of get into the nuts and bolts and the fun and get our hands in the dirt when it comes
the 4-H.
So, let's have some fun, and where would you like to start today?
Well, you know what, we are going to be spending some time in Wisconsin Rapids this weekend,
so could we start, maybe, with Creative Arts today?
It kind of felt like that'd be a good place to start, yeah, right?
So if you don't already know, a 4-H is a program that really is there to serve our young
people from kindergarten through what we call 13th grade, a year after high school.
And our goals are really to help young people develop life skills that are going to matter
for them all lifelong, right, for their entire lives.
And there's all sorts of ways that we can do that, and one of the routes that we can
use is the arts of all things.
And sometimes I think the arts get a bad rap, like it's just frilly and fru-fru kind of
stuff, and that's absolutely not the case, right?
Art class in schools, you know, where you're creating painting or drawing or sculpture or
any of those kinds of things.
Art actually helps young people develop critical thinking skills, problem solving skills.
Real thinking skills, really, creativity is so important.
I think it gets that fru-fru kind of rap because it makes us happy.
It brings us joy and things that bring us joy aren't unimportant.
There's some of the most important things that we do.
One thing that I always like to note, and I am a creative, and I've made my whole life
in that industry, I will say that one thing that I agree with you, Laura, I think things
are getting better when it comes to that idea of what an artist is or what a creative
is, because more and more we're getting people to realize, hey, if you're a mechanic,
you're a creative.
If you're a retail worker, you're a creative.
Every one of you has to problem solve at your job.
Every one of you has to talk to people, has to be creative at different points in your
job, whether it is figuring out how to get that carburetor in there, or it is figuring
out what to color that sky.
It is all imagination, and the more we, as kids, grow our imagination, it's no different
than any other muscle in the body.
We're going to use it our whole lives as when we're young is the time to really hit
on that.
Maybe not everybody grows up to be an artist, but everybody's going to have a job that
is going to involve creativity.
Whether you realize it or not, whether you like it or not, you are a creative.
Everybody out there listening.
So I thank you for bringing that up.
I'm going to tell you the worst insult that I ever remember getting was my daughter telling
me that I'm not creative.
Oh, geez.
Oh, yeah.
Is I am not artistic, right?
The last time I took an art class, I was in seventh grade, because that's not a skill
that I really feel like I have.
And yet, I think I'm incredibly creative.
My brain is always kind of whirling, trying to think about the new ways to do things.
And actually, so this ties me back to, we hear about STEM all the time.
Science, technology, engineering, and math.
My background is science.
I'm a wildlife biology major.
And that creativity piece is critically important in the sciences, because it takes creative
minds to develop the experimentation to really be able to get to the answers.
So I like to put things in a steam framework where it's science, technology, engineering,
arts, and math.
Oh, I love that.
And so we're doing whatever we can to really help encourage that artistic creative thinking.
And Creative Arts Day, which is going to be this weekend at the Wisconsin Rapids Area
Middle School, is just one example of how four-h is really encouraging those creative minds.
We've talked about kind of challenges with art classes, you know, school funding challenges
related to the arts.
Creative Arts Day is more than just that what you create in an art class.
It does include that, but it's also performing arts.
Performing arts, including acting, instrumental stuff, vocal work, but also public speaking.
And so you brought that up in your comments, there are two James, right?
Being able to get up in front of a group, critically important.
And you never know, right?
It doesn't mean that you're going to be like a broadcaster in any work-a-day job.
There might be times where you have to get up in front of a team of other staff people.
Maybe it's a management piece.
Maybe it's not.
Maybe it's just training your fellow people.
And getting practice while you're young so that you realize that you can get up in front
of a group of people in audience, and you can have all of those nerves, and you can work
through those nerves, and you can survive the experience to live another day is so important.
And that's what we do.
Absolutely it is.
It's such a win, especially for a young person.
Maybe they get off stage, and you as an adult are thinking, oh, that went rough.
But in their head, they're excited.
They just accomplished something.
And life is so much about that, it's so much about reps.
Whatever we're doing in life, the more we do it, the more comfortable we get, and here's
an opportunity again, a safe opportunity for kids to get some of those reps, get some
of that experience.
