Collaboration makes Choctaw Preview Day a success

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Seth Lewis’ father is an electrical engineer, but seeing the capabilities of high voltage in person was no less fascinating for him than anyone else watching the demonstration.

“We saw what would happen to a person if he got too close to a 300,000-watt electrical field, and we saw a demonstration on how lightning would affect metal if it hit it,” Lewis said. “I learned a lot of cool things today, but I think the electrical engineering was my favorite thing.”

Lewis, a sophomore at Choctaw Central High School, was among more than 80 grade school students from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who visited Mississippi State University March 27. Choctaw Preview Day provides students in the tribe a chance to tour the campus and learn about the range of degree programs MSU offers.

Lewis and his high school peers visited the Paul B. Jacob High Voltage Laboratory on campus. Younger students visited with faculty in the MSU School of Human Sciences.

The event was co-hosted by the MSU Extension Center for 4-H Youth Development and the MSU Office of Inclusive Excellence.

Ra’Sheda Forbes, MSU vice president for access, opportunity and success, said the event is one of many ways the university and MSU Extension show a welcoming atmosphere to potential students.

“One of the things we want to continue to do is transform the ways in which we serve students. As a land-grant institution, we also have an obligation to serve our students to meet the needs of our students,” Forbes said. “Having the opportunity to interact with them to see what they’re looking for in terms of a degree and in terms of higher education allows us to transform our processes in a way that continues to meet the needs of a changing society.”

Mariah Morgan, associate professor for the MSU Extension Center for 4-H Youth Development, said the students completed the Build Your Future career readiness curriculum prior to Choctaw Preview Day. Part of a partnership between MBCI and MSU, the event was funded by a New Beginning for Tribal Students grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a match by MSU and MSU Extension Service.

“Choctaw Preview Day is a great example of several departments on campus working together to serve future students,” Morgan said. “The New Beginning grant has provided opportunities for partnership and growth. Through the work of Dr. Forbes, as well as other grant team members, MSU has made significant strides to institutionalize the work of the grant within the broader university system.”

On the grant, MSU Extension partners with the MBCI Youth Opportunity Program, MBCI, MSU Division of Access, Opportunity and Success, Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, Indigenous Students and Allies Association, and the MSU departments of anthropology, sociology, and agricultural economics.

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MSU Extension hosted Scratch ecosystem event

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University’s efforts to offer something for everyone brought educators from eight states together in late March to interact with a coding language designed to interest young learners in STEM topics.

MSU Extension Service hosted the Scratch 2024 Southern U.S. Ecosystem Convening, a two-day event that allowed participants to explore the capabilities of Scratch and ScratchJr. This free software uses a coding language with a simple visual interface that allows young people to create digital stories, games and animations.

Educators have embraced the simplicity of the software that uses coding to introduce children to science, technology, engineering, mathematics and art. Mariah Morgan, a specialist in the Extension Center for 4-H Youth Development, said 4-H has incorporated ScratchJr into two curriculums aimed at 5- to 8-year-olds.

“We want to engage children early in coding literacy,” Morgan said. “Through a joint partnership with 4-H and the Center for Technology Outreach, we have one program that uses Scratch to teach kids how to be a 4-H’er and the other merges early childhood literacy with coding literacy.”

Scratch is designed, developed and moderated by the Scratch Foundation, a nonprofit organization that hosted the Scratch Education Collaborative at MSU. This gathering of the Scratch ecosystem allowed educators to learn from each other and share ideas on coding as they practiced their own skills.

Kim Thomas-Cain, Scratch Foundation outreach learning and engagement manager, said among the objectives of the gathering is to gain a deeper understanding of the Scratch learning philosophy by engaging in activities that push participants to think, share their identity and use their voice.

“We are educating students for a world we don’t even know what it will look like,” Thomas-Cain said. “We can’t teach them to just do one thing, and they’ll be prepared for the world. We have to teach critical thinking so they can engage in the world of the future.”

At the workshop, participants tried their hand at programming with Scratch and took part in a variety of hands-on activities.

Sandra Jackson, Extension program associate in Winston County, uses Scratch in the robotics club she leads and also in a storytelling exercise with second and third graders.

“I read a story to the kids, then put them in groups and have one group each do the beginning, middle and end of the story,” Jackson said. “I have each group come up and retell the story using Scratch, presented on a computer tablet.”

Elaine Atherton, head of programs for the Scratch Foundation, said more than 100 million people use Scratch. Developed out of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology Media Lab, the software is geared toward young people ages 8-16.

“Our vision is to increase access and eliminate gaps that have limited creative coding opportunities for educators and students in historically underrepresented communities,” Atherton said. “We want to realign the resources of the Scratch Foundation toward a greater focus on serving marginalized communities and local organizations that support them with creative coding opportunities.”

A final part of the vision is to spread creative, caring, collaborative and equitable approaches to coding and learning around the world.

