4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development".[1] Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times in the organization's original motto head, heart, hands, and health, which was later incorporated into the fuller pledge officially adopted in 1927. In the United States, the organization is administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 4-H Canada is an independent non-profit organization overseeing the operation of branches throughout Canada.[2] There are 4-H organizations in over 50 countries;[3] the organization and administration varies from country to country.
The goal of 4-H is to develop citizenship, leadership, responsibility and life skills of youth through experiential learning programs and a positive youth development approach. Though typically thought of as an agriculturally focused organization as a result of its history, 4-H today focuses on citizenship, healthy living, science, engineering, and technology programs. Clubs in today's 4-H world consist of a wide range of options each allowing for personal growth and career success. The 4-H motto is "To make the best better", while its slogan is "Learn by doing" (sometimes written as "Learn to do by doing"). As of 2016, the organization had nearly 6million active participants and more than 25million alumni.[4]
The foundations of 4-H began in 1902 with the work of several people in different parts of the United States. The focal point of 4-H has been the idea of practical and hands-on learning, which came from the desire to make public school education more connected to rural life. Early programs incorporated both public and private resources. 4-H was founded with the purpose of instructing rural youth in improved farming and farm-homemaking practices. By the 1970s, it was broadening its goals to cover a full range of youth, including minorities, and a wide range of life experiences.[5]
A brochure for the 4-H Forestry Program
During this time, researchers at experiment stations of the land-grant universities and USDA saw that adults in the farming community did not readily accept new agricultural discoveries. However, educators found that youth would experiment with these new ideas and then share their experiences and successes with the adults. As a result rural youth programs became a way to introduce new agriculture technology to the adults.
Club work began wherever a public-spirited person did something to give rural children respect for themselves and their ways of life and it is very difficult to credit one sole individual.[6] Instances of work with rural boys and girls can be found all throughout the 19th century. In the spring of 1882, Delaware College announced a statewide corn contest for boys, in which each boy was to plant a quarter of an acre, according to instructions sent out from the college, and cash prizes, certificates, and subscriptions to the American Agriculturalist were rewarded.[7]
In 1892, in an effort to improve the Kewaunee County Fair, Ransom Asa Moore, the president of the Kewaunee Fair, the Agricultural Society, and Superintendent of the Kewaunee County Schools in Wisconsin, organized a "youth movement", which he called "Young People's Contest Clubs", in which he solicited the support of 6,000 young farm folks to produce and exhibit fruits, vegetables, and livestock.[8] The fairs were quite successful.[9] In 1904, while working for the University of Wisconsin–Madison and trying to repeat what he had accomplished in Kewaunee County over a decade before but with different intentions, "Daddy" R.A. Moore convinced R.H. Burns, then Superintendent of Schools of Richland County, Wisconsin, to have the Richland County Boys and Girls organize and assist in a corn-project activity to help market and distribute improved seeds to the farmers in the state of Wisconsin (and beyond).[9]
A. B. Graham began one of the youth programs in Clark County, Ohio, in 1902, which is also considered one of the births of the 4-H program in the United States. The first club was called "The Tomato Club" or the "Corn Growing Club". T.A. "Dad" Erickson of Douglas County, Minnesota, started local agricultural after-school clubs and fairs also in 1902. Jessie Field Shambaugh developed the clover pin with an H on each leaf in 1910, and, by 1912, they were called 4-H clubs.[10] Early 4-H programs in Colorado began with youth instruction offered by college agricultural agents as early as 1910, as part of the outreach mission of the Colorado land grant institutions.[11]