Absolutely.
A friend of mine taught me this phrase, right?
What I grew up learning, practice makes perfect, and in 4-H we're not about the perfect.
I don't care if what those young people create is Pinterest worthy, don't care.
What I really care about, and what my friend shared with me, is practice makes permanent.
Right?
So you can learn those skills that help you succeed the next time.
We also talk in 4-H about experiential learning.
It's you do the thing, and then you reflect on how you did, and then you can apply it
in your life, in the future.
So, you know, you get up, and you thought you practiced, and you knew your lines well enough,
and then you got up there, and you stumbled over your lines a little bit, well, how do you apply that next time?
Yeah.
Maybe it's like, oh, really, I should have practiced a little bit more, I didn't really know my lines.
So next time I'm going to practice, and I'm going to learn my lines better.
I really like that.
That's really good.
Or what happens if you remember all of your lines, and one of your partners,
up on stage, forgets theirs, and there's some other social skills there to learn though too, right?
Like some empathy, and how do you give some supportive feedback, or how do you help somebody through that
because we are all our own worst critics?
Yes.
Yes.
So how do we support people to get up on that stage again after messing up?
How do we take that into a learning thing where, you know what, we can be persistent.
And we can make mistakes, we can get back up on our feet again, and we can try again instead of turning away
and giving up and telling ourselves that we're no good at that.
So all of these things happen at Creative Arts Day.
And the really cool thing is we need audiences, so everybody in the area, in the listening area,
is so encouraged to come and see what these young people have been working on.
Is this an event that people need to register for, or get tickets for or anything more?
For families to come and watch, it's absolutely free.
It's a walk in the door.
But, you know, the kids who are going to be participating, they have to register in advance.
So we put together a really nice program because we have different events going on throughout the whole school.
So if you want to watch young people perform skits, the program will tell you where and when the skits are happening.
Or if you're really more interested in the musical side of things, we'll have three different rooms going.
One for vocals, one for piano, and one for all the rest of the instruments.
Yeah, all sorts of things going on at the same time.
The participants, the entertainers, if you will.
Are they all four H members?
All of the presenters, yeah, the artists, the creatives, whatever we want to call them.
Yes, they are all four H's, and we'll have the full spectrum of age ranges represented from kindergarten right through the end of high school.
I mean, seeing kids do any kind of art, I always enjoy.
There's nothing like seeing kindergarteners doing anything, anything.
I don't care what it is. That's always a blast.
This is a fun event.
And I think also, we've touched on a couple of things, and there's layers to this.
There are a lot of things to take from it.
Some we might not even have a chance to touch on.
And some you have to feel to know.
There's no way you can put a word to it or something.
And also does something, Laura, that I think touches on a little bit of what you said we're saying earlier.
Since we were kids, we've been seeing funding to the arts cut, funding to the arts cut.
Hopefully this creates a little more, not only empathy for the arts, but some importance of why we need the arts.
Was constant finished dead last in the union when it came to putting money into the arts?
Why didn't you know that?
Yeah, the report came out earlier in the year.
In January, I think it was January that it came out.
And ever since then, I've talked to politicians.
I've talked to many community leaders and members about this and the importance of the arts in our world.
Not just in Wisconsin, but in the world, to the CC, what we were talking about earlier.
It leads into everything in life.
And so when you're supporting an event like this, it's bigger than I think we may realize sometimes too.
Because all these kids, they're going to go on, they're going to do things, whether it's in the arts or not.
And they are going to see how we handle things as adults.
Absolutely.
So it's really about prioritizing things, right?
And taking a deeper, I think taking a deeper dive into the value of things helps us figure out where priority should be.
And that's why I think like sometimes we think that art is really just about pretty things on the walls or things like that.
But it is really so much more.
I'm really excited now.
This isn't specific to Wood County 4-H at all.
But the State 4-H program is in the hiring process right now for an arts specialist.
Wow.
And critically important, especially for, well, counties like Wood, where we have so many young people with so many talents,
being led by somebody who doesn't have the skills to do the teaching, right?
So I am so excited that the importance of art for young people is being prioritized at the state level.
