Hiking & Photography started off the year with a drizzly hike!
Club Highlights
Club officers leading the meeting
Club Meeting - Oct. 12
Our next club meeting of the year will be on Oct. 12 at 6:45 pm. Mark your calendars now so you don’t miss out! Costumes are optional for some extra fun!
Please review our meeting minutes from September so that we can approve them at our meeting: September Meeting Minutes
Club Photo Shared Drive
We now have a dedicated private server for our club photos the Trabuco Trailblazers Photo Share! If you are enrolled you should be receiving an email invite to join the photo drive in the next day or so. Please check your SPAM folder if you don’t receive it!
You will be able to see photos and add photos to this drive.
Projects for ‘26-’27
We have so many amazing projects planned for this year at the club level and the county level. Sign-ups are now open and some projects are starting soon or have already started! There is still time to sign-up to lead a project too!
Please remember to be respectful of your project leader’s time and arrive on time for projects. Also, if you are unable to attend a project meeting, it is courteous to send them a text or email to let them know. Thank you to all of our project leaders for putting in the time and effort to give our kids these awesome learning opportunities!
Youth Member Enrollment
Enrollment is now open for youth members! Please take care of this ASAP! Youth may not attend project or club meetings if they are not enrolled.
Member Spotlight
Hi, My name is Liliana. I am 12 years old, I have been in 4-H for 5 years now and I am in the Trabuco Trailblazers. In all of 5 4-H years I have learned a lot things from doing different projects, leading my own projects and even training to become a junior ambassador.
In my first few years of 4-H I would join other projects and I would go to club meetings once a month. Some of the first projects I joined were a simple art project where we would make different kinds of art, and I joined a sewing project where we learned to sew. Then I started leading my own projects with my mom. I have led Cavies, Hippology, Hobby Horse, and Geckos.
That's not all the projects you can join and you can lead many of your own. Just go to the 4-H website or open house in the summer and you can join. Don't worry about driving an hour if you live in a completely different place, we have different counties so you can join and not have to drive a whole hour just to get to the project.
Join 4-H today!
Project Spotlight
Hiking and Photography set off on a drizzly Sunday morning for a leisurely stroll down the Oso Trail in Mission Viejo. First, members learned about tips for developing their photographer’s eye and were given 4 challenges for the hike. We also started a cumulative project to take photos of all of the letters in our names out in nature. For the hiking piece, we learned some norms for hiking and making sure to share the space with others so everyone can enjoy nature. We had 15 kids show up even in the rain! It was so much fun and the photos came out amazing!
Photo by Claire
Trunk or Treat Event
We’ll be decorating a trunk and passing out candy for the Mission Viejo YMCA Trunk or Treat! The event is Friday, October 23. Trunks must be setup by 4:30, the event runs from 5:00-6:30pm. We had a ton of fun last year!
Important Dates
Oct 3 - SCREC 70th Open House, 9am-2pm
Oct 3 - Boots, Buckles & Bowties! Fall CloverjoyedRescheduled for Nov. 1!Oct. 4-10 - National 4-H Week
Oct 12 - Club Meeting, 6:45pm - costumes optional!
Oct 17 - Regional Leader Summit at SCREC, 10am-4pm
Oct 21 & 22 - Virtual Regional Leader Summit 6:30pm-8:30pm
Oct 23 - Mission Viejo YMCA Trunk or Treat, 4pm-6:30pm
Oct 25 - New Family Webinar, 3pm
Oct 25 - Virtual OC Leader Meet (details to follow)
Oct 29 - Zoom Career Exploration Series - Vet Science, 6:30pm
Nov 1 - Care & Share & Bowties, Boots & Buckles Fall Cloverjoyed! (details to follow)
County Highlights
SCREC 70th Open House
HELP NEEDED! Come hang out at the 4-H booth for a short shift and help support our club and county outreach activities and support SCREC. We rely heavily on SCREC for our county events and this is our chance to give back.
Regional Leader Summit - Oct. 17
When: Saturday, Oct 17, 10am-4pm at SCREC (7601 Irvine Blvd)
Free to attend! Registration includes light breakfast, catered lunch, 4-H swag, and an event t-shirt.
