11-year-old Cody Wright is by far the youngest of the nine competitors at the Salem County Fair’s Largest Tomato Contest, but he has something the other competitors don’t have. He has a pedigree… The tomato contest has a loyal following – with a lot of the same faces competing each year. Cody took the third place trophy last year and, as he enrolls in the competition this year with his primo red tomato, he sizes up the other tomatoes… David Lee, Salem County agricultural agent for the Rutgers University Cooperative Extension, runs the competition and weighs the tomatoes… “Everybody has their own secret and they don’t like to tell but some guys will stay up all night and put night lights on them and covers on them and grow them on straw and use special fertilizer,” Lee said. “Everybody has their own thing.”
Youth/Community Development
New Brunswick Community Farmers Market – “Community” is Our Middle Name
National Farmers Market Week (August 2–8, 2015) is a week-long celebration of our nation’s farmers markets, the farmers and ranchers who make them possible, and the communities that host them. This year marks the 16th annual National Farmers Market Week recognizing the important role that farmers markets play in our local food economies. A perfect […]
New City School Names Alexis Wright Next Head of School
Alexis Wright has been unanimously selected by New City School’s Board of Trustees to serve as the next Head of School. Alexis comes to New City School from Bank Street College of Education in New York, NY, where he has served as Dean of Children’s Pro…
Cumberland County 4-H Presents at National Marine Educators Conference
County 4-H Agent Julie Karavan was awarded the Expanding Audiences Scholarship, which allowed her to attend the National Marine Educators Association Conference in Newport, Rhode Island, held June 29-July 2. Karavan presented two professional development workshops related to her extension teaching and practice in Cumberland County. Her presentation, Aquatic Robotics, was offered educators information and […]
Rutgers 4-H Hosts Azerbaijani Youth Learning About Democracy and Entrepreneurship
Over the course of three weeks in June this year, 18 youth and two adult educators from Azerbaijan participated in a Youth Leadership Program funded by the U.S. Department of State and facilitated by the 4-H programs of University of Delaware and Rutgers University. During this exchange program, which focused on the general themes of […]
First New Jersey 4-H Youth Leadership Institute to be Held at Rutgers
Twenty-nine 4-H members representing 13 counties will be participating in the first New Jersey 4-H goLEAD Youth Leadership Institute on July 1-2 at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. The New Jersey 4-H goLEAD Youth Leadership Institute will provide an opportunity for middle school aged youth to develop leadership and community service knowledge and skills. goLEAD […]
Third Graders and the Rutgers Master Gardeners “Seeds to Salad” Team Harvest Bountiful Crops at Whiton Elementary
In mid June the Rutgers Master Gardeners of Somerset County completed their Seeds to Salad program with third graders at Whiton Elementary school located in Branchburg… It took many weeks of preparation to reach the much anticipated “Harvest Day.” In early spring the children planted various types of lettuce, radishes, beets, arugula, Swiss chard, carrots, spinach, onions and were also instructed in how and why it is important to weed, thin and transplant their crops as the plants grew. Master Gardeners also presented weekly lectures about several topics such as soil and soil temperature, “good bugs/bad bugs,” worms, tropism and much more… For many children “Harvest Day” was a highlight as they pulled up all the vegetables they had grown and shortly afterwards enjoyed consuming them at the “Salad Extravaganza”party. The program was a hit with third graders, their teachers and volunteers alike.
CHS Scholarship Fund Gifts $165K to 107 Needy Students
The Columbia High School Scholarship Fund granted $165,000 worth of scholarships to 107 graduating seniors and alumni at its award ceremony in the CHS Library on June 11… Samantha Fagundez, who recently received her second $1,500 scholarship from the fund, knows well the benefits of the fund’s money. Having just finished her first year at Rutgers University, where she is majoring in ecology with a specialization in wetland ecology, Fagundez said the money is essential in helping her pay for classes… Fagundez expressed gratitude to CHS for offering a fund for its students, pointing out that it should not be taken for granted… “Here you always hear about the CHS Scholarship Fund, and it’s a big thing in our community,” Fagundez told the News-Record. “But when I tell people at school that I got a scholarship through my high school, they’re so impressed with that because it’s not a common thing for high schools to have that. And the fact that we do shows just how much Columbia is trying to put forward its students.”
Hunterdon, Somerset 4-H Members to Attend Leadership Program
A group of 16 4-H members have been selected to represent New Jersey at the second annual 4-H Leadership Washington Focus Conference. This leadership conference will be held July 13-17 at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, Md… L…
Shellfish and Students: Building Living Reefs in Southern New Jersey
What do thousands of southern New Jersey students, millions of young oysters and Gandy’s Beach have in common? They all benefit from Project PORTS- Promoting Oyster Restoration Through Schools- an education and community-based oyster restoration progra…