So I'll be able to get more resources to be able to give more meaningful programs to young people here.
I really think it is, right?
Because like I said, I've got that science background, boy, can I pull those programs out you bet really challenged when it comes to those other things?
And the only reason that the State 4-H program is prioritizing this and actually creating a full-time position around this is because it is so impactful for young people.
And it is more than just pretty things on the wall, so much more.
A big shout out to UW and to the 4-H organization for seeing that and taking and jumping out of it.
That's really cool to hear.
I have some great news to hear.
When it comes to this event, Laura, and people want to take things in,
is there a way to kind of see an outline of how the things play out and where I can go to take this in and stuff?
Because there's things going on at the same time.
Yeah.
They may want to take in this event and that event.
Absolutely.
So we don't have it published yet.
The program is, I mean, here we are just days beforehand, right?
But the program is getting final touches put on.
Oh, that's the arts.
That's the arts right there, yeah.
And so like, as we speak, right?
These updates are being made.
They will be on the Wood County 4-H website.
And then we will have hard copies of the programs there as everybody walks in the door.
But the very first event, like performing events, starts at 9 o'clock in that piano.
And then everything else is going to start a little bit after that.
But we'll have programs going all the way through about 1 o'clock.
From 9 to 1 all sorts of different performing pieces going on.
And we'll also have the static arts display in the gym.
So there's always something to go in and see.
We also have kind of a participatory piece for anybody coming not necessarily 4-H members.
So there's going to be a drawing, a creative drawing contest that's happening along with those static art displays.
So there will be some things even if kids aren't in 4-H, even if kids aren't participating in creative arts day itself.
There will still be some really cool things for them to do while they're there.
Besides just sit and watch.
And this is also for parents out there.
Here's not only a great opportunity to do something with the family and the kids.
But maybe let them get a little bit of a taste of 4-H.
It's a really great spot to see all of the things that you can do.
Well, and maybe it's not all of the things, but it's a lot of the artistic things that you can do in 4-H.
Which I think is always a good reminder because when a lot of people think about 4-H, they think about the farm.
And this is really a great event to highlight how much we are beyond the farm as well.
As a side note though, some of the most creative and greatest creatives I've met farmers.
Oh my gosh.
People in the ag industry, those are some creatives right there.
Those are some imagination people.
Absolutely.
And you know what?
So my husband was part of a dairy farm family.
And some of the creative ways that they got to fix equipment on the farm.
And you know, that it all plays into it.
Really stretching, like you said, that imagination muscle.
Laura, with this event, again, want to remind everybody that it is coming up.
It is this weekend.
It is 9-3 and it is over at the Wisconsin Rapids Area Middle School.
Not too far from here right at the Rams building right over there.
Right.
And so the main entrance is the entrance that we will be using.
And then we'll be heading and using the stage auditorium down that way.
And then in the opposite direction, we'll be using the field house for the static arts display and a bunch of rooms in between.
Yeah.
We're speaking with our friend Laura, Hugh, before each educator with UW Madison Extension Wood County.
And Laura, we have camp registration or open running right now.
Yeah.
So summer camp.
Actually, we have so many summer programs in the works right now.
But I wanted to highlight the summer camp program.
Our summer camp is a great program.
We have three days and two nights at the Northern Lakes Impact Center up in Rhinelander.
And our summer camp is open to youth that are currently in grades three through seven.
And for each membership is not a requirement to attend camp.
Young people, I don't know.
I just love camp because I tell you that very first day when we first show up, there's a bunch of kids who don't know each other.
And it's so quiet.
Yeah.
I bet.
I didn't thought of that.
Just the matter of like three days time.
Kids are like literally crying because they've built these great new friendships with kids, maybe other kids from Wood County, maybe from Marathon or Lincoln.
I can't imagine saying goodbye to the friends that they've just built this incredible relationship with.
Camp is an amazing experience and the friendship is just a piece of it.
But the building of independence, the trying new things, the just spending that much time with other young people.
It's really a magical experience.
And so I think it's an experience that everybody should have as a young person.
And I know there's a lot of nerves around that.
Yeah.
It's one of those things.
I was a kid growing up.
I didn't experience camp.
