College of Agriculture & Natural Resources



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|Van Buren County | |

|Van Buren County Extension |P: 269-657-8213 |E-mail: msue.vanburen@county.msu.edu |

|219 E Paw Paw St., Suite 201 |F: 269-657-6678 |Web: msue.msu.edu/VanBuren |

|Paw Paw, MI 49079-1077 | | |

| |November 2007 |

|4-H club hosts visually impaired students at VicTree Ranch |They took turns wearing blindfolds and instructing their peers who were |

| |wearing them so that they could provide a valuable experience for the KRESA |

|Fear, excitement, and anticipation were some of the feelings running through the |youth. |

|VicTree Ranch on June 9 when Double E 4-H Club hosted visually impaired youths |Everything was planned down to the smallest detail so that the KRESA students |

|from Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA) and their families at |would really know the meaning of ‘horse’ when they left the ranch. |

|the ranch in Lawton. |Students had the chance to feel a horse’s leg, hoof and sole. They touched the|

|The visit was the result of a four-month long planning effort by Jeanne Church, a|muscles, the mane and tail and the soft, fuzzy noses. |

|teacher consultant for the KRESA Visually Impaired Program, and VickiSue | |

|Hickmott, key leader for Double E 4-H club and VicTree Ranch owner. |[pic] |

|Hickmott began working with her 4-H members to help them plan a day that would be|Visually impaired students from KRESA feel the neck, shoulder and hip of a |

|meaningful to children with little or no vision. The 4-H club members had never |horse at VicTree Ranch. |

|worked with visually impaired youth before, but they were up for the challenge. | |

|The first thing the 4-Hers did to prepare for the lessons was to put on |After feeling and feeding the horses it was time to mount up. KRESA students |

|blindfolds so they could understand what it’s like to work around and ride a |had the opportunity to ride the horse with a 4-H member leading them. Then it|

|horse without being able to see it. |was their turn to lead the horse. |

|[pic] |To complete the experience, the 4-H’ers cantered the horses along a fence |

|Double E 4-H club members practice teaching a sight-impaired person learn to ride|line. The visually impaired students stood on the other side of the fence so |

|a horse. |they could feel the ground below them as the horses ran past. |

| |Continued |

|[pic] |Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives through an educational process |[pic] |

| |that applies knowledge to critical issues, needs and opportunities. Offices in counties across the | |

| |state link the research of the land-grant university, MSU, to challenges facing communities. | |

| |Citizens serving on county Extension councils regularly help select focus areas for programming.  | |

| |MSU Extension is funded jointly by county boards of commissioners, the state through Michigan State | |

| |University and federally through the US Department of Agriculture. | |

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|Visibly impaired students learn riding--continued |Van Buren County growers benefit from Soybean 2010 Project |

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|The 4-H club members got creative in coming up with ideas for fun and |Michigan soybean yields have not kept pace with corn and wheat yields. The |

|appropriate gifts they could give to the KRESA youth and handed out bags |Soybean 2010 project, a statewide research, education and communication |

|containing kazoos, whistles, Koosh balls and candy. |initiative, was created to help Michigan soybean growers increase soybean |

| |yields and profitability. |

|[pic] |Mike Staton, Van Buren/Berrien MSU Extension agricultural educator, coordinates|

|A KRESA student chats with a 4-H’er. |the project. Because of this local leadership, Van Buren County growers are |

| |well positioned to benefit from programs and information. |

|The students also had the opportunity to explore the inside of a horse trailer |An excellent example is “Overcoming the Barriers to Higher Soybean Yields,” an |

|and hear the sounds of a horse being led into and out of the trailer. Church |educational program that will be held at the Van Buren Conference Center on Jan|

|said that for blind students, these experiences are priceless. |30. |

|There is no other way for them to really know what the word “horse” means unless|Speakers from the Ohio State University, Ontario, MSU and agribusiness will |

|they can touch it, hear it, feed it, smell it and ride it. |provide the current recommendations for increasing soybean yields and |

|The visit to the ranch was a valuable learning experience for all of the |profitability.  |

|students—the 4-H’ers and the KRESA youngsters. While the visually impaired |Keith Reinholt, field operations director for the Michigan Soybean Promotion |

|children heard, touched and rode horses, the 4-H’ers learned valuable lessons in|Committee, said that this educational session is, "arguably the best meeting |

|community service to others and diversity. |being planned for 2008." |

|Double E 4-H Club members are Retta Bileth of Lawrence, Grace Boven of Lawton, |A $4,000 grant awarded to the project by the Michigan Soybean Promotion |

|Ethan Christie of Lawrence, Naria McGee of Marcellus, Alexandria Pierre of |Committee will pay for the cost of bringing in speakers from outside of |

|Lawton and Kristie Sharpsteen of Hartford. Nancy Whelan of Hartford leads the |Michigan. As a result of the grant, the program will also be available free to |

|group with Hickmott. |farmers. |

| |Another example of soybean grower outreach is a nationally recognized fact |

|Van Buren County MSU Extension |sheet coauthored by Staton and distributed to more than 200 Van Buren County |

| |soybean producers in May. |

|Julie Pioch, County Extension Director |The fact sheet, titled “Pesticide Application Technology for Soybean Rust and |

|Mark Longstroth, District Horticulture |Soybean Aphids,” accurately and concisely summarizes information on equipping |

|Diana Hassan, Family and Consumer Sciences |and operating field sprayers to improve pest control in dense soybean canopies.|

|Beth Clawson, Natural Resources | |

|Mike Staton, Agriculture |Contact: Mike Staton |

|Janice Zerbe, 4-H Youth Development | |

|Karen Sprang, Support Staff | |

|Melissa Franklin, Support Staff | |

|MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, |

|color, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, age, height, weight, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, family status|

|or veteran status. |

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Developing entrepreneurs

Promoting healthy lifestyles

Preparing for the expanding bioeconomy

Educating and supporting decision makers

Building leaders for today and tomorrow

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