4-H Extends Far Beyond the Club & County Lines
Often in the newspaper, you’ll see the 4-H program under the name “County”. Though the focus usually does revolve around the county, especially around fair time, it is part of a much larger concept. Members have ties to area, state, national, and even international 4-H programming. Unfortunately with too many opportunities to outline in a news article, I’ll try my best to summarize a few events at each level.
Similar to how other organizations work as a whole, the 4-H program has many area events. Take the Fremont Fair for example. Like the county fair, it gives 4-H members a chance to hone in on their project skills on a grander stage as it includes several counties in the Fremont area. The Nebraska 4-H program is broken up into four districts, the Southeast, Northeast, West Central, and Panhandle. These lines allow 4-H members the next level at which they can develop their skills in many ways. The district public speaking arena is an area for 4-H’ers to compete if they have advanced from their respective county event, with a chance to advance onto the state contest. The District Animal Science Field Day is new this year to educate 4-H’ers about carcass evaluation, development of a skillathon, and judging activities. Though not following area lines, the district 4-H horse shows are held every year for exhibitors to compete in with the possibility of advancing onto the State Horse Show.
The next step up is the state level, where many fun and competitive opportunities are available for 4-H members to participate. Nebraska has three 4-H camping centers for youth to attend. The locations are the Eastern Nebraska 4-H Center in Gretna, South Central 4-H Center in Alma, and the State 4-H Camp in Halsey. These camps hold a variety of themed adventures throughout the summer months for youth ages 8 to 18 years old. The Nebraska State 4-H Technology Team is a group of 4-H members who get together on a regular basis to learn about upcoming computer science, as well as host events that benefit the state 4-H program. The 4-H Unicameral Youth Conference is held for four days each March to put high-school age members into a legislative simulation with leadership and social activities to help better understand the workings of our representative democracy. Many judging opportunities are available at the state level for members to build upon teamwork and specific area knowledge. A few state judging contests include horticulture, dog, Family & Consumer Science, meats for consumers, horse, livestock, and range. The recently passed amendment concerning the Nebraska State Fair not only supports public events, but also the numerous experiences that 4-H’ers partake in at the state fair.
Like the other U.S. states and territories, Nebraska is under the National 4-H program umbrella. During the weeklong National 4-H Conference in March, each delegate participates in a consulting group with 4-H’ers across the country discussing current 4-H programming and making suggestions for expansion or changes. During the summer months, a program called the Citizenship Washington Focus is held in Washington D.C. While visiting the nation’s capital, 4-H’ers learn responsibilities as an active citizen, functions of government, national culture, and international interdependence. The National 4-H Congress provides recognition to youth from across the nation for their performance and achievements in 4-H. It is held in Atlanta, Georgia, providing youth a chance to develop their leadership abilities. The National 4-H Dairy Conference is conducted in conjunction with the World Dairy Exposition and National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest in Madison, Wisconsin. Attendees learn how the dairy industry meets developmental needs of youth, an overview of dairy careers, and understanding of the production, processing, marketing, as well as the use of dairy products. The Interstate 4-H Youth Exchange program provides a chance for 4-H’ers to visit a 4-H family in another state during the summer.
The 4-H program also extends across the world in a couple of ways. The first being the International 4-H Youth Exchange, or IFYE as it is commonly known as. This multi-cultural prospect has given many 4-H’ers the chance to experience life in a foreign country. Nebraska 4-H is also active in the Japanese 4-H Youth Exchange, allowing youth to interact with Japanese youth groups first-hand.
The saying “You get what you put into it” holds true in the 4-H program. I didn’t get to them all, but as you can see, 4-H provides the chance for youth to develop into well educated citizens by taking part in a variety of area, state, national, and international 4-H opportunities.
Submitted by Tony Bretey, Washington County Cooperative Extension Assistant on January 4, 2004