I didn't do that kind of thing.
And it was something I really wanted my kids to have that I didn't have.
But it is a little like as a parent, you're like, well, I have questions.
I have concerns.
And you guys get that.
Absolutely we do.
So, new this year, we are going to have a meeting beforehand.
It's going to be on Monday, April 15th.
It's going to be via Zoom that evening where young people and adults who might be interested kind of sort of and kind of sort of nervous, not sure about can come on.
And what we'll do is we'll give an introduction to what the camp environment is like.
You'll be able to see what the cabins look like, what the dining hall looks like.
You'll get to find out what some of the activities are.
And more important, you'll get to know those of us who are running camp.
One of the things that we really want is we want young people to succeed.
And we welcome all young people.
It doesn't matter to me if they have challenges related to anything.
I am going to work hard to make them successful at camp.
And so we're going to have these meetings to try and help families understand.
Like we can figure out a way to help your child succeed at camp.
And one of the other barriers we hear about for camp a lot is the expense.
So we can talk about how to make camp really affordable for families as well.
We're always concerned about the safety of our young people.
And so we require registration to participate even in this Zoom meeting.
So if you're interested in learning more about what camp and 4-H camp is like, regardless of if you're a third through seventh grader is in 4-H.
Give me a call and I can get you registered for the Zoom.
You can reach my office at 715-421-8439.
Or if you're more comfortable sending an email, my email is Laura.
L-A-U-R-A.H-U-B is in boy, E-R.
At Whisk, that's W-I-S-C, that E-D-U.
And like I said, I just want to help everybody understand how cool camp is,
what their young people will be doing, where they'll be staying, and all of those sorts of things.
Registration for camp runs all of April.
Or maybe not quite about all of April. Maybe it closes on April 26th.
And so this is right there in the middle of the time.
So you'll have some time to think about whether or not this is a great fit for your child or your grandchild or the neighbor next door or whoever, right?
And Zoom meeting doesn't cost anything.
I mean you can take it in and see if you like it.
Great if not, that's okay too.
No commitment at all.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think first off, I appreciate the attention to detail that you always have.
And Jasmine does this too.
Looking out for our kids at every angle and having people register for something like this,
it doesn't, you know, you don't always see that.
I think that's a really good idea. That's really smart.
That right there is a sign though to me of how camp is and how all these 4-H events are.
It starts right there.
And you know in your heart as a parent, whether you were at the event or not,
that your child is safe.
That's such a key part of this and the freedom to enjoy that time.
Not only for parents to enjoy a little time, maybe by themselves or what have you.
And you have a little peace of mind with that, but the kid and the child knowing that
kids feed off of us more than we realize.
And if you're tense, if you're uncertain, they're going to feel some of that.
You feel comfortable. You feel the more comfortable the kid is and the more fun they're going to have.
Absolutely. And one of the things that we've really discovered here is, you know,
and I think it has a lot to do with that COVID experience.
The safer at home piece is that young people do have some fantastic questions about their own personal safety
and how to do things.
And so we are just really aware of that.
So we know parents have questions, but we know those young people have questions too.
So both are welcome on that upcoming Zoom.
Laura, as we're wrapping up, if we could, we want to remind everybody that you can find out more about the 4H at 4H.extension.wisc.edu.
If you're just typing to your search bar, Wood County 4H, it'll pop up.
I test that all the time and it pops right up.
I do want to encourage people to sign up, subscribe for the newsletter.
It's a great way to keep up to date and everything 4H is doing and know what's going on in our community.
And you got a great Facebook page as well.
For that, it's the Snyder 4H.
You want to look for that or just...
Actually, so Snyder has their own...
Last of our clubs have different 4Hs or different Facebook pages, so yeah.
I just wanted to promote them, I guess.
Yeah, they're all over.
But there is a lot of great information there and you can reach out to Laura.
Can you give your information one more time?
You bet.
So, office phone number is 715-421-8439 or email me at Laura.huberatwisc.edu.
Always good to see you and talk with you.
Have a great week and we'll talk again real soon.
Fantastic.
Thanks so much, James.
Well, a more midday magazine coming up for you tomorrow right here on WFHR, locally grown radio.