Reasons your kids should join 4-H

“I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world.”

During National 4-H Week, we celebrate a program that is near and dear to many of us in rural communities. I have so many fond memories from my 4-H Club, County 4-H Federation, State 4-H Conference, 4-H Camp, the 4-H Citizenship Short Course in Washington, D.C., and so much more.

According to the National 4-H Council, B. Graham started a youth program in Clark County, Ohio, in 1902, which is considered the birth of 4‑H in the United States. The first club was called “The Tomato Club,” or the “Corn Growing Club.”

T.A. Erickson, of Douglas County, Minnesota, started local agricultural after-school clubs and fairs that same year. Jessie Field Shambaugh developed the clover pin with an H on each leaf in 1910, and by 1912, they were called 4‑H clubs.

The passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914 created the Cooperative Extension System at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and nationalized 4‑H.

By 1924, 4‑H clubs were formed, and the clover emblem was adopted. The four Hs: Head, Heart, Hands and Health.

4-H has come a long way in the past century. Today, 4-H programs are delivered by 3,500 4-H professionals and 500,000 volunteers with youth membership in these United States of America somewhere north of 6 million.

4‑H serves not only youth in rural communities, but in urban and suburban communities.

The theme of National 4-H Week this year is “Beyond Ready: Building a ready generation in a world of change.”

Does participating in 4-H make a difference in the lives of young people today? According to the National 4-H Council, the answer is yes.

Youth who participate in 4-H Programs are three times more likely to participate in community service, two times more likely to report living life with intentionality and purpose, and two times more likely to have the goal of being a leader.

4-H has a greater reach than any other youth development organization — and young people need it now as much as ever before.

Take for instance, Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, the first generation to grow up with the internet. They are the children of the youngest Baby Boomers and Generation X.

The National 4-H Council says more than half of Gen Z reports feeling loneliness and failure; 20% of youth are chronically absent from school.

I am not suggesting that 4-H can fix every problem. But if it can move the needle just a bit in preparing this next generation to be productive and fulfilled members of society, I am all in. 4-H has a proven record.

4-H would not exist without its 500,000 volunteers. Thank you for your investment. On a personal note, thanks, Mom, for the time you invested as leader of the Lucky Clovers 4-H Club in Scott County, Illinois.

Thanks, Dad, for your years serving on the board and then as president of the Scott County 4-H and Junior Fair.