University of Wisconsin Madison – Wood County Extension April ‘25

Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Thursday April 10th, 2025.

Have your host James J. Mailoff here and we're joined by our great friend now, Laura

Huber for H program educator with UW Medicine Extension.

Laura, good to have you in studio.

Thanks so much for having me again James.

I always enjoy my time here.

Always appreciate hanging out with you and finding out more and more about our 4-H.

We encourage everybody out there to be a part of things at 4-H.

Any chance you get including volunteering and some of the cool things that we're going

to be talking about today.

We're starting off with summer camp and you got a little warmer as soon as I said that.

A little bit warmer, feels good, feels good, but we got summer camp right around the corner, Laura.

Yeah, you bet.

So, you know, one of the things I'm thinking about right now is it really is time for school to let out.

It's April, but you know that end of school year when kids have free time where they can actually

have some power in choosing what they do with their days kind of excites me.

And so we have a summer packed full of things and really right after school let's out,

summer camp is the very first thing.

And the reason I want to bring that up today is because it takes a lot of planning.

Today is the last day that we can take registrations for summer camp.

Summer camp is three days.

It's two nights.

It's a great opportunity for young people to make friends, to challenge their own independence,

to explore nature and some activities in the outdoors that we can't easily do in our own backyards.

And this program is really ideally suited for the kids who are in third grade right now through

seventh grade. The activities that we do at camp are uniquely designed so that those young people

can succeed and challenge themselves both. And this year we're doing some things that we've

never done before. So I'm really excited right. I'm not one to sit back on my laurels and have

everything be the same all the time. I don't want to skate past something that you said there though

and I want to get into the camp and some of the things you're excited about but challenging

their independence. Boy is that a great line Laura. And it's such a like noteworthy. I think all

of us can when you said that felt something from that whether it was from our own past when we

were kids or just the idea of that four kids. It's such a great line and such a great thing to

bring up I appreciate that. Well you know what it's one of the key features of a really good

positive youth development program teaching young people how to be an independent right sometimes

I think his parents boy sometimes it's just easier to do it myself. I'm not going to make the big

mass and all of the things well you know what sometimes you got to make the big mass or you've

got to make the mistake so that you know that you can do the things on your own. I'm pretty sure

that's where it if you want to make it sometimes you get to crack a few eggs you know I think that's

where it comes from is actually teaching kids things absolutely what are some of the things you're

excited about with summer camp this year okay so something we've never done before but is possible

because of the camp that we use our young people are going to to be able to choose if they would like

to do blacksmithing right so this is something like really out there could a third grade

or really succeed in blacksmithing when you have a group of people who are really focused on

helping young people learn skills keeping them safe and doing all of the things I'm going to tell

you yes it is possible and the other really cool thing is is this is our first time where we're

going to have like a choose your own adventure opportunity at camp normally it's much easier to

schedule where we have everybody in a line doing the same things but on the last day of camp this year

we have a whole variety of activities a two hour long canoe the blacksmithing and some other things

that they're going to be able to opt into should they so choose and we'll have everything from like

the arts and crafts because we know that that's really what sparks some kids we know that physical

challenges like canoeing or rock climbing are what sparks some others and then you've got others

that are like wow blacksmithing where on earth could I do this otherwise I just want to give it a

try because then I'm going to have something really cool to take home so I want to just once again

remind everybody 4-H campus for everybody from 3rd grade through 7th grade 4-H membership is not

required and if you're interested in learning more about getting a young person registered contacting

me at the extension office is the best way to do that and you could call you could email you could

reach us through the wood county 4-H Facebook page you know we check our messenger all the time too

