Montana 4-H Clover
is produced by
Montana State University Agriculture and Extension Communications

and funded by
Montana 4-H Foundation.

Agriculture and Extension Communications is part of MSU Communications Services
416 Culbertson Hall Bozeman, MT 59717
publications@montana.edu
(406) 994-2721

Edited by: Karen Johnson, Marla Goodman, Suzi Taylor

Contributors: Rae Lynn Benson, Wendy Gerky, Chery Ann Weatherell, Jennifer Wells, The Livingston Enterprise, The Great Falls Tribune

What is MSU Extension?

MSU:
The Extension program is a fundamental part of Montana State University's land grant mission, developed to ensure that all Montanans benefit from the University.

Public access:
The program extends university knowledge to the people who need it, even if they never set foot on a campus. It gives every Montanan access to useful information and expert help via workshops, demonstrations, community meetings, publications, videos, the internet and other sources. Montana 4-H is MSU Extension's youth development program.

Educational outreach:
Extension links a network of MSU facultytopic specialists on the MSU-Bozeman campus and agents in 53 counties and seven reservationsto the people. Its role is to extend practical knowledge to the public about agriculture, natural resources, youth development, community development and family and consumer sciences.

Free information:
MSU Extension provides resources on topics that range from raising livestock, growing crops and protecting the environment to raising a family, managing finances, starting a business and protecting your family's health and well-being.

For everyone:
You can use Extension by calling your local agent (listed in the county section of the phone book), by taking advantage of workshops and demonstrations in your area, or by clicking on "Extension and Outreach" at www.montana.edu.

For a catalog of free and low-cost publications, call (406)994-3273 or browse the Extension catalog online.

Learning Sacajewea style!

Dr. Joe McGeshick, Fort Peck Community College, teaches youth from the Glasgow Middle School about Native American customs of the 1880s.

What do you get when you take young people and teach them about canoes and animal hides? You get the Lewis & Clark After School and Summer Program.

The furs and fun started flying when Debbie Donovan, Valley County Extension agent, and Mike Cavey, 4-H specialist at MSU-Bozeman, teamed up with Glasgow and Frazer school districts. They received a federal grant to start a program that would give local kids something fun to do while learning about their heritage.

Students participate in hands-on activities like moccasin making, canoeing, skinning animals, cutting up meat for freezing, journaling, drying fruits, outdoor cooking, Native American dancing and 1800s era dancing and music.

Twenty specially trained instructors get the kids fired up with exciting activities like forging tools and shooting black powder rifles just like their ancestors might have done 200 years ago.

Because of this program, kids are scoring higher in math, science and reading, and their parents say they seem more eager to go to school.

Other partners in the project include Valley County 4-H agents, the Boy Scout Alliance, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, The Lewis and Clark Heritage Foundation and many community and business members.

What's next? The activities have been so popular that Donovan and Cavey have applied for another grant to bring American history to all schools in the county.

Montana 4-H Clover 2003
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The programs of the MSU Extension Service are available to all people regardless of race, creed, color, sex, disability or national origin. Issued in furtherance of cooperative extension work in agriculture and home economics, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, LeRoy Luft, Interim Vice Provost and Director, Extension Service, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717.