Eaton Peabody Sponsors 4-H Edge Weekend at UMaine

May 19, 2007

May 19-20, 2007 University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s 4-H program embarked on a new event entitled 4-H EDGE Weekend: Engagement, Direction, and Goals in Education.

The purpose of this new event is to bring 4-H families onto the UMaine, Orono campus to experience and
explore higher education.
 
“4-H has a long history of offering great programs to kids,” said Clare Hudson Payne, Esq., former member of the Pine Tree 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees. “I can’t think of anything better than bringing middle school students and their parents to UMaine to get them to start thinking about college now, so they can start making plans for their future before entering high school.” 

A little over forty children participated in hands-on workshops hosted by university faculty, and also
experienced living in dorms and eating in the commons.
 
Courses included such topics as GIS/GPS, civics, physics, nutrition, and were classified by the four 4-H programming areas: healthy lifestyles, science, engineering and technology, sustainable living, and youth in governance.

Parents took guided tours of the UMaine campus and attended workshops on how to pay for college expenses, fill out a FAFSA application, and on admissions procedures. Youths and their parents raved about the new event and many reported they want to come back for next year’s EDGE. Staff and volunteers are very hopeful these
young students will return to the UMaine campus in the future.  “As an alumni of UMaine and a proponent of 4-H, I was very excited when staff decided to create this event,” said Mary Dinsmore, Associate Development
Officer for the 4-H Foundation. “It really only makes sense that a youth program rooted in our state institution would provide a learning opportunity on higher education for its members. It will be very exciting to see the long term effects of EDGE as it becomes integrated into our cadre of annual 4-H events.” For more information on the Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation, please visit http://www.umaine.edu/4hfoundation/.