Shared from Becky Pfile, Columbia County 4-H Educator
One of my favorite things about 4-H is providing opportunities where young people can discover things that spark their interest. Sparks of interest are important because they allow youth to discover their passions and talents which leads to an improved sense of purpose and fulfillment,and motivates youth to explore new things and engage in learning throughout their lives.
Last fall, I had the opportunity to partner with colleagues from neighboring counties to provide a sparks-finding opportunity to the Cloverbuds in Columbia, Dodge, Marquette, and Sauk counties. Once a week, for the month of October, we hosted Cloverbuds in virtual sessions based loosely on the Harry Potter / Fantastic Beasts series, titled “Wizarding World of 4-H”. The Cloverbuds got to explore Crafting Magical Apparel where they made sorting hats and 4-H ties and were sorted into the House of 4-H. The next week they learned about the Care of Magical Beasts which was all about owls and included an owl craft. The third week the Cloverbuds learned about the importance of healthy emotional self-regulation and made Magical Potion calming jars. They finished out the four week series with a Fantastic Foods lesson and then making their own version of the famous butterbeer drink from Harry Potter, using a recipe very similar to this one: Harry Potter’s Butterbeer Wizarding World Recipe (favfamilyrecipes.com).
Last month, at our Wisconsin Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals annual conference, the four of us received the Wisconsin Only Specialty Award – Excellence in Spark Support for the Wizarding World of 4-H Cloverbud Series. It was such an honor to be recognized by our peers in this way – especially because we had so much fun offering the series that it hardly even seemed like work. There is the saying that if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life. For me, my spark is igniting the sparks in others, so it is easy to love my job.
Check out the picture below of us receiving our award. L to R: Marie Witzel (Dodge), Christa Van Treeck (Marquette), Becky Pfile (Columbia), Stacy Parsons (Sauk)
