More than 6 million young people from across the country are celebrating National 4-H Week Oct. 5-11. Greene County 4-H leverages National 4-H Week to showcase the great things that the 4-H youth development program offers young people and highlights the incredible 4-H young people who each day work to make a positive impact on their community.
In Greene County, the 4-H program is very strong, including club activities and project work throughout the year, as well as many other trips and events that youth attend. This past year, youth in 5th and 6th grades from Greene County joined youth from Boone, Story, and Marshall counties in traveling to the Omaha Zoo for a two-day trip. Additionally, 4-H members in 7th and 8th grade were invited to attend a 3-day bus trip to Minneapolis with youth from all over the state of Iowa.
Once youth have finished 8th grade, they are eligible to attend the Iowa 4-H Youth Conference held annually at Iowa State University for three days. Many other in-county opportunities are made available to Greene County 4-H members every year, including a new countywide picnic started in 2014, as well as club officer training and new member night.
Perhaps most important about 4-H is that many youth develop important lifelong skills through participation. Two former Greene County 4-H members who are now active Greene County community leaders said that they owe a lot to the 4-H program.
“4-H helped me to learn responsibility and work ethic as a result of taking care of livestock and doing other non-livestock projects for the static building,” said Laine Custer, RN, BSN at Greene County public health nurse and health occupations coordinator. Custer was active as a Franklin Happy Hustler 4-H member in Greene County. “My favorite part about being in 4-H was meeting and interacting with friends in the local club, county youth council, Washington D.C. trip and attending 4-H camps.”
“Parents should get their kids involved in 4-H because the knowledge, relationships and hard work that is taught through the program is priceless,” said Derek Kennedy, Peoples Bank AVP loan officer. Kennedy was a former member of the Junction Food Producers 4-H Club that is still active in Greene County. “4-H helps develop young leaders and will continue to help build our youth for the future. I enjoyed being involved in 4-H because of the friendships I created. Some of my best friends are ones that were made while showing livestock.”
In Greene County, more than 175 4-H members and 80 volunteers are involved in 4‑H. 4-H is the largest youth development organization in the world, a community of seven million young people across the globe learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills. In the U.S., 4-H programs are implemented by the 109 land grant universities and the Cooperative Extension System through their 3,100 local Extension offices across the country. Overseas, 4-H programs operate throughout more than 50 countries.
Some Greene County 4-H clubs hold special events to celebrate. Last year on Sunday, Oct. 6, the Greenbrier 4-H club held a ceremony to welcome National 4-H Week and also invited other 4-H clubs and community members to join them. Club leader Linda Hedges led the Proclamation of National 4-H Week with the help of 4-H members Abby Badger and Kyann Brown. At their club meeting on Monday, Oct. 7, club members released balloons to continue to celebrate National 4-H Week. Each balloon had a card attached to it with information for people to send back to the Extension office if they found the balloon and card. Four cards made it back.
The first card was found on Tuesday, Oct. 8, in Moulton. Daniel Troyer found the card and said he found the balloon wrapped around his fence while he was outside doing chores. The bright tag caught his attention.
The second card was found on Friday, Oct. 25, at a home in Des Moines. The third balloon was found on Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Grimes. The balloon and card were found in a water way in a corn field in Dallas County. The results for the balloon release were announced at the annual 4-H awards ceremony in November. The Greenbrier 4-H club and county members enjoyed learning how fast and far their National 4-H Week message has spread a crossed the state.
Research has proven that participation in 4-H has a significant positive impact on young people. Recent findings from the Tufts University 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development indicate that, when compared to their peers, young people in 4-H are:
- Nearly 4 times more likely to contribute to their communities,
- Two times more likely to pursue healthy behaviors like, and
- Two times more likely to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs in the out-of-school time.
For more information about Greene County Extension, including other youth and families programming, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/greene.
