Moosomin’s 4-H Multi Club explores various initiatives for kids
September 11, 2023, 11:22 am
Sierra D'Souza Butts, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Moosomin’s 4-H Multi Club has opened its doors to kids in the community who are looking to participate in projects that involve learning opportunities in different fields, while allowing them to engage with peers from Moosomin and the surrounding area.
“The multi club is a club where you can do pretty much anything you like,” said Kale Holmstrom, President of 4-H Multi Club in Moosomin.
“You get together with lots of your friends and learn about anything you want to. We’ve got everything from sewing to mechanics, cooking, stuff like that.”
Last year, there were 44 kids from the community who participated in the group.
Being a part of the club for six years, Kale said the ideas for different projects are based on what kids are interested in.
“There’s set projects that 4-H offers, and it’s also based on whatever people are interested in. You can get the books for whatever project you want,” he said.
“My favourite part about it is seeing all my friends. Once a week we all come out to the farm to work on our project and just talk. It’s really fun.”
Multi Club different than local 4-H beef and 4-H horse clubs
One of the parents who helps facilitate the club, Trudi Holmstrom, explained how the multi-club is different than the 4-H beef and horse clubs in local communities.
“The multi club has been going on for quite a few years in town. Before it was started, there’s typically the beef clubs in surrounding communities and the horse club,” said Trudi.
“I think there were other kids who wanted to do different projects that weren’t in either beef or horse 4-H, so the idea for the multi-club came up.
“It already started when my kids got involved with it, I’m not sure how long it’s been around, but quite a few years now.”
Trudi spoke about the different types of projects the group offers.
“In our club there is exploring 4-H, which is a combination of a lot of different projects, taking a sample of a lot of the different projects going on,” Trudi said.
“There’s been cooking, sewing, mechanics, horse is part of our club, animal tracking, crafts, canine, there’s been journalism in the past.
“Each project has a project leader, and they’re in charge of organizing their group. That project leader determines how often their group meets, what their goals for the year are, and basically how the kids are going to learn and organize the topic that is being worked on.”
Over the years, Kale said he has noticed more kids who have shown an interest in being a part of the club.
“When kids start noticing what some of the projects there are, what kids are working on, and what they have done, it draws lots of interest,” said Kale.
“There’s lots of variety of kids who join, from Moosomin, Whitewood, Wawota, Rocanville.”
May Swanson, organizer of the 4-H Multi Club, said the kids also participate in parliamentary meetings which teaches them the different roles people have in federal, provincial, and municipal governments.
“The meetings teach the parliamentary procedures so kids can learn how to act in a meeting,” said Swanson.
“They learn the roles that executive members have. There’s a president, a vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer.”
“The kids learn all of those roles and how they operate in a parliamentary procedure,” added Trudi.
“As well as how a motion is made or how voting works, as far as passing different policies. It’s a way to introduce it to kids so they become part of it, eventually as they get older.”
Kids can register up until October
Board members from the 4-H Multi Club said kids from ages six to 21 have until the end of September to register for the group.
“Kids are always welcome to join in different projects. Certain projects have a limit to how many kids can be involved because of the instructors and limitations of the group,” said Trudi.
“But, as long we can find someone to teach it then the kids can do the different projects on whatever they’re interested in.”
With a wide-range of projects to engage in, Kale said kids can benefit from the club greatly.
“There’s things like public speaking and record books that we do. All of the teachers at my school say they can tell there’s a big difference in 4-H kids speaking, social skills, stuff like that,” said Kale.
“I think I’ve learned lots from it, not just from the projects I’ve done, but being around people and having our meetings, learning how that stuff works.”
Swanson said one of the many benefits from the 4-H Multi Club is it gives kids the opportunity to meet people from other 4-H clubs within Saskatchewan.
“There’s a 4-H Saskatchewan too, so the different clubs within the province do things together as well,” she said.
“There’s a judging class where kids can go and learn how to judge. For example, they would go to Whitewood and different clubs from this area can all go to Whitewood and compete, and meet other kids from the area outside of Moosomin.”
The club is always looking for volunteers from the community to help facilitate the program.
People and kids who are interested in joining can contact May Swanson at (306) 434-5432.