I love this program I love camp I admit I didn't get a chance to do camp but I was a kid and it

was something I really wanted to do especially when I moved out here and I learned more and more

what camp was I'd only seen it on like TV shows and stuff and it seemed cool but then when I move

out here and I see it's an actual thing I was very jealous of that I was wanting to learn some

like that but you I don't think I ever wanted to do camp more than the one you're talking about

right now this is amazing some of the things there I mean the kids are cool and all I want to

learn this stuff like awesome and I I got to think that we're we're not alone in this I was a

gigantic fan of those choose your own adventure books I love those books the idea of doing something

like that is is such a cool idea and such a inability to give these kids yes their opportunity to

define what they might like and everything but just even giving them the option of choosing

absolutely it's such a great life lesson it's such a great opportunity to do to not only make

decisions in decision making problem solving even on a level like this of the problem of oh my

guy I want to do everything what do I choose that's another life lesson right there incorporated in

this that is really unique and kind of cool about it I love that touch that's great I agree and

I'm going to say this to write the fact that they have to make this decision while they're at camp

is going to ensure that the kids are making their own decision yeah we just had this really cool

field trip to UW Madison with um they were third grade through high schoolers and one of the

steps we made was Babcock Hall for ice cream hmm do you know how many kids didn't know what kind

of ice cream they were gonna get because their parents just chose for them wow even in those older

ages right so I'm like that's just an example of an independence piece right expecting a child to

make their own ice cream choice that's giving them yeah a little added responsibility and those

little bits build on one another so kids are going to have to choose when they're at camp this year

and I'm super excited about that and I just want to say I was never in 4h as a young person I was in

girl scouts and being in girl scouts is what gave me my first introduction to camp I never would have

canoeed I never would have um learned how to use a pocket knife like there are so many skills that

I learned and they have had a lifelong impact on me and we take that very seriously when we're

planning for h camp for young people because this is a life changing experience I agree with you

and not only do I I hear you and see the evidence of this over the years we've been talking and

doing this of 4h's for everybody but I would just attack on to that I think for everybody should

do 4h I think every kid would be benefited by it that there's something that you they can gain

from this along with enjoying and having a lot of fun with it Laura I want to just again wrap

up with summer camp here remind everybody because today is the final day that they can sign up how

can they do that again so go ahead and reach out to me either by phone by email or by

facebook messenger for wood county 4h if you google us you'll find it otherwise let me just give

the phone number that's the easiest contact to do over the radio that's 715 421 8439

and if it's after hours I promise you I will call you back in the morning and we can take care

of things appreciate that thank you Laura we got so much to cover today I want to dive into

discover Wisconsin a little bit with you that is a really fun one yeah so discover Wisconsin this

is one especially for our middle grade students so again let's take them out and have an adventure

and this one is two nights at St. Norbert campus overnight in the dorms but then during the course

of the three days that we're gone we explored door county we explore mana to walk and the green bay

area and one of the things we think about with discover Wisconsin is let's not do the things that

families always do so we're not going to be going to Lambo field we're going to be going to the

new zoo and getting behind the scenes opportunities that a family wouldn't be able to go and do if

they're on their own we're going to explore the USS Colby a submarine in mana to walk we're going

to be doing orchard tours and some really cool activities at peninsula state park you know so

really cool opportunities with I'm just going to say a grade group an age group that a lot of

people are like oh my gosh middle schoolers are great yeah yeah and I love getting together and helping

them meet one another because this is a five county program wow so kids from Wood County will

meet kids from marathon Sean O Lincoln and Langley counties and it's really cool to find out what

happens after those initial friendships are built so that's going to be a really fun event

and and that one similar way to sign up for that like we've been talking about with summer camp and

some of those yeah registration is open on this one until tax day so April 15th is when that one

closes and so those are two really big things but I think it's important to let everybody know that

we have some smaller easier to access programs right here in south wood county this summer

the nacusa library has some of those great events over there and we love to shout out on

the nacusa library a big shout out to them great people over there absolutely you know if

you're not already involved in the summer reading programs that all of our public libraries do

I strongly encourage you to get your kids involved in these things right books are amazing

the imagination and the skill development the new things that you can learn like all of it is

amazing so I think it's cool how the libraries will do incentive programs to get those kids

reading in the summertime but then also they have these hands-on kind of days to come and visit

the library so we're doing two in partnership with nacusa library they are tied in with the

regular summer reading program they are free no registration is required but on June 24th we're

going to be there and we're going to be doing a hands-on art program right now what I believe it's

going to be is this really cool tissue paper flower making kind of a project again it's a library

program so it's totally free take advantage and we do this for all ages right those summer reading

programs are for your littlest kids all the way up and then in July we're going to be coming back

and we're going to get a little bit more like science-y focus but not too deep we're going to be

learning about seeds and germination and growth so everybody who comes is going to be able to walk

away with their own cup of something growing to learn how to take care of and it's it's a

whole lot cooler than pet rocks and I don't know to be honest I did this when I was a little kid and

