"This year, because of the coronavirus, we've had to make a pivot to having virtual type opportunities for the youth," said Davis. One of those opportunities in the 4-H Stock Talks
"The stock talk is an opportunity virtually for 4-H members to share their passion around their livestock projects. So I use "livestock" pretty broadly, I should say animal science project because it also included llama, and rabbit and poultry," Davis continued.
In a series of Stock Talks posted on the 4-H YouTube page, McKayla from Isanti County showed her Scottish Highlander heifer, Elsa; Emily from Dakota County showed her Broken Mini Rex Senior Buck; Lucy from Crow Wing County showed her dog, Artemis, and Oliver from from Sibley County showed how he was training his pig, Steve.
"We have so many youth leaders out there that are knowledgeable in their project areas that in a normal year, they would mentor younger members, and share their passion around animal science," said Davis. She said that, with about 100 video submissions, they're going to continue Stock Talks in future years.
McKayla from Isanti County explained that the stock talk won't replace a 4-H student's exhibition at a county or state fair. "The Stock Talk was just another opportunity to make a video, enter a little bit of a contest, and kind of share your knowledge," she said.
Davis said that just less than half Minnesota's counties are trying to do a live showcase with their animals, for animal science. "There's a lot of protocol and safety measures that have to be put into place for that," she explained.
Aly from Sibley County works on her family's dairy farm where she raises all of her show animals for the year. She assisted with the in-person livestock judging for her county. "I helped with cleaning bathrooms and things like that just to make the time run smoother," she said.
She went on to explain some of the COVID-19 safety protocols that were put in place: face masks, temperature checks upon arrival, bathrooms cleaned every hour. "And when you came into the fairgrounds, your time was written down on a piece of paper, and then when you left the fairgrounds, that time that you left was written down," Aly said. "And I know a lot of people said, 'Well, since we can't display our project, I don't feel it pays to bring our project this year.' Like a friend made a quilt and she's like, 'I don't think it pays to bring my quilt this year cause I can't display it. Like I worked hard on that.'"
Davis said that while some counties did in-person judging, many chose to go virtual because they didn't have the human capacity to make sure the protocols were followed for safety according to the University of Minnesota regulations. She said that the virtual judging process will include Zoom meetings and reviews. The students submit photos or videos for judging and the reviewers will go over what the students did well and areas for improvement.
One problem that's arisen is internet accessibility. What COVID-19 has made clear is broadband and internet connectivity disparities in rural areas—there are still families that do not have home internet processes. Minnesota 4-H tried to address this by giving students plenty of time, a two week window, to use their cell phone to take videos or pictures and then upload them from home or use a school or library's internet connection. "And then the .. Zoom debriefing is nice because they can just call on their cell phone, and granted, they might not see the pictures, but they will hear the oral reasons of that judge and have the interaction still," Davis said.
McKayla from Isanti County is also a 4-H State Ambassador. "As we were moving online, we were concerned with how many people have the internet connection," she said. "But at one point, we really realized that we don't have many other options this year, and that we just had to try and make the best of it. ... I know our program coordinator had talked about if videoing and taking pictures at home was just not an option, they can contact the office and find another way to have either somebody come out, or to get those pictures and videos taken.
Minnesotans are also recreating in new ways this year. Another new Minnesota 4-H initiative is called Choose Your Outdoor Adventure. As you might imagine, with this move to digital, the 4-H youth have really led the way, says Nicole Pokorney, the state coordinator for 4-H Outdoor Adventures.
"This was from the ground-up youth voice," Pokorney said. "I might've pulled these guys together, that was it."
Charese, from Wright County, is a state shooting sports and wildlife ambassador. 2020 is also Charese's last year in the 4-H program as a youth. "This was going to be my final hurrah, get everything done, but you know, it just changed." Charese participated in the Choose Your Outdoor Adventure for her senior project. "[We] met up with a bunch of youth, and the ambassadors, and the year two OWLS program, and we were like, 'What could we do that not only is just shooting sports?' Because we wanted it to be open to all youth, we opened it up to wildlife and just kids interested in the outdoors." And Choose Your Outdoor Adventure was created.
This project is Zoom-based—asked experts in various fields to participate in a Zoom conversation with 4-H youth to get them excited about outdoor activities. They covered topics like hiking, birding and fishing. "It is extremely hard to teach someone how to actually fish on Zoom, but we took the perspective of safety," Pokorney said. "What does everybody need to know before they actually go fishing? And then we had a guest speaker out of UMD, Doug Jensen. He came on and taught about the aquatic invasive species related to fishing." Then, the Zoom organizers email activity guides to get people excited about using their new knowledge in the outdoors.
While connecting online has allowed 4-H youth to participate in events hosted all over the state, the ideal situation would be a digital plus in-person hybrid experience for many 4-He youth and their leaders.
Katrien is a national student sports and wildlife ambassador who helped with the Choose Your Outdoor Adventure. She still has another year as a 4-H youth. "I would love if we could, next summer, we could do something similar and not have to do it over Zoom. Because although that's opened up a lot of doors, in the same way, there's so many different ... solutions that come from interacting with people and doing one-on-one stuff," she said.
Porkorney agreed that a hybrid option would be ideal. "I think our opportunity to bring in these guest speakers from across the state, and a couple of them from out of state, Zoom has opened those doors for guest speakers from across the country actually."