The national 4-H organization was formed in 1914, when the United States Congress created the Cooperative Extension Service of the USDA by passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, it included within the CES charter the work of various boys' and girls' clubs involved with agriculture, home economics and related subjects.[12] The Smith-Lever Act formalized the 4-H programs and clubs that began in the midwestern region of the United States. Although different activities were emphasized for boys and girls, 4-H was one of the first youth organizations to give equal attention to both genders (cf., erstwhile Boys Clubs of America).[13] The first appearance of the term "4-H Club" in a federal document was in "Organization and Results of Boys' and Girls' Club Work," by Oscar Herman Benson (1875–1951) and Gertrude L. Warren, in 1920.[14][15] By 1924, the clubs were organized as 4-H clubs, and the clover emblem was adopted.[16] Warren expanded the scope of girls' activities under the program (promoting garment making, room decorating, and hot lunches), and wrote extensive training materials.[17][14]
The first 4-H camp was held in Randolph County, West Virginia. Originally, these camps were for what was referred to as "Corn Clubs". Campers slept in corn fields in tents, only to wake up and work almost the entirety of each day. Superintendent of Schools G. C. Adams began a boys' corn club in Newton County, Georgia, in 1904.[citation needed]
4-H membership hit an all-time high in 1974 as a result of its popular educational program about nutrition, Mulligan Stew, shown in schools and on television across the country. Today, 4-H clubs and activities are no longer focused primarily on agricultural activities, instead emphasizing personal growth and preparation for lifelong learning. Participation is greatest during the elementary school years, with enrollment in programs and activities peaking in the 4th grade.[citation needed]
In the southern United States during the mid-1960s 4-H began to broaden its programming to cover life experiences unrelated to agriculture. It merged its segregated African American and white programs, but full-fledged integration proved elusive. 4-H was successful in removing gender-based restrictions on participation.[18]
A newspaper clipping of 4-H club members attending a convention in Georgia, 1950
Pledge
The 4-H pledge is:
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.[24]
Otis E. Hall wrote the original pledge of Kansas in 1918. Some California 4-H clubs add either "As a true 4-H member" or "As a loyal 4-H member" at the beginning of the pledge. Minnesota and Maine 4-H clubs add "for my family" to the last line of the pledge.[25] Initially, the pledge ended in "and my country," but in 1973, "and my world" was added.
It is a common practice to involve hand motions to accompany these spoken words. While reciting the first line of the pledge, the speaker points to their head with both of their hands. As the speaker recites the second line, they place their right hand over their heart much like during the Pledge of Allegiance. For the third line, the speaker presents their hands, palm side up, before them. For the fourth line, the speaker motions to their body down their sides. For the final line, the speaker usually places their right hand out for the club, left hand for the community, brings them together for the country, and then brings their hands upwards in a circle representing the world.
The official 4-H emblem is a green four-leaf clover with a white H on each leaf standing for Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. The stem of the clover always points to the right.
The idea of using the four-leaf clover as an emblem for the 4-H program is credited to Oscar Herman Benson (1875–1951) of Wright County, Iowa. He awarded three-leaf and four-leaf clover pennants and pins for students' agricultural and domestic science exhibits at school fairs.[26]
The 4-H name and emblem had U.S. federal protection, previous under federal code 18 U.S.C. 707.[27] The federal protection made it a mark unto and of itself with protection that supersedes the limited authorities of both a trademark and a copyright. The Secretary of Agriculture is given responsibility and stewardship for the 4-H name and emblem, at the direct request of the U.S. Congress. These protections placed the 4-H emblem in a unique category of protected emblems, also along with the U.S. Presidential Seal, Red Cross, Smokey Bear, and the Olympic rings.[28] Protections for the 4-H emblem were repealed by Title XI of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.[29]
Youth development research
Through the program's tie to land-grant institutions of higher education, 4-H academic staff are responsible for advancing the field of youth development.[1] Professional academic staff are committed to innovation, the creation of new knowledge, and the dissemination of new forms of program practice and research on topics like University of California's study of thriving in young people. Youth development research is undertaken in a variety of forms including program evaluation, applied research, and introduction of new programs.
