How does an organization that focuses on community learning hold meetings in a quarantine? That’s exactly the kind of thing 4-H leaders all over the state have been working hard to figure out.

Prairie Farmer recently polled 4-H Club leaders across the Midwest about how they’re holding meetings, helping members with projects and otherwise encouraging their members at home. While a handful candidly admitted they hadn’t done anything yet — no shame; many are trying to work at home or in essential services and everyone’s doing their best. Others have jumped on the Zoom bandwagon and are holding virtual meetings like champs.

Many are letting their tech-savvy young members lead the way.

“The last several weeks have been a lot of trial and error in implementing some new 4-H normals,” says Ava Anderson, 17-year-old president of the Ellery Panthers 4-H Club in Edwards County.

For each meeting they’ve missed during the quarantine, Ava recorded the pledges, roll call and announcements and published them to their club’s YouTube channel. She also collected videos of members giving their talks, demonstrations and specials and posted them on the channel so members could play them “during” the club meeting.

Ava did the same with videos of their county 4-H coordinator and club leaders, discussing everything they would have covered in person.

“She has done an amazing job to keep our club meeting and sharing through the shelter-in-place order!” says Kathy St Ledger, Ava's 4-H leader at the Ellery Panthers club.

Ava says the first video for their March meeting was simple, with her speaking throughout. For their most recent meeting, she added text to the screen for their members who need more visuals.

“The video turned out very well, but the audio was slightly too quiet and will need to be fixed for our next video,” she says. Again, trial and error.

Kelly Estes, a club leader in Champaign County, says Facebook groups and email have been her lifeline to her members, and she’s looking at using Zoom meetings for her club’s project groups.

“Keeping engaged with our kids is the goal without overwhelming the families,” she says.

Staying connected

In that spirit, here’s a look at some of the best ideas and experiences gathered from the 4-H poll:

Facebook groups. Lindsay Croke says her County Capri 4-H Club in McLean County is doing virtual talks and demonstrations in their club Facebook group. Members record themselves doing a talk or demonstration and then post the video in their club’s private group. The Rio Livestock 4-H Club has done the same.

Zoom. Overwhelmingly, Zoom is the favorite platform for most clubs to meet. Many clubs have their kids give talks or demonstrations live during the Zoom call. Some clubs have held off on individual presentations during their first Zoom meeting in April but are planning to do all their talks and demonstrations during their May meeting. Davis reports her kids were able to see and hear each other as they made motions and held discussions.

ZOOM MEET: Like a lot of clubs, the Tazewell County 4-H Federation group has been meeting via Zoom.

Livestock judging. Jesse Faber says his Livingston McLean Woodford 4-H Livestock Judging Team has continued to meet twice a week using Zoom, and kids are working out on their own using YouTube classes.

YouTube instruction. Holly Davis says her White County club, the Mad Hatters 4-H Club, used a YouTube video for their teaching time instruction this month. They hope to take a virtual field trip at some point.

The Fantastic Fours 4-H Club in Macoupin County created a video with each member to talk about 4-H and shared it on YouTube.

Community challenges. Think of what you can do for your community without getting together in person. In Edwards County, Anderson promoted an Earth Day challenge on behalf of her club and challenged 4-H members in the county to fill a trash bag with litter, recycle, donate clothing or food to a local center, or plant a tree, all on their own time frame. Many collected trash along the road near their home.

Independent work. Several clubs took March and even April off but stayed in touch with their members, encouraging them to work independently on their projects. Many of the leaders say communication is important in that scenario.

Passport to the World. Alison Dupre says her Champaign County club does Passport to the World for their club project. Instead of cooking an Indonesian dish together in April as they’d planned, each family will cook a dish from Indonesia on their own and will post pictures in their Facebook group.

Bring in speakers. Tina Veal says Zoom meetings for their Linden Leadem 4-H Club has still let them bring in speakers, including a cellist and a teacher who helped find a shipwreck. Marla Todd says the Fantastic 4-Hers of Fisher Club will have a local gardener share tips during their May Zoom meeting.

Embrace the new. Meeting via Zoom lets members into each other’s houses and barns, and as Veal says, “it reminds me of the old club tour days going house to house!”

Have fun. Veal’s Linden Leadem club has a longstanding tradition of scavenger hunts, made famous by leader Ray Ropp. They do it several times a year, with members bringing the items to the meetings, but they’ve had to improvise on Zoom: Ray calls for items (banana, egg, purse, comb, etc.) and the kids run around the house to find them and then bring them back to the camera to present. Other clubs are doing trivia contests via Zoom.

Janet Schumm with the Wayne City 4-H Club did a similar scavenger hunt just as the weather improved to give kids a fun activity outside. Before their April Zoom meeting,she shared scavenger hunt instructions via group text and their Facebook page. Members sent pictures in before the meeting. She’s also posting various optional ideas and activities for them in their Facebook group.

Individual Service. 4-H members all over the state are making masks for essential workers, and other families are making “ear savers” using plastic folders.

Quarantine projects. Natalie Royer with the Clover Cadets 4-H Club expanded her photography project by offering quarantine porch pictures to families in Macoupin County, something that’s become popular in communities nationwide — and it helps Natalie develop her photography skills.

Community Service. Heather Hampton Knodle says their Montgomery County club has planned community service projects that respect social distancing, including garbage pickup, cards to assisted living friends and a food drive for the local food pantry. They met in a central location to hand out latex gloves, trash bags and protective IDOT outer gear, then assigned a few blocks in town to each family. Kids are delivering cards from visual arts and photography projects.

ESSENTIAL MASKS: Fantastic 4-Hers of Fisher member Ty Whiteman worked at home to make face masks for essential employees.

The Ashkum Go-Getters 4-H Club has been providing weekly activity sheets for a local nursing home. Another club adopted a senior living home, and each family takes a week to send something or drop something at the front door, such as ear savers for the staff, geraniums or sock Easter bunnies, for example. Another club goes to the local assisted living facility and plays tic-tac-toe with residents through the patio doors.

Google Classroom. Gracie Weinzierl reports the Olympia Pacesetters 4-H Club is meeting over Zoom, but their junior leaders formed a committee to conduct virtual project workshops and service-learning activities through Google Classroom.

“I’m excited to the see the initiative of our junior leaders to film these workshops and think of new socially-distant community service ideas,” Weinzierl says.

Don’t forget Cloverbuds. Amy McCarty says her club has made a new Facebook page for the White County 4-H Cloverbuds where they post videos of science experiments, bicycle safety and other topics a few times a week.  

OUTSIDE: Janet Schumm, Wayne City 4-H Club leader, sent her kids on a scavenger hunt before their Zoom meeting.

Bad internet? Schumm in Wayne City reminds that they don’t want to overwhelm kids, and they know rural internet is dicey.

“We just do the best we can with what we have,” she says.