Everyone Should Go To State Field Day
By SVO, Age 12, Surfside 4-H
State Field Day is held at the University of California Davis in Davis California the first weekend of June. It was a ton of fun and everyone should go at least once. There was so much to see and do there. I qualified to go to State Field Day because I won two gold medals at the San Diego County Art & Design Day for fashion revue. For state fashion revue, I chose to enter my retro outfit. Did you know that you can qualify to go to state if you receive a gold for presentations too?
My family drove the seven and a half hours each way but we stopped for snacks and got breakfast on the way. I didn’t know how many farms there were between here and Davis. After we got to our hotel the day before we went sightseeing. We went to one of the art museums, the California Raptor Center, and some of the gardens on campus. I loved going to the raptor center because we not only got to see the owls, red tailed hawks, Harris hawks, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, and
other raptors but different types of bird’s eggs, skeletons, and we found out so much about them. I wanted to go to the underground museum tour in Sacramento but we didn’t have time.
On the morning of State Field Day, I checked in and then went to orientation. There were two orientations for fashion revue, one for families and one for the participants. I then attended four different workshops and activities while I waited for my turn to be judged: a poise workshop with pageant winners, a sewing skillathon, a makers workshop, and a dog toy community service project. The makers workshop was my favorite because it let me express my creativity. Before I could be judged I had to get dressed in the outfit I made, do my hair, and put my makeup on. I almost never get to wear makeup. Then I had to line up with the other 4-Hers in my group and head upstairs. Our families stayed downstairs while we went to judging. When we entered, the judges had us model our clothes, tell them about our outfit, and then they asked a few questions. Afterwards I got to head over to the rest of the Field Day activities before the fashion revue modeling and awards.
There were so many activities going on at Field Day. There was a welding workshop, 3-D printing booth, a fire safety booth, CA Naturalists booth, a film festival, an entomology knowledge bowl, police dog demonstration, logo contest, food trucks, and so much more.
At the fire safety booth, they taught you how to use a real fire extinguisher to extinguish a fire. You used the fire extinguisher to spray water onto a special screen that had a fake fire on it; The fake fire would get smaller as you sprayed it correctly. You could try it several times until you got it right. I really liked it because it was fun and you learned a good life skill to have in an emergency.
After I checked out all the activities I had to model on the runway for fashion revue.
The runway was in the middle of the quad where everyone could see me and I admit, I was a little nervous because I thought that I would mess up but in the end I did well and got a blue ribbon. Next year I am going to try for gold!
I was able to go to Davis for the State Field Day because I received a scholarship from the county volunteer management board. To earn a scholarship, you need to help out at county fundraisers (so there is money to help kids go to events), fill out a form, make a request at a board meeting (I was really sick when the board met so my mom took my paperwork, speech, and notes and the board let her present it), and give a presentation when you get back. It’s really easy!
I am going to work hard and try to go back to Davis for State Field Day and I hope to see more 4-Hers from San Diego next year.
Everyone Should Go To State Field Day