Volunteers
Over 540,000 volunteer leaders help to coordinate the 4-H program at the county level. Volunteers plan and conduct 4-H related activities, develop and maintain educational programs, or assist in fundraising. Activities include youth development programs, project groups, camps, conferences, or animal shows. The volunteers' goal is to help youth achieve greater self-confidence and self-responsibility, learn new skills, and build relationships.[30]
Volunteers are directed by 4-H's professional staff.
The National 4-H Hall of Fame honors 4-H volunteers, extension professionals and staff employees, donors and others, according to a criterion of "significant impact on the 4-H program and/or 4-H members through the contribution of time, energy, financial resources, etc.".[31] The hall of fame was established in 2002 by the National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4-HYDP).[32]
Additional programs
After-school
A girl presenting her rabbit at the Calaveras County Fair in California 2016
4-H Afterschool helps 4-H and other youth-serving organizations create and improve programs for students in communities across the U.S. 4-H Afterschool is an extension-enhanced program that:
Offers youth a safe, healthy, caring and enriching environment.
Engages youth in long-term, structured learning in partnership with adults.
Addresses the interests of youth and their physical, cognitive, social and emotional needs.
4-H Afterschool programs utilize experimental and cooperative learning activities and provide interaction with competent adults. Results of retrospective pre/post-surveys indicate that children enrolled in the program showed life skill gain over time, and that gains on specific life skills differed as a function of age, gender, and ethnicity.
The life skills gained through 4-H Afterschool give children the tools they need for perceiving and responding to diverse life situations and achieving their personal goals. Participation in these quality programs which use experiential and cooperative learning have all been found to contribute to children's social development and academic success.[33]
Camping
Debbie McDonald, who was the West Virginia state 4-H Leader at the time, poses with the newly relocated Camp Good Luck marker (July 8, 2015).
Each state runs its own camping program. The world's first 4-H camp was held in July 1915 on the Crouch family farm along the Tygart Valley River near Elkwater, West Virginia. The youth in attendance named the location "Camp Good Luck."[34]
On July 8, 2015, to mark the centennial of 4-H camping, youth from Randolph County, West Virginia traveled back to the original Camp Good Luck site for a special commemoration and campfire program. A stone marker honoring Camp Good Luck had been placed adjacent to US 219 near the site, but was moved to a spot off of Bell Crouch Rd. for greater safety and accessibility through the efforts of Randolph County 4-H volunteers and the West Virginia Division of Highways.
Five- to eight-year-old youth
Some states offer programs for youth in grades K-2 called Cloverbuds, Cloverkids, 4-H Adventurers, Primary Members, or Mini 4-H. Some states prohibit this age group from competition due to research in child development demonstrating that competition is unhealthy for youth ages five to eight.[35]
Collegiate
National Collegiate 4-H club emblem
Many colleges and universities have collegiate 4-H clubs. Usually members are students who are 4-H alumni and want to continue a connection to 4-H, but any interested students are welcome. Clubs provide service and support to their local and state 4-H programs, such as serving as judges and conducting training workshops. They are also a service and social group for campus students. The very first collegiate 4-H club started in 1916 on the Oklahoma State University - Stillwater campus.
