One of the nation’s largest youth development programs has recently set up a new club here in Fountain Hills. Lisa Ristuccia, a former Fountain Hills Charter School teacher, led the behind-the-scenes effort to get the local 4-H Club up and running, and now she and other volunteers provide youth with environmental education, volunteer opportunities and more.

“Throughout the Valley, there’s different 4-H groups for different things,” parent Alison Kalil said. “To have this in Fountain Hills, it allows people like me, who live closer in Fort McDowell, to have somewhere to go without having to drive a far distance. This is a club that’s open to everybody, all different ages.”

Even before the local 4-H Club was officially recognized and allowed to use the 4-H emblem and fundraise, Ristuccia led youth in 4-H activities. According to Ristuccia, to become an official club, they first needed five students from three different families and one adult leader. They also had to write bylaws and a constitution and open a bank account before they could be official.

Ristuccia is on the board of directors for the Arizona Association of Environmental Education, and she serves on committees for organizations like the National Marine Educators Association. Ristuccia has connections with the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), and they have come in handy for several events so far.

On April 2, 12 members from the 4-H Club went to the AZGFD Outdoor Expo, and later that month, from April 15 to April 18, AZFGD sponsored an educational field trip to Flagstaff.

In Flagstaff, the club visited the Petrified National Forrest, Painted Desert, did a nature hike at the base of Mount Eldon and more. Thirteen-year-old and club treasurer Roman Ballew cooked spaghetti and chicken katsu for dinner for the club on both nights they were in Flagstaff.

“Honestly, the cooking was really fun,” Ballew said. “The petrified national forest was amazing, it looked like an alien planet. It’s hard to describe but it was beautiful.”

The Club also had fun with an Easter egg hunt, nature scavenger hunt and flashlight tag while on their field trip.

“In my opinion, the flashlight tag was the best, mainly because I was the champion,” Ballew said. “It was a massive house we were in, so we turned off all the lights. You would have to go around with a flashlight and look for people in the dark as they hid. It was super fun.”

AZGFD also provided the club with a “bone box” that allowed both a lesson and some fun at a meeting after the club returned to Fountain Hills. The club members got to hold skulls and furs from local Arizona wildlife like bobcats and coyotes, and even some bigger wildlife like mountain lions were available for kids to examine.

“We’ll focus on volunteering a lot as well,” Ristuccia said. “So, community service, environmental education, outdoor activities, but then Alison [Kalil] has a lot that she can do as well. We can do any of those projects as long as we have mentors for them.”

4-H has project manuals available for purchase for many different areas of curriculum. Some of these categories include animal care, aerospace, food and nutrition, photography, robotics, shooting sports, welding, sewing and textiles, and visual and fine arts. As long as there is a parent volunteer for that area, the club will provide education.

Ristuccia said her background is in STEM and photography, but the club will always welcome more volunteer support. One group that has helped so far has been the Fountain Hills Sunset Kiwanis Club.

Ristuccia was inducted into Sunset Kiwanis this year on April 25 and said the 4-H Club was in the process of finalizing paperwork when she joined. Now, the 4-H Club uses the Kiwanis building as a neutral site to host their business meetings.

4-H serves nearly six million children aged 5 to 18 nationwide, and now local youth can experience the same development opportunities. Parents or guardians can register their students or themselves as volunteers at empoweredtmd.org/4h/ or reach out to 4Hempowered@gmail.com.