Christian County 4-H

4-H is the largest youth organization in the United States with over 7 million participants. 4-H is best identified by its green four-leaf clover with an H on each leaf. The four H's on the emblem stand for Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. 4-H is the only youth organization based at land-grant universities and the first experience many youth have with higher education.

We have seven 4-H Clubs in Christian County. Here’s some details about each:

• Christian County Go-Getters: This club is led by husband and wife, Lee and Melissa Thurman. The Go-Getters are heavily involved in the shooting sports. Lee and Melissa also run the Deadeyes Club. This club also has youth involved in dogs, photography, beekeeping, arts and crafts, gardening, foods, etc. They are well rounded with several different projects represented. The club has both boys and girls ranging from Clover Kid age to early high school.
*Meeting Info: 1st Sunday of the month, 4-H Building in Ozark, 3:00 PM
Melissa Thurman: mel.thurman@yahoo.com, 314-520-1636
Lee Thurman: lthurman21@att.net, 314-520-0975

• Deadeyes: This is a shooting sports club for those that are only interested in the shooting sports program. A family can join a different club and still participate in shooting sports; this is an alternative for those uninterested in other project areas. Christian County is certified to participate in Smallbore Rifle, Air Rifle, and Archery. Lee Thurman is the club leader and certified in smallbore rifle, air rifle and archery. Emily Renner is a certified archery instructor and Phil Renner is the County Shooting Sports Program Coordinator. Practices typically take place on Saturdays or Sundays. Scheduled meetings are to be determined.
Melissa Thurman: mel.thurman@yahoo.com, 314-520-1636
Lee Thurman: lthurman21@att.net, 314-520-0975

• Nixa Extreme Explorers: This is a small club led by Beth Biondo for the past ten years. They are unique in that they don’t meet at regular times or days of the week. For each meeting they do fun things such as field trips to the pet store, candy factory, Rosie Jo’s for pie making lessons, etc. They do a lot of fun activities.
Beth Biondo: Biondo.beth@yahoo.com, 417-880-2984

• New Horizons: This club meets in Sparta. They are a well-rounded club. They do a lot of community service and do a lot of different projects; arts and crafts, cooking, sewing, gardening, wildlife, food preservation, archery, photography, etc. New Horizons has youth as young as Clover Kids and as old as middle schoolers. This is a great club with many different activities. This club also has 2 young girls who show heifers.
*Meeting Info: 2nd Monday of the month, Sparta Administrative Building, 6:30 PM
Nicole Humble: softballmom2addie@gmail.com, 417-818-4935
Julie Clonts: jerjulclo@juno.com, 417-818-0119

• Billings County Liners: This is a club made up of a few families that are heavily involved with the Goats project. They are extremely experienced with meat goats and a new family with experience in dairy goats has recently joined. This club has boys and girls ages 10 to 17. Club meetings are to be determined.
Rod Cowan: rc4742004@yahoo.com

• Clever Cluckers: This is a new club this year. They are a very young club. They have a few older members. 2 boys about 10 and 12, a few girls around 12 and 15. There are several young kids; Clover Kids and a few younger than 5. They have really great and enthusiastic leaders. They are interested in cake decorating, poultry, critters (amphibians & reptiles/bugs), arts and crafts, rabbits, etc. I see them with great potential.
*Meeting Info: 1st Monday of the month, Clever Fire Department, 6:30 PM
Anna Buckner: annabuckner1124@yahoo.com, 417-576-1839

• Chicken Checkers: This is a very active club of Ozark High School kids. They have been operating for a few months and have made quite the impact in the community already. They are small with 5 members and growing. They are very active in poultry; however, they are also learning sewing, cake decorating, healthy lifestyles with recreation activities, a lot of community service, and several other things. They are members of the FFA and are great older youth mentors. They have recently set their meetings times in order to hopefully grow their club to those outside of the high school. They are enthusiastic and want to open their club up to the community.
*Meeting Info: 2nd and 4th Thursdays, Extension Office in Ozark or 4-H building in Ozark, 6:30 PM
Emily Renner: mlernnr@yahoo.com
Codey Powell: 417-551-2718


Our annual dues are $30. This includes Clover Kids (ages 5-7; must be 5 years old as of January 1st of 2016). Adult volunteers do not cost anything. Any additional out of pocket costs come from any trips or project supplies.

Contact Jennifer Hancock for more information:
hancockjp@missouri.edu