4-H Interstate Exchange brings Missouri youths to Nobles County

• 4-H exchange

Fourteen Nobles County 4-H’ers are hosting 12 4-H members from St. Charles County, Mo., this weekend in an Interstate Exchange program. They met up Friday morning in the Luverne City Park before touring John Bowron’s bison ranch.

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WORTHINGTON — Nobles County 4-H’ers are hoping to give a group of St. Charles County, Mo., youths a good impression of the “Minnesota Nice” attitude, but those pesky mosquitoes are getting in the way.

Said first-time Minnesota visitor Josh Hugeback, of Wentzville, Mo., “You have a lot of mosquitoes. We have them, but not as bad as you guys — yours are much worse!”

Hugeback is among a group of 12 teens from the Show Me State visiting southwest Minnesota through Monday as part of a 4-H Interstate Exchange with Nobles County. The program places 4-H teens with host families to learn about 4-H in other states. In recent years, Nobles County has completed exchanges with New York, Montana, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Texas. While Nobles County participants host the Missouri group this year, they will be hosted by the Missourians a year from now.

“I like meeting different people and going to different places and learning about the differences in the lifestyle,” said Laura Lorang of why she’s taking part in her fifth year in Interstate Exchange.

Lorang is hosting Leah Stotts of Wentzville, Mo., and they are enjoying sharing stories about their 4-H experiences.

“My favorite part is learning about how 4-H is different in Minnesota,” said Stotts, who is an officer in both her 4-H club and county, and serves as a state 4-H representative.

“My favorite is meeting so many new people,” added Sami Huber of St. Paul, Mo. “I love seeing all the flat land. We don’t have a lot of that back in Missouri where I live.”

Huber said the Nobles County 4-H’ers should plan on having a lot of fun when they visit Missouri next summer.

“We’ve got lots to do in Missouri, but I won’t spoil it now (by telling them),” she said.

Andrea Fuerstenberg, a first-time Interstate Exchange participant from Nobles County, is hoping to at least see the St. Louis Arch during their visit.

Until then, the Nobles County youths are focused on showing their Missouri 4-H friends a good experience in Minnesota.

After arriving in Nobles County Thursday, the exchange participants spent the evening at the Kent and Val Wilkening farm in northern Nobles County for a picnic and games. On Friday, they toured the Min-Wind Energy wind turbine farm near Beaver Creek before visiting Bowron’s bison ranch north of Luverne.

Family time is on tap for this weekend, with scheduled stops at the Rushmore parade and Verne Drive-In this evening. A farewell picnic is planned Sunday, hosted by 4-H’ers Laura and Nick Lorang and their parents.

The entire group will leave for the Twin Cities early Monday morning and take in visits to the Como Zoo and the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. They had also planned to tour the State Capitol, but with the government shutdown, plans now are to just take a drive around the capitol grounds before the Missourians return to the airport for their flight home.

Nobles County 4-H’ers have been planning the Interstate Exchange with St. Charles County for more than a year, raising money through a variety of fundraisers to help offset costs of the program. There are 14 youths from Nobles County involved in Interstate Exchange, ranging in age from 13 to 18.

Kassie Wilkening said one of their biggest fundraisers each year is operating a concession stand during the Worthington Gun Show in April.

“We do a lot of concessions and it helps a lot,” she said. More fundraisers are planned in the coming year as the local 4-H’ers work to raise money for their trip to Missouri next summer.

Naomi Lubben and Miriam Cunningham, adult leaders who have helped coordinate Nobles County’s Interstate Exchange program for the past seven years, said they try to match kids up based on their 4-H interests. They hope the youths form life-long friendships.

“We hope they are able to have a good time and learn about Minnesota,” said Cunningham of the Missouri contingent. “It’s a good program. We hope it keeps going year after year. The kids get a lot out of it — it’s a wonderful experience.”

Local exchange participants still keep in contact with past host families via Facebook and phone, she added.

Tags: nobles county, news, worthington, 4h