Making the best better

Written by Kari Sundberg, Eagle Editor

You may remember this headline from last year when the Grygla Eagle ran a story on Walter Jones and his 4-H State Exchange experience. If not, let’s refresh your memory. Last summer, as part of an exchange program, Walter Jones, son of David and Lori Jones, flew down to Texas and spent a week with a host family. Walter is a member of the Roseau County 4-H program and belongs to the Grygla/Gatzke Go-Getter’s. The State Exchange program is paid for through the Roseau County 4-H, but the kids do a lot of fundraising prior to the trip. 

Last year, Walter was welcomed into the home of Michael and Lisa Friesenhahn, whose son, Nathan, is also involved in 4-H.

After a week of new experiences in Texas for Walter, it would be Nathan’s turn to “state exchange” this summer. Well, that time arrived and Nathan, along with other 4-H youth, recently flew to Minnesota as part of the program where area families opened their homes. Since Walter stayed with Nathan’s family last summer, it was the Jones’ turn to host Nathan this summer; he had never been to Minnesota before and the week was full of fun experiences for him!

Through the program, there are group activities and also fun activities that each host family plans on the side. As a group, the days were full of planned activities, but in their downtime, Walter and Nathan spent a lot of time roping and doing chores at the Jones farm in Gatzke.

June 25th-July 2nd proved to be a busy schedule for the entire group. Check out all the fun activities they took in:

Day 1: The Texas group was picked up in Fargo. From there, they headed to Detroit Lakes/Perham, ate at Zorbaz and spent the night at a cabin on Little Pine Lake.

Day 2: This day was full of a lumber camp breakfast, character challenge course, the Headwaters of the Mississippi River, stops in Bemidji and supper at the Jones farm.

Day 3: Activities this day included the Polaris Experience Center, ATV trail ride, lunch at Bec’s, Marvin Visitor’s Center, The Shed (car collection), Doc’s and a hotdish dinner at the Roseau City Park.

Day 4: The group headed up to Canada this day for a Mennonite Village tour/lunch, a tour of Royal Canadian Mint, Fort Whyte, a Walmart visit in Winnipeg and a fun border crossing experience for all! 

Day 5: The 4-H group visited Hanson’s robotic dairy farm in Goodridge and Wagge Feedlot. There were plans to go to the races in Greenbush, but they were cancelled due to the weather, but the crew was still able to enjoy a cookout.

Day 6: This was a family day that included a cookout and barn dance.

Day 7: Last summer in Texas, the kids went to the southern-most point of the United States; this year, they decided to visit the Northwest Angle, which is the northern-most point of the United States. The group took a boat tour of the islands on Lake of the Woods, had lunch at Sunset Resort and also enjoyed a walleye fish fry.

While in Minnesota, the Texas kids enjoyed the long days as it’s dark in TX by 8:30pm. They also commented on how everything here was so green, wide open and miles & miles of farmland. Many of the young adults had never had lefse, hotdish or walleye before, either. (They also got to try Rocky Mountain Oysters, thanks to Walter!)

This is such a neat experience for both the youth and adult host families and a great way to meet people from our country.

The 4-H motto: Making the Best Better! 

Indeed.