JOCO Youth Celebrating National 4-H Week October 3-9
HE Participate In Beef Show At JOCO Fair… Addison Counts of the Mt. Moriah Hustlers 4-H Club and Bobby Wilson of Lafayette County 4-H lead their shorthorn cattle around the show ring at the Johnson County Fair, held in July. See inside for more 4-H photos. Photo Submitted
National 4-H Week is a yearly celebration by millions of youth, parents, volunteers and alumni coming together to promote the many positive youth development opportunities offered by 4-H.
The theme for this year’s National 4-H Week is Find Your Spark and is a campaign created by National 4-H Council to celebrate the resiliency of young people who have brought about significant innovations in agriculture and technology.
4-H provides opportunities for youth to find their spark by providing educational opportunities, caring mentors, and service-learning opportunities.
Youth choose their own path and are guided by volunteers with similar passions.
Johnson County 4-H will observe National 4-H Week this year by highlighting some of the inspirational 4-H youth in our community who are working tirelessly to support each other and their communities.
“In Missouri 4-H, we offer all youth the opportunity to find their spark!” explains Lupita Fabregas, Director of Missouri 4-H. “By providing educational programming in a wide variety of areas, we allow youth to pick their own path to success and become true leaders of today and tomorrow. By providing caring adult mentors who have a passion about what they do, we are able to give youth hands-on experiences to help them on their spark.”
Johnson County 4-H youth will be sporting their 4-H clovers on Wednesday, October 6 in support of what 4-H has done for them.
If you see a 4-H member, ask them why 4-H is important to them and what they do in the program. “In Johnson County, this year we reached more than 500 active 4-H youth and had more than 100 volunteers from the community involved in 4-H!” JOCO Extension members said. “4-H is world-wide organization where youth of all backgrounds partner with caring adults to gain valuable skills,” said Dallas Dieckman, 4-H Youth Program Associate. “It starts at the local level – here with your neighbors, and from there, it develops strong connections and relationships, hands-on experience, a sense of belonging, and leadership attributes that take all of those involved to heights they only dreamed of.”
One of the most anticipated events of National 4-H Week every year is the 4-H STEM Challenge.
The theme of this year’s event, which is expected to see hundreds of thousands of youth across the nation taking part throughout October, is Galactic Quest. Developed by Clemson University, Galactic Quest explores the history of humans in space, the technology and resources needed for missions, and the obstacles humans encounter in orbit.
Activities explore important STEM topics, ranging from physics and engineering to computer science and space agriculture.
To learn more about how you can get involved, visit http://www.4-h.org/. About 4-H – 4-H, the nation’s largest youth development and empowerment organization, cultivates confident kids who tackle the issues that matter most in their communities right now.
In the United States, 4-H programs empower six million young people through the 110 land-grant universities and Cooperative Extension in more than 3,000 local offices serving every county and parish in the country.
Outside the United States, independent, country-led 4-H organizations empower one million young people in more than 50 countries.
National 4-H Council is the private sector, non-profit partner of the Cooperative Extension System and 4-H National Headquarters, located at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Learn more about 4-H at www.4-H.org, find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/4-H, and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/4H.
