4-H can be described as:
- Amazing
- Inspiring
- Connecting
- Leading
- Communicating
- Experiencing
- Demonstrating
- Working together
- Learning
- Teaching
- Achieving
- Growing
4-H, the biggest youth organization in the USA, currently motivates and inspires about 6 million members from all backgrounds in the country. The two mottos the program has are “Learn by Doing” and “To Make the Best Better,” which truly show what 4-H is all about. Every word I listed fits 4-H properly in one way or another. The program is full of opportunities and experiences for youth that wouldn’t be available otherwise. So how did it all begin?
History
There’s no set-in-stone date that 4-H started on, but it began as a way to include youth in farming with their parents. It started out as hands-on learning, which included using your head, heart, hands, and health, creating the name of 4-H. That’s just the beauty of 4-H-it’s not precise or formal, like other organizations can be. 4-H allows youth to use their imagination and creativity unlike any other organization out there available to kids. It started as educational and certainly continues to be a learning experience.
About the Program
Kids can do almost anything in 4-H. There’s something for everyone, literally. Archery, environmental sciences, photography, crafting, growing vegetables and crops, cake decorating, woodworking, baking, and exhibiting animals are just a small number of things that a 4-Her can do.
Probably the most important thing about 4-H is that kids learn how to be leaders, how to communicate, how to change things, and how to work with others. These are four of the most important things someone can learn, and with the help of 4-H, it’s a quick learning process. 4-H guarantees success to its members because of how they grow in and acquire life skills.
My Experience as a 4-Her
I started out as a little girl at seven years old who wanted to show cows. I’ve grown up on a dairy farm, so farming has always been one of my passions. I’d always aspired to be one of those people who go to the county and state fairs with her cows and receive ribbons. Little did I know, actually experiencing all of that would change my life in years to come. At the county and state fairs, I exhibit crafts, pictures and dairy cattle. In my 4-H club, I’ve been the president, vice president, secretary, reporter and historian and because of holding all of these offices, I am confident in my leadership skills. I’ve been showing cows since I was 8 and have also shown pigs. It may sound like it’s no big deal when I say “showing animals,” but there’s a whole lot more to it than just the animal aspect. With showing, 4-Hers acquire personal responsibility, decision making, creative thinking, time management and public speaking skills. Many opportunities and experiences branch off of showing, making it such an amazing and beneficial experience.
One of my favorite parts about being in 4-H and showing is the people I have met, grown up with and made great memories with. Some of my best friendships bloomed at 4-H events, fairs or camp. My friends from 4-H aren’t just like me, they’re different and that’s one of the best parts about the friendships. We admire the differences in each other rather than excluding each other because we’re different from one another. I can sit down with my dairy friends to play cards and have an amazing time. You know you’re great friends when you’re doing nothing, you can still have the best time.
What is 4-H to me? Life-changing.