NDSU Extension Service: 4-H Prepares Youth for Future

For more than 100 years, 4-H has played a key role in preparing youth to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

4-H is one of four key areas in which the North Dakota State University Extension Service focuses its programming. 4-H also is the largest and only research-based youth development program in North Dakota. It is available to all youth ages 5 to 18 in every county in North Dakota. Even though Extension Service work benefits youth and adults, the Extension Service believes that youth are a significant audience because the youth in our state are our future.

In 2014, the NDSU Extension Service celebrates the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Smith-Lever Act, which created the national Cooperative Extension System. As part of that celebration, we are focusing on how we extend knowledge and change lives.

The Extension Service, 4-H included, is largely responsible for moving technological and scientific advances from the laboratory and the test plots to practicing farmers and homemakers more rapidly than had been done anywhere else in the world. This centennial achievement makes it a fitting time to also recognize 4-H's achievements during those 100 years.

The passage of the Smith-Lever Act provided a permanent home for the educational movement called 4-H. Even though youth work was not specifically mentioned in the act, its supporters understood that youth work was the foundation for successful Extension endeavors. Today, we continue to affirm that by saying a strong Extension program equates to a strong 4-H program.

History well documents that no one person is credited with starting 4-H. It began as an enduring idea that was scattered among concerned citizens, school teachers, agricultural scientists and farm families. It was focused on creating an enlightened, future-focused and action-driven citizenry.

During its first 80 or so years, 4-H changed from an organization primarily concerned with improving agricultural production and food preservation to one dedicated to the development of young people. As it has evolved even further, a deeper relationship also has resulted between what young people are learning through 4-H and its connection to jobs and careers they choose.

It began through the concepts of youth and adults working together; providing youth with hands-on, real-life learning experiences; making land-grant university research accessible, practical and useful; helping youth become contributing, productive members of society; and creating an environment where youth are safe and supported. Due to its tie to the land-grant university, 4-H was rooted in the ideas of science as a base for its work.

Today's 4-H is built on the same basic principles and continues to offer traditional programs in subjects such as livestock judging, crops, and clothing and textiles. However, to meet the changing needs of our North Dakota youth and to ensure that 4-H remains a modern, vibrant, relevant organization that responds to current and future needs, it also offers programs in areas including aerospace, communications, personal development and leadership, civic education, shooting sports, geospatial science, energy and robotics. 4-H also devotes considerable time to planning, developing and implementing projects relevant to contemporary society.

More than 25,000 youth participate in 4-H programs each year in North Dakota. Youth participate through clubs, camping, special-interest groups, after-school programs and school-day enrichment experiences. For many youth, it is the only youth development program opportunity available to them because they live in rural areas where other youth programs do not exist.

4-H also relies on the support of a remarkable number of dedicated adult volunteers and community members.

Research now supports what we have known for years: 4-H makes a difference in the positive development of a young person. An eight-year study starting in 2002 surveyed more than 7,000 adolescents from diverse backgrounds across 42 U.S. states, including North Dakota. The study found that 4-H helps young people excel beyond their peers. The study defined and measured positive youth development and showed that youth involved in 4-H programs excel in several areas. 4-H'ers are:

Four times more likely to make contributions to their communities

Two times more likely to be civically active

Two times more likely to make healthier choices

Two times more likely to participate in science, engineering and computer technology programs during out-of-school time

The study also found that 10th-grade girls in 4-H are two times more likely and 12th-grade girls in 4-H are nearly three times more likely to take part in science programs, compared with girls in other out-of-school time activities.

Today the competition for young people's time and talents is tremendous. Likewise, adults as parents and volunteers face the same challenges. The results of this study provide a compelling reason why youth need to be part of 4-H. It also provides a compelling reason for parents and adult volunteers to be engaged in the program.

And now we also know, based on results of research, 4-H is an enduring idea that works. It works for the betterment of the youth who participate, the adults who work with them and the communities it serves. When 4-H youth pledge their head, heart, hands and health to better living, it really does mean for better living.