All Stars
Finding its roots in the early 4-H movement in West Virginia, the 4-H All-Star program strives to recognize and challenge 4-H members and volunteers. State 4-H Club Leader William H. "Teepi" Kendrick sought to develop youth to "be yourself at your best" and to "make the best better" through a fourfold personal development pattern involving the head, hands, heart, and, at that time, hustle. It was with this philosophy, in collaboration with others, that the 4-H emblem was born. In an attempt to harbor further individual growth, Kendrick recognized excellence with pins bearing one, two, three, and four H's. Recognition for outstanding participation was rewarded from 1917 to 1921 with trips to a Prize Winner's Course at West Virginia University. Members who demonstrated outstanding qualities at these courses were awarded five-pointed red pins with five H's, with this additional H to symbolize honor. The recipients of these pins were referred to by Kendrick as "All Stars". It was following the pin consecration ceremony in 1919 that the official West Virginia 4-H All Stars organization was chartered, becoming the Alpha Chapter of the nationwide 4-H honorary.[36]
The symbol of the All Stars is a red star enveloping a gemstone chip over the 4-H emblem. Each point of the star represents a pillar of character: "Beauty, Fortitude, Service, Truth, and Love".[37]
Many states have All Star programs, although All Star programs vary from state to state. Selection as a 4-H All Star is a recognition of achievement. In California for example, it is the highest achievement award at the county level and is a position awarded annually.[38] Similarly, the capstone award in Texas 4-H is the Gold Star Award, which is given to Seniors who have shown outstanding leadership and proficiency in their project areas.[39]
In Virginia, on the other hand, All-Stars are not simply those who have achieved an All-Star award, but are those who have gained membership into the Virginia All-Stars organization. After reaching the age of 15, 4-H members are eligible to apply for membership into the All-Stars organization, which promotes the continuation of 4-H principles.[40]
Many conferences are held at various levels of the 4-H program for youth and adults. The National 4-H Conference, which was held at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, until it was sold in 2021, is the USDA Secretary's premier youth development opportunity to engage youth in developing recommendations for the 4-H Youth Development Program. The Conference still meets annually in and around Washington, DC. The 2024 National 4-H Conference will be held in Arlington, VA. [41]
The National 4-H Congress is an annual educational conference that brings together 4-H delegates between the ages of 14 and 19 from across America to share cultural experiences and discuss important issues facing youth. This five-day event is typically held during the weekend of Thanksgiving and has been hosted in Atlanta, since 1998. Throughout the conference, 4-H delegates attend numerous workshops, participate in community service activities, and listen to speakers in an effort to develop compassion and increase social awareness.[42][43]
Citizenship Washington Focus is a week-long conference offered for high school-aged students.[44] At the conference, students have the opportunity to learn how to be citizen leaders in their communities. Throughout the week in Washington, D.C, participants visit monuments, meet with members of Congress, and develop communication, leadership and citizenship skills.
The following national conferences are held yearly, and are focused on specific activities inside of 4-H:
Other conferences are held by regional and state entities for youth, for volunteer development, or for professional development for staff.
Use of Native American terminology
For many years, use of Native American names and certain themed activities was part of the summer camping programs of some eastern states. However, the practice was considered to be offensive and protests were raised. A complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Civil Rights in 2002 and an ensuing investigation that threatened to cut off funds to the state's program[51] prompted the West Virginia University Extension Service to abandon offensive and stereotypic practices such as face-painting, and use of imagery not a part of the culture of local Native people, such as tepees and totem poles.[51] They also eliminated the practice of having children wear feather headdresses, and stopped having campers engage in "stereotypical motions and dances," including chanting "Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!". However, the state program deemed the dividing of campers into groups, called "tribes" named after actual Indian Nations, to be respectful and acceptable.[52] In the same year, the Virginia Extension Service removed all references to symbols or camp "traditions" related to Native Americans, including the decades-long practice of dividing campers into "tribes" using names of nations considered native to Virginia, replacing the group names with animal names.[53]
Some 4-H alumni credit the program with helping them in later life.[54]
In 2021, Minnesota-based photographer R. J. Kern, along with writer Alison Nordström, published, "The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral" The book highlights portraits of dozens of youth, who spent a year raising and training their animal and then entered into a 4-H livestock competition, but were unsuccessful in winning the top award in their competitions, then revisits the same youth four years later, and asked the young subjects what they had carried forward from their previous experience. [55]
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 762,000 youth participants. The BSA was founded in 1910; about 110 million Americans have participated in its programs. BSA became a founding member organization of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1922.
Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. It is now gender-inclusive, and its programs emphasize camping and other outdoor activities.
Georgia 4-H was founded in 1904 by G.C. Adams in Newton County, Georgia, United States, as the Girls Canning, and Boys Corn Clubs.