Featured Workshops Include:
Making Your Digital Assets Accessible (websites, newsletters, social media, etc.) & Maximizing Your Digital Impact;
Vermicomposting (leave with your own worm box for your home or school, MG Hosts);
Emergency Preparedness (leave with the start of a home emergency backpack, Red Cross approved host);
Leading a Fishing Project & Hosting a Regional Fishing Tournament (CDFW hosts);
Working with Youth with Special Needs & Behavior Management;
Record Book & Achievement Programs;
Pathways in Animal Science (local schools will host);
How to Host Events – UC ANR & 4-H Policy;
Building a Teens as Teachers Team in Your County;
and more!
A virtual version will be held on Wed-Thurs Oct 21-22 from 6:30-8:30pm via Zoom with additional workshops not presented in person.
Record Books & Achievements
Record Books? Achievements? Whether you’re already experienced or are brand new to 4-H let us know how you would like to receive more information about this part of 4-H. P.S. this is one of the ways to earn pins for your hat!
Project Leader Corner
Project Highlights Submission
Please submit pictures and a brief description of what’s been going on in your project to have your project highlighted in the club newsletter!
Annual Project Reports (APR)
APR forms are now available! Please remind your members that all members that are Juniors or above should be completing these for each project. Even better, help your members to complete them at the end of your project meeting!
Enrollment
Just a reminder that all youth must be properly enrolled in 4-H to participate in 4-H projects, meetings, or events. They may attend 1 meeting to check it out, but after that must be fully enrolled in ZSuite. Please send me a list of kids at your project meeting so I can verify enrollment is complete in ZSuite.
Project Presentations
Each project should plan to put together a brief, informational presentation to give at a club meeting this year. Project presentations should be just a couple of minutes long and should teach the audience something that the group has learned in the project. Bringing samples or demonstrating what was learned is encouraged! Click the link below to signup for a meeting slot!
Helpful Links and References
Google Calendar Links
Other Resources & Forms
A one-stop shop for most forms or documents you may need.
Career Exploration Zoom Series
5 Zoom sessions showcasing professionals from various career fields. Youth may attend just the sessions that interest them, or join all of them plus one follow-up meeting and get credit for a Countywide 4-H Career Exploration Project. Use these links to register for each session:
Thurs 10/29 at 6:30pm (Vet Science): Zoom Link- Vet Science Speaker. 10.29
Sun 1/24 at 3pm (Engineering): Zoom Link - Engineering Speaker. 1.24
Wed 3/31 at 6:30pm (Healthcare, tentative): Zoom Link - Healthcare Speaker, 3.31
Sun 5/23 (working on it!) at 3pm: Zoom Link - Speaker TBD. 5.23
Teen Leadership Essentials: Setting up for Success! Series
Presented by the 4-H State Ambassadors, this series of monthly workshops help teens (ages 13+) build leadership capacity and give the opportunity for them to interact with other teens across the state.
Sign up for one workshop or the entire series!
Topics include:
October 22, 2026 | 6:30–8:00 PM Creating a Strong Plan of Action
Teams will discover the key components of service-learning and practice transforming community service activities into meaningful service-learning projects.
November 18, 2026 | 6:30–8:30 PM Manage Your Goals and Consensus Building
Goal management and decision-making are key components of success as a team. This workshop will guide participants through goal selection and explore strategies for making decisions cooperatively and building consensus.
December 17, 2026 | 6:30–8:00 PM Anatomy of a Workshop
One of the important functions of a Teen Leader is educating others. In this workshop, participants will learn how to build a cohesive, interactive, and fun workshop while still incorporating meaningful learning outcomes.
January 20, 2027 | 6:30–8:00 PM The Art of Facilitation
After learning how to build a successful workshop, the next step is learning how to deliver it! This workshop will provide the key elements and skills teams need to facilitate an interactive, engaging, and successful workshop.
February 18, 2027 | 6:30–8:00 PM Adapting Without Collapsing
What happens when things don’t go as planned? Flexibility and resourcefulness are key! Participants will learn how to develop a backup plan along the way so they are prepared to adapt when plans need to change.
4-H offers such a wide variety of opportunities for kids to find their spark.