I still remember okay let's let the secret out we're going to be growing grass in cups oh okay

they get faces they get characters they get all of that kind of stuff and just like the grass in our

lawns they're going to need haircuts and they're going to need special care whether it's fertilizing

or watering and all of those things so as simple as it is this is something I really truly remember

doing when I was just five years old and it stuck with me oh it's such a cool idea I love that

yeah thank you for sharing that thank you very much for sharing that and and giving people a

little bit of a preview of what you're going to be doing on in these events because not only do we

want you to attend them but love the idea of you getting the kids excited about these events and

teasing and talking about them yourselves as you're leading up to them and who knows what sparks

can happen from any one of these events and it's a similar thing with you guys being at the farmers

market and this one is a little bit more where you're kind of incorporated with other non-profits

and other business you know vendors and things going on which I think only enhances what you do

in my opinion from what I can tell right so the farmers market we feel like is a really cool

opportunity just for folks to get a you know a taste of what it is that 4-H does and you know I

don't expect anybody to come to the farmers market because 4-H is going to be there but I do want

you to think about like hey you know what I'm going to the farmers market yes I'm going to bring

the kids because there will be some really cool things for them to do besides taste the fabulous

food from the food trucks or you know by the crafts and all of the things so we're going to be

at the Thursday farmers markets we're not coming on Saturdays this summer but we're going to be

coming to three of the farmers markets and most of the activities that we choose to do there

will take a little bit of time but the kids will always be able to walk away with some things so

we will be planting grass for one of those programs we generally like to do something artistic or

something you know that anybody can succeed at our younger friends are going to need a little bit

more help but the boys and girls club typically will take a whole group of kids they're a little

bit older and they enjoy it as well so three Thursdays this summer come and see us we'll be there

in the mornings we're all set up by eight o'clock and we're usually leaving by somewhere between

noon and one o'clock so come and visit us in the morning July 3rd July 24th and August 7th are

the days that we're going to be there we're normally right near the managers stand but you never

know you know they might need to shift us somewhere so keep that in mind another great reason to head

down to our farmers market and buy local support local supporter like our ag industry and our vendors

out there along with hanging out with the 4-H and enjoying some of that that's going to be a blast

we're speaking with Laura Huber 4-H Program Educator at UW Madison Extension Wood County and Laura

we're going to talk now about Christmas in July we're not talking about the weather although it does

it messes with us sometimes it makes you think it's a little colder out than it is but Christmas in

July I love these kind of events these are fun yeah so this one is all just we're taking advantage

of the time where the kids are not in school the weather should hopefully be good

and this is a program open for all young people here in Wisconsin Rapids the program is going to

be held at the courthouse on Tuesday July 22nd and what we're going to be doing is we're going to be doing

or creating think about like household decorations that people might put out in the Christmas season

so in addition to those crafty sorts of things of course we might just have to have some fabulous

food and and some stuff like that you know have a celebration why not so this one is going to be

open for everybody who's in third grade right now and older and we do ask for $5 registration fee

to help cover that and again open to youth in 4-H and not in 4-H one of the best ways to kind of

get updates on what's happening in 4-H and get the registration information and all of that is to

follow us on social media or to you know our website is okay but it's so much easier to find

yeah what you're looking for on social media and we do have both of 4-H sorry a Facebook page

and an Instagram page depending on what you like most but we'll be sure to have cool flyers out

there we'll have links to registration the dates the reminders all of that kind of stuff can I

encourage you enough to follow them on social media and it's a great way to not only keep up the

date on those things but to reach out to them if you need to you bet and just when you're looking for

wood county 4-H make sure you choose the one in Wisconsin because there's also one in Ohio and

