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Cape May Court House – Cape May County 4-H club members will, once again, give their public presentations in-person from March 14th – 19th in the classrooms of AtlanticCape Community College and at the Lockwood 4-H Youth Center. In 2019 and 2020, 4-H Public Presentations were held virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions and safety concerns.
4-H Public Presentations have long been an integral part of the 4-H “Learning by Doing” approach to youth development. “We are excited to return to in-person public presentations, after two years of virtual presentations, to provide our members with the most realistic public speaking experience,” said Linda Horner, Cape May County 4-H Program Coordinator.
4-H Public Presentations are an important annual event for all 4-H members from kindergarten through one year out of high school. This project helps them become a confident public speaker, prepares them for school and community responsibilities and develops valuable skills that they will use throughout their lives.
Presentations at ACCC will be on Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. Presentations that showcase animals or are more suited for outside will take place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Lockwood 4-H Youth Center or on the 4-H Fairgrounds.
“Although the past two years were challenging, they also brought out the imagination and determination of 4-H staff, volunteers, and our members as they adapted to a virtual 4-H world. This was evident from the 57 Cape May County 4-Hers, who submitted virtual presentations in 2021 compared to 34 in 2020,” added Horner.
This year, our goal is for 100 members to perform their public presentations before volunteer judges from the community, their fellow club members, and adult leaders. 4-H members may choose from four types of presentations: demonstration, illustrated talk, formal speech and performing arts. Even the youngest members of the 4-H family, Cloverbuds, kindergarten through third grade, are given the opportunity to try their hands at speaking in front of a group. Their requirements are much easier, three to five minutes as opposed to the eight to 15 minutes expected of older youth members.
4-H Public Presentations are judged using the Danish System, which compares competitors to standards of achievement based on age and years of experience, not to one another. 4-H members in grades 8 through 13 who receive an excellent rating are eligible to compete in the state public presentations program this summer on the Cook/Douglass Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
For more information about Public Presentations or the 4-H Youth Development Program, please call (609)465-5115, ext.3606, visit our website capemay.njaes.rutgers.edu and like us on Facebook at Cape May 4-H or Instagram at cape_may_4h.
The 4-H Youth Development Program is part of Rutgers Cooperative Extension. 4-H educational programs are offered to all youth, grades K-13, on an age-appropriate basis, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
