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What is 4-H?
4-H began a century ago as an educational program for the
nation's rural youth. Today, 4-H meets the needs of and engages
young people in positive youth development experiences. These
experiences are based on the idea that young people should
be regarded as resources to be developed. 4-H is committed
to helping shape youth and communities. 4-H develops programs
and continues to "Making the Best Better."
To learn more about El Paso County 4-H please click
here!
4-H is America's largest out-of-school education program
for boys and girls. It is a worldwide youth development program
available in every state and many countries. Youth who participate
in 4-H, get what all young people need to succeed in life--the
confidence, compassion and connections with caring adults
to make contributions to their communities.
4-H is youth development. It is people sharing, learning,
growing and becoming the best they can be.
4-H is life skills. Through real-life situations, 4-H helps
youth develop life skills such as: communication, citizenship,
decision-making, leadership, interpersonal relations and community
and global awareness. Youth learn these practical skills through
hundreds of projects like cooking, wildlife, livestock, nutrition,
sewing, archery and shooting sports, ceramics, electricity,
computers, science, and many more.
4-H is one of a kind! It provides learning experiences in
which youth, with help from parents, interested adults and
older youth leaders, grow personally as they develop skills
for living. 4-H'ers have fun while they work and learn together.
4-H takes place in meetings, project groups, individual project
work, schools, special activities or events. Skills learned
through 4-H help youth become better members of their families,
communities and world. 4-H participants explore careers and
positive leisure-time activities. The 4-H Youth Development
program creates an educational environment for positive development
of culturally-diverse youth that enables them to reach their
fullest potential. 4-H accomplishes its mission through non-informal
education.
4-H is family and community-oriented. Parents play a critical
role in volunteering with the program to support their children.
A corps of more than 630,000 volunteer 4-H leaders share their
time and talents to help 4-H'ers "learn by doing."
Work on projects takes place at home, in the yard or around
the kitchen table, with guidance from a parent, an older brother
or sister, or a neighbor. The 4-H member needs the support
and encouragement of a family and growing together through
4-H strengthens the family. 4-H members devote time to community
service in a wide variety of projects, ranging from helping
the elderly and disabled, to restoring historic sites, to
landscaping public buildings to helping preserve their environment.
4-H is open to all. 4-H happens everywhere. It is in the
city, suburbs and small towns, on farms and ranches. The 4-H
program is open to all who wish to participate without regard
to race, creed, gender, marital status, handicaps or disadvantages,
economic or ethnic backgrounds.
4-H is a publicly-supported informal education program. County,
state and federal funds are combined in a unique partnership
to support this educational youth development program. The
curriculum is provided through your land-grant university,
which in Colorado is Colorado State University. Private funds
from individuals, businesses and organizations enhance the
4-H program by providing support for special events, awards,
and recognition and support supplemental educational materials.
4-H is flexible. Hundreds of projects and activities provide
opportunities for all youth regardless of location, race or
economic situation. Project and program requirements can be
modified to meet the needs and interests of special groups.
Today, 4-H involves more than 6.5 million young people--from
the city, from the suburbs, from rural areas, from the farm,
and everything in between. More importantly, the 45 million
4-H alumni point with pride to their experience in developing
life skills--telling how much they gained from making oral
presentations, record keeping, developing leadership, management
and communication skills, practicing the responsibility of
citizenship and meeting lifelong friends. 4-H youth are more
likely than others to report that they:
-succeed in school, getting more A's than other youth,
-are involved as leaders in their school and the community,
-are looked up to as role models by other youth, and
-help others in their community.
4-H is conducted by the Extension System of the nation's Land-Grant
Universities through a partnership with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and county governments across the country.
4-H today is having a strong impact on youth and on America.
To find out how you can become involved, contact the El Paso
County Extension office.
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Youth Development
(4-H)
Jonathan Vrabec
, Extension Agent
Maureen
Bergenfeld , 4-H Military Club Coordinator
Gay-Leigh
Camp , Administrative Assistant
305 S. Union Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80910
719-636-8920
719-575-8692 (fax)
Directions to our office. |
