Youth & Family News

West Virginia individuals or teams (up to four persons) of students in grades 9-12 from traditional, virtual or homeschool environments, or those attending career and technical centers are invited to compete in the 2023 Natural Resources and Agriculture Business Pioneer Competition.

Registration is now open for the 2023 4-H Volunteer Retreat! WV 4-H Volunteers, All Stars, Adult Leaders, and Alumni (18 years or older) who serve, or want to learn more about serving, as volunteers with the West Virginia 4-H program are invited.

Monday, July 24, 2023, 5:30 p.m.   

To kick off today’s episode, Jen Robertson-Honecker, WVU Extension STEM Specialist, and Ben, the flashlight wizard, lead a STEM activity, teaching us how to make our own flashlights. For this activity, you will need jumbo craft sticks, LEDs, coin cell batteries, jumbo paper clips, copper tape, masking tape, scissors. If all that science worked up an appetite, you’re in luck! Susan Lily, a nutrition instructor with the WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program, walks us through how to make some delicious energy bars. For this recipe, you will need rice cereal, quick cooking oats, toasted nuts, dried cranberries, unsweetened coconut, honey, low-fat peanut butter and vanilla.  

Monday, July 17, 2023, 5:30 p.m.   

This episode is a rerun from season 3. 

As part of the 50+ year USDA Forest Service tradition, Monongahela National Forest is providing the 2023 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, which will grace the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, along with smaller trees for federal offices in Washington, D.C. How do all of these trees get decorated? With lots and lots of handmade ornaments! We need your help to create ornaments for the 2023 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree and smaller trees that will be displayed this holiday season in Washington, D.C.

Monday, July 10, 2023, 5:30 p.m.   

Get out your tiny wallets! It’s time to learn about financial literacy with Lauren Weatherford, family and community development agent in Fayette and Nicholas counties. She walks us through how to identify our wants versus our needs and how to make smart choices with our money. Next, Summers County Extension Agent Lesley Woodrum shows us how to make our own piggy banks at home using materials that are often just thrown away. For this activity, you will need a container with a lid, such as a peanut butter jar, a box or even an empty disinfectant wipes canister, markers, colorful paper or stickers for decoration, and an adult to help you cut a hole in the top of your bank. 

Monday, July 3, 2023, 5:30 p.m.   

Today we’re learning all about the creepy crawlies in the world around us. Elizabeth Rowen, a service assistant professor of entomology, guides us on a tour of WVU’s insect zoo, getting up close and personal with some tarantulas, scorpions and more. Next, 4-H youth and development agent Jocelyn Crawford teaches us all about what makes up an ecosystem and shows us how to make one in a jar! For this activity, all you need is a jar, a scoop of water from an outdoor water source, like a creek or pond, and objects around the water source, like leaves or rocks. Then we jump back to Elizabeth Rowen to go on a scavenger hunt for insects that you can find in your own backyard.  

Monday, June 26, 2023, 5:30 p.m.  

The Wild Owens kick us off today talking about bear dens and cubs. WVU Extension specialists Sheldon and Sarah Owen are joined by Colin Carpenter, black bear project leader at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources to hug some black bear cubs and learn about their habitats. Next, Alex Coffman, 4-H youth development agent, discusses keeping public parks and spaces clean with Leave No Trace. And while you’re out in these parks, you may come across some plants that could be dangerous. Bruce Loyd and Mike Shamblin, Extension agriculture and natural resource agents, walk us through the woods while showing us plants to avoid and how to identify them.  

Monday, June 19, 2023, 5:30 p.m.  

Happy Juneteenth! Join us for the very first episode of season four of WVU Extension’s Energy Express on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. 

This application is for WV 4-H youth ages 14-19 wanting to attend National 4-H Congress in Atlanta (November 2023) or National 4-H Conference in Washington, D.C. (March/April 2024). Once your application is submitted a follow-up interview will be scheduled in June 2023.

Deadline to submit your interview is midnight on Monday, May 15th, 2023. Youth accepted to attend Congress or Conference will be attending this event with pre-selected WVU Extension Chaperones. Youth will be attending on their own, family members and 4-H Volunteers will not be eligible to attend. There will be times during these National events when youth will be chaperoned by someone other than the WVU chaperones.