"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."
Yesterday I posted that 4-H Club was a major part of who I am today in my post of 6 random things. Some of you may not know what 4-H Club is. So I decided to tell you a little more about 4-H.
4-H is youth organization sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Service under the USDA. You can click here to learn more about it from their web home page.
But for me personally---
My parents were leaders in the local club from the time I was around 7 or 8 (I think) until I was in high school. So I pretty much grew up participating in lots of their activities. We had group wide meetings monthly. Each meeting included a business meeting, a program, recreation time, and refreshments. Members had responsibilities to coordinate and participate in these different roles and doing so taught parliamentary procedure, public speaking, team work, leadership, etc.
There were smaller project groups that formed with members choosing an area of interest and a leader would meet with those kids to learn practical hands on skills. My 2 major projects were food & nutrition and clothing. I also was in a horse project for a while and perhaps some other groups from time to time. My brother (Butterfly Gardener's Dad) was in a woodworking, an electrical group, as well as the horse project group. He ended up with a career as an electrician probably due to his foundation from 4-H.
There are contests at the local, district, state, and national levels for many of the various projects. I competed at the state level in several different areas. The annual Food Show requires you to cook a dish, present it in an attractive display area, and be questioned from a panel of judges for nutrition information. The annual dress review included sewing a garment, modeling it, and answering questions from judges. I think you also had to complete some paperwork related to the project as well. I also participated in method demonstrations and illustrated presentations. For these you prepared a presentation including props and visual aids and gave about a 10 minutes talk about a subject area. You were judged on your presentation. Each year you completed a record book documenting your experiences for the year and turned that in for judging. We had an annual county awards banquet where members from all over the county were recognized for their achievements.
In addition to this, there were leadership conferences, camps, etc available to attend. Some lasted a weekend and some were a week long. One of the major highlights of my time in 4-H was participating in the National Citizenship and Heritage Tour the summer before I was a junior in high school. I went with a group of about 120 other 4-H members and leaders from all over Texas (I didn't know anyone else in the group when we left) from Dallas to Washington DC. We had 3 grey hound buses and stopped at various historical attractions in route. It took about 3 or 4 days to get there. Then we spent a week in classes on citizenship and toured the Washington DC area. We went to the homes of Washington and Jefferson and spent a day on Capital Hill meeting with our congressmen and observing congress in session. Then we took another 3 or 4 days to drive back home stopping along the way.
So 4-H taught me practice skills of sewing & cooking and a host of other leadership, public speaking, presentation, organizational, parliamentary procedure, community service, and other life skills.
As an adult I have served as a leader in 4-H and have been a judge at Food Shows and tutored other members in method demonstrations. I did all that before my kids were old enough for 4-H and for some strange reason never got them involved in a 4-H club. I'm not sure why. It just didn't happen.
At any rate, I am thankful for the major impact that 4-H had in my life.
