4-H Class broadening students’ skills at Salmon charter school

Taking a special class taught by University of Idaho Extension was a treat for Kyle Hilton when he was a seventh-grader at Fernwaters Public Charter School in Salmon.

Extension’s hands on 4-H Class, launched during the 2024-2025 school year to help Fernwaters cope with a teacher shortage, covers a breadth of practical skills, such as rocketry, pickle making, sewing, crocheting and electric circuits. For Hilton, classes in culinary arts and dessert making were the icing on the cake.

“I would say it was my favorite extracurricular class,” Hilton said. “Anything with the culinary arts, I’m the first to sign up.”

The 4-H Class runs for three weeks during the fall semester, with two classes per week. Three UI Extension professionals based in Lemhi County rotate teaching duties. Unable to recruit enough traditional teachers, Fernwaters had relied heavily on online learning modules through the Idaho Digital Learning Academy and approached Extension about facilitating a class to reduce students’ screen time. Originally offered to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students, the course is now available as a sixth-grade elective.

During the first two years, Extension estimates the class replaced 7,650 hours of screen time with hands-on learning. In a survey of sixth-grade participants, more than half reported learning better through the class’s experiential approach.

“We’re getting them to try different things and see what they like,” said Extension educator Katie Hoffman-McFarland, who took the lead in organizing the class, which is supported by the school’s budget. “Who would have thought you could get a bunch of sixth-grade boys to be so excited about crocheting, but they were really into it.”

Learning about nutrition, preparing healthy snacks such as hummus and baking desserts including pudding-filled pies appealed to Hilton, who already enjoyed cooking and baking with his mother and sister.

Now a high-school freshman, Hilton is putting his culinary skills to profitable use. He’s started his own cookie-making business, Kyle’s Cookie Co. Throughout the summer, he drew long lines of customers at the Lemhi County Farmers Market, where he wore a chef’s hat and jacket while selling a wide assortment of specialty cookies that routinely sold out. He made about 400 cookies per week, using the proceeds to support a future church mission, build personal savings and invest in the stock market with guidance from his older brother. He also accepts special orders and sells at community events.

“Those cookies are fantastic,” Hoffman-McFarland said. “Every time I’m at the farmer’s market, I buy some.”

Hilton donates 5% of his profits to programs that help feed local children and gives cookies to veterans on Memorial Day.

What began with simple recipes from Pinterest has evolved into elaborate confections through extensive trial and error. His attention to detail is meticulous. For example, he once purchased salted caramel for certain recipes but now makes it from scratch.

“It’s a ton of hard work. If you would have seen the cookies and the boxes I had at the start, they were terrible compared with what I have now,” said Hilton, who aims to own his own bakery. “I spent weeks of experimenting with new recipes and new frostings.”