Community Corner
Newark Teens Participate In 4-H Club Winter Camp
The experience provides young people with an opportunity to explore the natural world.
NEWARK, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of a Patch Newark community member. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.
Newark teens from the Essex County Donald Payne Teach 4-H Club and the Essex Tech 4-H Club joined other 4-H club members from Essex, Hudson, Union and Hunterdon Counties for a weekend in the woods at the Lindley G. Cook 4-H Camp located in Branchville, Sussex County. Winter Camp is a weekend experience where young people have the opportunity to explore the natural world while challenging themselves to meet new friends and try new things.
4-H boasts over a hundred years of community development initiatives, engaging youth and caring adults in positive youth development experiences. However, Essex County 4-H is not what you would consider a traditional 4-H program.
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“Although many programs here in Essex County keep the tradition of connecting the community to our agricultural roots (our Urban Farm Clubs, Farm Camp), we also have a strong teen leadership and environmental education component of our program,” noted Marissa Staffen, 4-H County Agent for the Cooperative Extension of Essex County at Rutgers University in Newark.
4-H is the country's largest youth development organization, and although the model of 4-H is similar across the board, programs look different in every county as the goal of 4-H is to build programs that meet the need of the community.
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“Our goal is to engage caring adults in the community including teachers, parents, Rutgers faculty and students, to lead positive youth development experiences for local youth,” Staffen concluded. “In 4-H, we are not tied to a particular topic of programming, our goal is to teach greater life skills in every youth we reach. This can be via many different program delivery modes including school enrichment programs, special events, educators training, and traditional clubs.”
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