Texas and that'll get you a little confused I found that out the first time we're interviewing and

I'm trying to do homework and I'm like why is it an Ohio zip code oh wait yeah but Laura one

also get into another day camp coming up the wood county 4-H day camp yeah so in the past our

day camps are usually just for our youngest kids but we did something last well it's a couple of

years ago yeah at Wildwood Zoo that was amazing so we've opened this one up for our kids who are

in kindergarten right now all the way through fifth grade we're going to do behind the scenes

at our own zoo so something that a lot of folks don't realize is that boredom is a real

problem for zoo animals so folks at zoos do a lot of work to keep those critters like brains

engaged it's called enrichment so we are going to be enriching our young people as they enrich

the animals so that's great only will they be making really cool things but then the animals will

be locked away and our young people are going to be able to go into the zoo enclosures and hide

their creations all throughout it is a blast this is something again this one is up in Marshfield

but open for all young people regardless of 4-H membership and that is going to be on July 14th so

again and I know we touch on this quite a bit but another opportunity for them to you know maybe

get a spark into zoology or taking care of animals or veterinarism or anything like that but

I think that just as important as that is gaining a little empathy for what it is to work in a zoo

what these animals go through animals are only becoming more and more a part of our lives and

every city is a dog friendly city now and some of these things so any opportunity for that

seems really cool along with it being a really fun unique experience that they're going to be

telling everybody that they can about you know kids are when they find something cool like they're

going to be talking about that that's going to be cool absolutely you know when they get to tell

everybody that they were in Muncie and Vodas enclosure that's a really cool experience that

they don't forget if I was if that happened to me I'd still be talking about it yeah yeah like

that's an awesome thing that's very cool one of those to make sure to mention the clover bud

camp that's coming up as well yeah so clover buds that's the language that we use for our kindergarten

first and second graders and they don't have an opportunity to do overnight summer camp with us

so we try to have some special programs just for them um this year we are going to be working

off of a pirate theme um so exactly there you go that one's going to be at Northwood County Park

on August 5th really cool again open to youth regardless of 4-H membership so um if you think

that and for clover bud day camps we also try to include some science things some arts and crafts

things great food um a lot of young people have never been to Northwood County Park and so just

going over the bridge is a huge experience for them so we're gonna build that in as well it's fun

I appreciate and I'm not alone in this one I'm echoing the community here with the you guys

work so hard to make so much available for so many different age ranges and different styles of

kid and so much of that where when we say that 4-H is for everybody we can really say that it really

is for everybody and that that is a big tip of the head to you and the team and everybody work

so hard to do that for our communities and make sure that every kid gets a chance to experience

some of these kind of things it's a really really fun time and just wrapping up one of the

mentioned outdoor adventure camp coming up Thursday July 17th another event we want you guys to

learn about I know the next time you join us we can talk about some of those events but we just

want to put these on your calendar put them on your radar exactly and again know that your young

people regardless of 4-H membership are welcome so outdoor adventure camp is going to focus on

a lot of things that we do at the overnight summer camp but we know not everybody's comfortable

sending their kids away so we're gonna do canoeing we'll do fishing we'll do archery all sorts of

things this is our third year maybe our fourth year actually and we'll do this at Dexter County Park

down south of Pittsville it's an amazing experience um young people love it and sometimes I think

about it as a gateway into wow do I want to that three-day overnight summer camp is a little scary

will I like the activities enough to dive in so we'll have some kids that are doing both summer

camp and outdoor adventure camp and some just might want to put their toes in the water with outdoor

adventure camp remember you can find out about all these registers sign up for them uh be sure

to follow them on social media and you can contact them that way uh direct message them through

there or go to 4h.extension.wisc.edu if you type into your search bar wood county 4-H Wisconsin

it'll pop up for you be sure to reach out to them and sign your kids up for these amazing programs

Laura love hanging out with you thank you for the time well thank you so much and thank you for

letting me I'm sure that kids don't have to sit on devices all summer we've got lots of cool

things to do get them signed up everybody we'll be talking again with Laura and our friends at

extension real soon right here at wfhr locally grown radio