Washita County 4-H organized a Life Essentials Beyond the Classroom program in Cordell on July 1, 2021. The event offered 4-H youth 7th grade & above an opportunity to experience eight important places of business – from government to insurance. Club leaders from the county submitted names of participants (maximum of 4 from each club) to the Washita County 4-H office. The fourteen 4-H members and five adults that attended were:
Brance Barnett, Joey Mooney and Kathryn Sirmon, Burns Flat-Dill City (BF-DC); Madison Church, Canute; Delainee Moore and Kemper Woodis, Cordell; Teia Lund, Rocky; Zada Baker, Gunther Claunch and Rowdy Waugh, Sentinel; Polly, Luke, Logan and Maggie Tacker, Hobart; Larissa Mason, BF-DC Adult Club Leader; Dana Church, Greg Hartman, Kristy Spalding and Travis Tacker, OSU Extension Educators.
“Our youth need to become aware of what they will face after highschool to become a responsible adult,” said program organizer Dana Church, Washita County OSU Extension 4-H Educator. “We were able to take this select group of young leaders into places of business to hear directly from the elected/appointed officials and industry professionals.”
Church said she had 100% participation from everyone that was invited to be a part of the program. Additional sessions for Life Essentials will be scheduled later with new focus areas each time.
The program helped answer questions such as: What happens behind the counter at the post office? What takes place at the courthouse? What do 9-1-1 dispatchers use to help locate me when I have an emergency? Am I required to have vehicle insurance? Why should I balance my bank account and how?
The day started at 7:45am with each youth turning in their phones and leaving them at the Extension office for the day. “I knew our schedule was tight, and I wanted the youth to give their full attention to each of our speakers,” Church said. “Plus, they were given a paper map to navigate to each of our stops using a locatable street address without a cell phone app.”
Participants went behind the counter at the Post Office where carriers were sorting mail and preparing for deliveries. Next, they toured each floor of the courthouse and listened to each elected and appointed official explain what their office does.
At the next stop, participants learned about insurance required by state law and how insurance works learning terms such as premium and deductible. At the bank, youth heard information about how to open an account, how to fill out a check, how to balance a check book and fraud awareness.
The group utilized Red River Transportation for their trip to the Washita County Justice Center where they toured the facility including the courtroom and dispatch. Youth watched a 911 test call come through on the mapping system. After lunch, the youth learned how to calculate the fees to expect when tagging a vehicle.
They day ended with helping at the Judah House, a local community out-reach facility, and also showing gratitude by hand-writing thank you notes to each speaker in the program. Each youth participant wrote a customized note to the specific person they introduced during the day. A lesson about addressing an envelope was also involved.
Participant Teia Lund said, “I think today was definitely a good learning experience getting to learn about lots of different jobs and things we’ll need in the future.” The group concurred it was fun and they learned important things from places that they never thought they would get to visit.
Washita County 4-H would like to thank the following for making the Life Essentials Beyond the Classroom a success: Leah Adams, Acting Postmaster; Lynda Vermillion, Court Clerk; Cindy Froneberger, Bailiff; Kristin Dowell, County Clerk; Krystle Uecke, Assessor; Sherry Nightengale, Treasurer; Leah Jones, Election Board Secretary; Kristi Regier, Washita County Farm Bureau Insurance; Brad Babek, Bank of Western Oklahoma; Russell Stewart, Deputy Sheriff; Tammy Estep, Dispatcher; Mary Harris and Danette Traugott, SWODA 911; Valerie Fariss, Cordell Tag Agency; Flo Jones, Judah House; and Tara Harrison, Red River Transportation.