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4-H Cultural Exchange Club | |
"Through our common interest in 4-H, we can gain a better understanding of life in another part of the country, develop leadership skills in our youth and adults, build new friendships and appreciate the spirit of cooperation necessary to make this exchange possible."
Our Program
The 4-H Cultural Exchange program provides a two year exchange with another state. One year we host, the other year we travel; 7-10 days during the summer. Members are expected to attended most of the meetings and fundraisers. Because it is easier to travel with a group of kids who know each other fairly well, our meetings encourage members to get to know each other. Meetings are held down at the Cooperative Extension Education Center with notices going out to the members of the club
The 4-H Exchange Club meets once a month for business and to discuss what fund raising activities will take place. The fundraisers are in the form of catalog sales, candy/cookies sales, bake sales and anything else we can think of to make money. Our most unusual fundraiser was "The Flamingos are Coming" and they were successful for some people and not so successful for others. The kids must earn money through fundraising for their traveling money to other states, an occasional lunch/dinner out and souvenirs while in the other state or for paying for their guest while hosting. . 4-H families provide housing during our hosting year and the 4-H'er must pay for everything (entry fees, bus trips, etc.) that the guest does during the visit. The guest will be responsible for their own spending money for souvenirs and the occasional lunch/dinner out. All extra money earned using club fundraisers is available for spending money if the members wants it that way or could be saved for the next exchange.
Our Kids
We have a wonderful group
of kids this
year between the ages of 13 - 19. By participating in this
program, they work cooperatively with groups and individuals; build new
friendships, learn to cope with new and changing situation; identify and solve
problems; use tact, diplomacy and good manners; recognize different values and
beliefs; assume personal responsibility; develop a sense of pride in our community;
gain positive citizenship skills; learn money management skills; have lots to
fun. The goal of the Tomkins County Cultural 4-H Exchange Club is to provide
opportunities for children and youth to build
character.
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This part of our 4-H Exchange Club has been operating for about 16 years and we have had eight very successful exchanges with Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Montana, Kansas and Iowa. (This is the second part as the first part was run by another leader and then dropped for a couple of years. Brenda Carpenter restarted it again about 14 years ago.) We have just completed a two year exchange with Cedar County, Iowa and it was fantastic!! We took them all over the state - from Niagara Falls to Cooperstown; from Sterling to Elmira. It was a very tiring week but a very enjoyable one. The clubs in both Kansas and Montana had such a great time that they would like to repeat the exchange in the future. I guess that says good things about our club, don't you think?
Time marches on and another year has passed. We finished with our exchange with Cedar County, Iowa in 2001 and started a new exchange with Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana in 2002. We flew from Syracuse, NY to New Orleans, LA and were met at the airport by the LA Club and we went to a hotel there in New Orleans. After checking in, we went out to see the town and what a town it was!! We visited the D-Day Museum, the Riverwalk Mall, the Americas Aquarium, and even visited Bourbon Street at night. We rode on the Charles St. trolley car and had beignets at Cafedu Mond and saw the beautiful wrought iron balconies on the buildings. What a beautiful city it is! After spending 1.5 days there, we headed out to our new homes in the Lake Charles area. It is a very flat area of the country with the only "hills" being the overpasses on the interstate. It was just as warm as we thought that it would be but we still had a great time and met some interesting people. We visited a nature reserve and saw baby alligators; the kids learned to crab and even had the chance to swim in the Gulf of Mexico. We didn't want to come back to Syracuse but our time ran out. We are now waiting for the kids from LA to come to New York so we can show them our state.
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Calcasieu Parish was here for 5 days this past summer and a good time seemed to be had by all. We took them to some great places which included Niagara Falls, Darien Lake, Ithaca College, Cornell University, Watkins Glen State Park, Hansen's Dairy Farm, the Hanger Theater, MV Manhatten Lake Cruise and many other things. Our guests were thrilled with Niagara Falls and we didn't have one smart aleck who mouthed off at the Border. We informed them of the consequences. The weather was typical for NY weather and I am glad that we warned them to bring their jackets and sweatshirts. It was quite chilly on some of the nights but they didn't mind.
We have now started to plan our next exchange. The teens had quite a list of different places to choose from and after much discussion, decided that they wanted to exchange with Larimer County, CO. The Larimer County Club is about the same size and on the same schedule and really want to exchange with us. So the first week in July 2004, Tompkins County will go west and visit Larimer County who have promised some exciting experiences like white water rafting, snow ball fights at 17,000 feet and something called a "pitchfork fondue". Some wonderful things to look forward to, don't you think?
Special Links for Exchange Clubs
4-H Cultural Exchange Club Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
615 Willow Ave. Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 272-2292 Fax: (607) 272-7088 |
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