(InterMountain) The Randolph County West Virginia University Extension Office was the setting for the annual Randolph County 4-H Visual Presentation and Public Speaking Contests on April 24. 4-Hers competed in a variety of Visual Presentation and Public Speaking categories from animal science to leisure and recreation.

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(Charleston Gazette) In a multi-purpose room at Putnam County’s George Washington Elementary, Olivia Faulkner, 7, gestures excitedly at a diagram of the water cycle.

“When water gets really hot, it evaporates,” she says, her finger following an arrow to a crayon cloud. “Precipitation is when it falls down into the soil. Either on our heads or in the soil …”

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(Exponent Telegram) AFTER 5 WOMEN’S Connection dinner, 6:45-8:15 p.m., Harrison County Senior Citizens Center. Feature: Larry Campbell, WVU Extension. Speaker and music: Rosa Marie Faulkner, Wilmington, Del.

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(Hampshire Review) Registration is open for teens interested in spending one week of their summer vacation learning to fight fires and save lives at West Virginia University’s Junior Firefighter Camp, June 22 – 27, at WVU Jackson’s Mill near Weston, W.Va.

Junior Firefighter Camp is a weeklong experience that provides teens between the ages of 14 and 17 opportunities to work hands-on with firefighters and other emergency professionals. “Campers come from across the country, looking for this type of training experience,” said Mark Doty, WVU Fire Service Extension program coordinator. “We’re offering a rare chance to learn from and live with career and volunteer firefighters for the week.”

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(McDowell County Commission) WVU Extension Agent Donald Reed, Jr. facilitated a healthcare panel discussion at the Welch Library Thursday morning in which local officials spent nearly two hours describing local healthcare concerns to new faculty members at West Virginia University.

Staged as a part of WVU’s “County Roads Tour”, the discussion centered on the top health problems in McDowell County, local healthcare barriers and the causes and effects of the barriers and ideas for how to make improvements.

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(Charleston Gazette) So, you’re out of school and not quite ready for the real world? West Virginia University Extension Service may be able to help.

Specialist Jane Riffe says many graduates experience mixed emotions. They worry about where their lives are headed and whether they have emotional and financial support.

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(Exponent Telegram) In order to ease the transition from school to the real world, West Virginia University Extension Service experts are offering guidance.

“It surprises many graduates that they have mixed emotions during a time that’s supposed to be celebratory. Instead, this time is often wrought with worries about where their lives will go next,” said Jane Riffe, Ph.D., a licensed clinical social worker and WVU Extension specialist.

Riffe says the phenomenon is often referred to as post-commencement stress disorder. New graduates often feel worried that they have a lack of support, both emotionally and financially.

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(Herald Mail) Business and food safety experts from across the state will teach two one-day workshops to help entrepreneurs learn food business best practices. Topics include everything from product and process approval, required certifications and food business inspections to labeling requirements, and marketing and strategies for responding to emergencies.

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(Dominion Post) Groups throughout the region named a “Mother of the Year” this Mother’s Day, but Gertrude “Tudie” Shaffer has something extra to go with her title.

The 92-year-old Grafton grandmother was presented her title Sunday where is all started – The International Mother’s Day Shrine.

The shrine is at the 140-year-old Andrews Methodist Church, in downtown Grafton, where the first official Mother’s Day service was held, in 1908.

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(Charleston Gazette) On the second Sunday of each May, we set aside time to honor and remember the women who have made us who we are—moms, grandmothers, aunts, teachers, mentors and others who have played a motherlike role in our lives.

According to the folks at Hallmark, Mother’s Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday with about 141 million cards sent on the holiday. With $15.8 billion in projected sales for 2013, it is also the second-largest gift-giving holiday, second only to Christmas. We take the business of honoring our mothers seriously.

And flowers are more than two-thirds of the gifts given for Mother’s Day. Some of them come in bouquet form, but a great many are annuals, perennials, baskets and more that can be a gift that stays with them through the growing season or for many years to come.

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