Learn more about 4-H programs at http://extension.msstate.edu/4-h.

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Cookout assists veteran horsemanship program

WEST POINT, Miss. -- Sometimes, supporting veterans can be as easy as showing up for dinner.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service is hosting a cookout benefitting members of its Veterans’ Horsemanship Program, one of several divisions in its Equine-Assisted Therapy Program. The cookout will take place April 20 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Elizabeth A. Howard Therapeutic Riding and Activity Center in West Point.

MSU Extension Associate Audrey Sheridan said the event, co-sponsored by the MSU Center for America’s Veterans, is an effort to build more connections between the university and the state’s veteran community and showcase the horsemanship program.

“We are hoping to get the word out across north Mississippi that this is a free program offered through the university for men and women who served in defense of our country,” Sheridan said.

Barbecue plates can be pre-purchased online or bought on site for $5 each. To pre-order, visit msuext.ms/vhpcookout24.

The event also includes a silent auction featuring various stable supplies. A complete rancher-style saddle package will be raffled off for $10 per ticket. Raffle tickets can be purchased at the event.

In addition to the Veterans’ Horsemanship Program, the Equine-Assisted Therapy Program offers therapeutic riding and hippotherapy. For more information, visit http://extension.msstate.edu/family/equine-assisted-therapy-programs.

Mississippi State University is an equal opportunity institution. For disability accommodation, please contact Sheridan at 662-325-2085.

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Dixie National sales surpass $9 million

JACKSON, Miss. -- Hinds County 4-H’er Mason Williams had already represented Mississippi in a national competition less than a year ago, so showing animals in a statewide event was no sweat.

“Those experiences make it a little bit easier to be in front of all those people,” Williams said. “It doesn’t take all the pressure away, but it makes it easier to manage, so when you walk out there and see everybody, you don’t get stage fright.”

Williams’ hard work paid off when he placed a goat in the Dixie National Sale of Junior Champions and the highest bid was $8,000. More than 2,500 animals across the state competed in the Dixie National Junior Round-Up leading up to the sale. Of those, only 53 advanced.

A high school sophomore, Williams has been showing animals since he was 8 years old. Last year, he was one of only four Mississippi 4-H’ers to compete in the National 4-H Livestock Skillathon Contest. He attributes his social development to the opportunities 4-H membership has given him.

“I think it’s helped me get out of my shell a little,” he said. “I’ve always been kind of an introvert, but I enjoy competing and the feeling of winning and all that hard work paying off.”

This year’s sale, the 55th consecutive one, marked several milestones. It surpassed the $9 million mark in total sales, broke the record for the total number of champion market animals featured with 53, and set a new record sale total, $484,010.

Another record was also set: the highest price paid for a steer in sale history. The grand champion steer shown by Tripp McGee of Jones 4-H was sold for $30,000 to the highest bidding group.

Held Feb. 8 at the Mississippi Trade Mart, the Sale of Junior Champions included eight steers, 17 hogs, 12 lambs, 12 goats, and four hair sheep. The shows featured 1,225 members of 4-H and FFA showing 2,084 animals.

Dean Jousan, 4-H livestock specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said events like Dixie National help young people build life skills that will serve them now and into adulthood.

“The exhibitors with champion market animals began a lengthy process of raising them many months ago,” he said. “Getting any animal show-ready is challenging, but having one reach the sale should be a source of pride for these young people because they’ve gone the extra mile.”

The Sale of Junior Champions Promotion Committee awarded 25 $1,500 scholarships to exhibitors who are high school seniors, six $2,000 scholarships to premier exhibitors and eight $1,500 scholarships to owners of supreme champion livestock. In total, the committee awarded $61,500 in scholarships.

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MSU Extension 4-H grant helps teach digital skills

RAYMOND, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service Center for 4-H Youth Development recently received a grant that will help close the digital divide in the state.

The one-year, $53,000 grant from the National 4-H Council and Verizon will help implement the 4-H Tech Changemakers program. The program enlists 4-H members to teach digital skills that can provide more opportunities, including better jobs, to adults in their communities.

The Center for 4-H Youth Development will partner with eight Extension agents in Choctaw, Noxubee, Attala, Coahoma, Humphreys, Newton, Pike and Harrison counties to train 40 young adults. Grant funding will provide technological devices, such as iPads and drones, for participants to use in the training.

“As Mississippi is preparing to expand broadband, this is the perfect time for the 4-H Tech Changemakers program in our state,” said Mariah Morgan, 4-H STEM specialist and associate Extension professor for the Center for 4-H Youth Development. “The training can help bridge the digital gap that exists in so many of our rural communities.”

Training through the program is free.

The 4-H Tech Changemakers program will reach 10,500 adults across the country with the current round of funding. For more information about the program, visit https://tinyurl.com/szzvfrac.

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