Who is behind the plethora of projects featured at the county fair, cookie sales downtown and many services throughout the community? These are the members of 4-H, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, three nationwide youth organizations––and a collection of them are right here at Seabury.
Junior Eliza Brockhoff, a 4-H member, is involved in a lot of interesting projects: “I do clothing and construction, baking, entomology, leadership, cattle [and] goats.” She really likes entomology: “I am the junior superintendent, so I teach younger 4-H’ers how to do this project because you really need a lot of hands-on teaching.”
Her brother, freshman Lucien Brockhoff, says that his favorite part is “the fair because it’s something to build up to. Last year … around 10,000 people came to our county fair and … you get to show off your things.”
Animals are a big part of the 4-H fair, so it requires a huge effort to show them. Sixth grader Sawyer Tanking used to show her chickens, noting, “it’s sort of hard to train them to act specifically … also they have to get vaccines.”
Likewise, E. Brockhoff shares the difficulties of training her family’s famous cows: “they are really stubborn, so it just involves pulling them around and getting them to go until they finally figure out [that they are] supposed to walk when you pull on the halter.”
These youth organizations also provide service opportunities. Former Girl Scout, seventh grader Bea Marshall, says, “we would volunteer around the Community Hall [and] do service there.”
Likewise, freshman Charlie Maples, a current Boy Scout, comments, “every year we do harvesters’ services and go out to the parks, and we work there for a day.”
Besides services, scouting also provides other community experiences. Faculty member and former Girl Scout, Amanda Lovett, shares, “in the 80s, I lived in a cul-de-sac, so I would go around [and] knock on every door … and I actually made face-to-face contact [selling] the cookies.”
For group activities like 4-H and scouting, traditions are a must-have. E. Brockhoff’s favorite tradition is “bucket calf parade,” explaining that “young 4-H’ers … will take babies that are orphans, [called] bucket calves, and raise them. [Then] all the kids dress up themselves and the calf, and they have a little parade.”
The goal of both 4-H and scouting is for kids to gain skills and experiences that benefit them in life. Maples enjoys getting “taught by [his] fellow scouts,” explaining, “[It enhances] your life skills, leadership skills … you’re teaching people coming after you the same things you’ve been learning.”
