Every year, National 4-H Week sees millions of youth, parents, volunteers and alumni come together to celebrate the many positive youth development opportunities offered by 4-H. The theme for this year’s National 4-H Week, Find Your Spark, is a campaign that was created by The National 4-H Council to rally support for Cooperative Extension’s 4-H program. 

Sanborn County 4-H observed and celebrated National 4-H Week, Oct. 3-9, with a number of activities. 4-H members explained why they like 4-H with letters to the editor in last week’s issue.  At Woonsocket, 4-H members shared information about 4-H through an all-school assembly where they showed projects and talked about their involvement in 4-H and how they “Find Their Spark” with 4-H. At Sanborn Central School, 4-H members visited individual classrooms to talk about the fun and benefits of 4-H. At both schools, everyone was asked to wear green to promote 4-H, and green candy treats were handed out.  

4-H programs are grounded in the belief that kids learn best by doing. Kids and teens complete hands-on projects in areas like science, health, agriculture, shooting sports and civic engagement. Kids can concentrate on one focus area or they can try a variety of programs throughout their 4-H experience. 4-H volunteers are the heart of our program! We couldn’t impact the lives of so many youth without caring adults.

In Sanborn County, more than 150 4-H youth and 30 volunteers from the community are involved in 4-H. 4-H is for everyone! Often the public perception of 4-H is all about animals and the State Fair, and while that is a small piece of opportunity available, 4-H offers so much more. With over 70 different project areas for youth to engage in, the sky is the limit!

To learn more about how you can get involved in 4-H, join a 4-H club, or join Shooting Sports, contact the 4-H office at 605.796.4380 or e-mail sanborn.county@sdstate.edu.

…See pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!