Members of 4-H Club show livestock at Bangor State Fair, WABI reports

WABI (Channel 5) reported members of the Penobscot County Livestock 4-H Club have spent the past year preparing for fair season. Club leader Corinna Caron said the children — ages 10 through 18 — get up at 4:45 a.m. to bathe the animals. “They take pride in having healthy animals and working with them and keeping them happy, because happy animals makes a happy kid,” Caron said. The youth will show and auction off beef cows, dairy cows and lambs at the Bangor State Fair, WABI reported. In Maine, each county’s 4-H program is supported by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. WABI also reported the Heart of Maine Dairy Goat Association will host its 4-H sanctioned goat show at the fair on Saturday, Aug. 5.

The Bangor Daily News published the article, “How Bangor State Fair’s 4-H events teach kids applied research methods.” The hands-on learning, or experiential learning, is how 4-H fulfills the model of “helping the people of Maine help themselves.” After the children complete a project, they discuss how the solution they discovered can be applied to other areas of their life, the BDN reported. “Kids don’t realize it, but that’s what their doing. It’s applied research,” said Barbara Baker, an educator in 4-H youth development. “They are putting on that thinking cap, and it will help them later on in life to solve those problems.”