The Pathfinder Club, or simply Pathfinders, is a department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA), which works specifically with the cultural, social and religious education of children and teens. Children 10 years and older are eligible to become members of the club.
Agricultural education is the systematic and organized teaching, instruction and training available to students, farmers or individuals interested in the science, business and technology of agriculture as well as the management of land, environment and natural resources.
SkillsUSA is a United States career and technical student organization serving more than 395,000 high school, college and middle school students and professional members enrolled in training programs in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations.
Scouts BSA is the flagship program and membership level of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for boys and girls between the ages of typically 11 and 17. It provides youth training in character, citizenship, and mental and personal fitness. Scouts are expected to develop personal religious values, learn the principles of American heritage and government, and acquire skills to become successful adults.
The New Farmers of America (NFA) was organized in Tuskegee, Alabama and became a national organization for African-American young men in 1935. The organization was formed to serve agriculture students in southern states where schools were segregated by law. Much like the National FFA Organization (FFA), NFA sought to provide young men with vocational, social and recreational activities in order to develop their skills in public speaking, leadership and agricultural trades. The two organizations merged in 1965.
Learning for Life (LFL) is a United States school and work-site based youth program that is an affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America. It utilizes programs designed for schools and community-based organizations that are designed to prepare youth for the complexities of contemporary society and to enhance their self-confidence, motivation, and self-esteem, and for careers.
After-school activities, also known as after-school programs or after-school care, started in the early 1900s mainly just as supervision of students after the final school bell. Today, after-school programs do much more. There is a focus on helping students with school work but can be beneficial to students in other ways. An after-school program, today, will not limit its focus on academics but with a holistic sense of helping the student population. An after-school activity is any organized program that youth or adult learner voluntary can participate in outside of the traditional school day. Some programs are run by a primary or secondary school, while others are run by externally funded non-profit or commercial organizations. After-school youth programs can occur inside a school building or elsewhere in the community, for instance at a community center, church, library, or park. After-school activities are a cornerstone of concerted cultivation, which is a style of parenting that emphasizes children gaining leadership experience and social skills through participating in organized activities. Such children are believed by proponents to be more successful in later life, while others consider too many activities to indicate overparenting. While some research has shown that structured after-school programs can lead to better test scores, improved homework completion, and higher grades, further research has questioned the effectiveness of after-school programs at improving youth outcomes such as externalizing behavior and school attendance. Additionally, certain activities or programs have made strides in closing the achievement gap, or the gap in academic performance between white students and students of color as measured by standardized tests. Though the existence of after-school activities is relatively universal, different countries implement after-school activities differently, causing after-school activities to vary on a global scale.
The Afterschool Alliance is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in the United States whose mission is "to ensure that all children have access to affordable, quality afterschool programs." It uses communications and advocacy strategies to increase public and private investments in afterschool programs. The Alliance serves as both a central resource center for afterschool programs, as well as a public advocate. The Afterschool Alliance has more than 25,000 afterschool program partners and its publications reach more than 65,000 interested individuals every month.
The Police Athletic League (PAL) is an independent, nonprofit youth development agency in New York City. PAL is funded by a combination of private donations and public funding sources and is a designated charity of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Robert M. Morgenthau, the late former New York County District Attorney, served as Chairman of the Board of Directors beginning in 1963. PAL is open to all New York City children.
The University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is the agricultural and environmental sciences college of the University of Maryland and operates the Maryland Sea Grant College in cooperation with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
4-H Safety Education in Shooting Sports Programs are part of 4-H in the United States, a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The name represents four personal development areas of focus for the organization: head, heart, hands, and health.
4T Center - Vietnam Youth Education Support Center is a social organization in Hanoi, Vietnam, based on non-profit operation with the mission of education support and comprehensive development for Vietnamese Youth. Its abbreviation name is 4T Center which comes from these four words in Vietnamese: "Tam" (Heart), "Tri" (Mind), "Tai" (Talent) and "Tay" (Hand), representing important qualities of a young person.
