[Image: 4-H Forever]
Joanna Strong
Associate Extension Agent
4/H Youth Development
The annual 4-H enrollment is being conducted throughout the months of September and October. Youth in grades four through twelve will be bringing home cards to sign up to be a part of the largest youth organization in the United States.
So, what is 4-H? 4-H is a group of young people in a school or community who want to improve their heads, hearts and health. They form clubs that meet once a month during school hours and are supervised by 4-H agents and volunteer leaders.
What do 4-H members do? “Learn by doing” is the 4-H club slogan. 4-H uses the experiential learning model to teach youth project work. Youth don’t just read about things, they do them. The mission mandates are citizenship, service learning and SET (science, engineering and technology). Youth choose projects that are within the mission mandates and that they are interested in learning about. Examples of projects are public speaking, environmental education, aerospace, gardening, foods and nutrition, health, child development, shooting sports, and raising animals, just to name a few.
4-H also teaches youth life skills that help them succeed in the changing world such as self-esteem (understanding self as a resource), communicating, commitment to others, problem solving, decision making, getting and using information, managing resources and working with others.
4-H gives youth the opportunity for healthy competition. Contests that relate to project work are conducted throughout the year. Competitions held in Richland Parish are the pet show, the giant pumpkin contest, the bicycle rodeo, the commodity cookery contest, and the photography contest. There are also area and state contests in areas of showing and judging livestock, shooting sports and communications.
4-H is fun; it is learning and it is making new friends and doing new things. For more information on joining 4-H, please contact me at 318-728-3216 or by e-mail jstrong@agcenter.lsu.edu.
For more information contact your local Extension office at 728-3216 and/or visit our Richland Web site: www.lsuagcenter.com/richland.