Professor Ransom Asa Moore was an agronomist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was born 1861 in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin and died in 1941 in Madison, Wisconsin. He has been called "Father of Wisconsin 4-H", the builder and "Daddy" of the Agriculture Short Course Program, and the Father of the Agronomy Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agriculture.
Henry C. Groseclose was born on May 17, 1892. He lived in Ceres, Virginia for most of his life. Groseclose completed his junior college degree from Washington and Lee University in 1917. In his later years, he also received his bachelor's degree, as well as his master's degree, in agricultural education from Virginia Tech. While Groseclose was an agriculture teacher at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, he, along with three other agriculture teachers, Walter Newman, Edmund Magill and Harry Sanders, decided to establish a club for the farm boys in the school. The organization was formed in 1925. Groseclose named the organization the Future Farmers of Virginia, or FFV for short.
Youth organizations in the United States are of many different types. The largest is the government run 4-H program, followed by the federally chartered but private Scouting movement groups: the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA). Another somewhat smaller but co-ed Scouting derived group is Camp Fire. Other youth groups are religious youth ministries such as the evangelical Christian Awana, Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinders, and Assemblies of God Royal Rangers.
Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), formerly known as Future Homemakers of America, is a nonprofit national career and technical student organization [1] for young men and women in family and consumer sciences education in public and private schools through grades 6–12 since 1945.[2]
Gertrude L. Warren (1884–1979) was an American government official and a pioneer in the 4-H movement.
↑ The Father of Wisconsin 4-H. The Ransom Asa Moore Story, Author: Gleason, Marjorie and William, Publication: 1989 Accurate Publishing & Printing Inc., pg. 9
↑ The Father of Wisconsin 4-H. The Ransom Asa Moore Story, Author: Gleason, Marjorie and William, Publication: 1989 Accurate Publishing & Printing Inc., pg. 10
↑ Kewaunee Enterprise, February 26, 1941, "Death Takes Prof. Moore"
1 2 The Father of Wisconsin 4-H. The Ransom Asa Moore Story, Author: Gleason, Marjorie and William, Publication: 1989 Accurate Publishing & Printing Inc.
↑ "4-H Detailed History". College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona. Archived from the original on 19 June 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
↑ Radhakrishna, Rama B.; Sinasky, Megan (December 2005). "4-H Experiences Contributing to Leadership and Personal Development of 4-H Alumni". The Journal of Extension. 43 (6). Retrieved 28 March 2012.; of 1,254 members in Penn State alumni database, 289 were sampled for a survey and 168 provided useful data; 99% of these said they received some benefit from their participation
Buck, Holly (2004). "'Amusements and Recreations... Makes Our Working Hours Profitable': Utah 4- H, 1940-1960". Utah Historical Quarterly. 72 (1): 69–84. doi:10.1093/whq/35.3.409.
Holt, Marilyn Irvin (1992). "From Better Babies to 4-H: A Look at Rural America". Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives. 24 (3): 245–255.
Holt, Marilyn Irvin. Linoleum, Better Babies, and the Modern Farm Woman, 1890-1930 (U of New Mexico Press, 1995).
Keathley, Clarence R; Ham, Donna M. (1979). "4-H Club Work in Missouri". Missouri Historical Review. 51 (1): 209–220.
Kern, R. J. and Alison Nordström. The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral (MW Editions, 2021).
Rosenberg, Gabriel N. The 4-H Harvest: Sexuality and the State in Rural America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015)
Thompson, Ellen Natasha. " The Changing Needs of Our Youth Today: The Response of 4-H to Social and Economic Transformations in Twentieth-century North Carolina." (PhD Diss. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2012). online
Wessel, Thomas R. and Marilyn Wessel. 4-H: An American Idea, 1900-1980: A History of 4-H (Chevy Chase, MD: 4-H National Council, 1982).
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