4-H marks 100 years of developing youths

It's a big year for 4-H, and it is an appropriate time for all of us to think about what the long-lived organization has done for our communities.

The first 4-H group was formed 100 years ago. By 1911, members had developed the 4-H symbol as we know it today: a four-leaf clover with the leaves standing for head, heart, hands and health. (The fourth H originally stood for hustle.)

And those leaves are meaningful. The group focuses on the head to develop critical thinking skills, the heart for respecting self, others and the environment, the hands for preparing a career and serving others and on health for choosing healthy lifestyles and meeting challenges.

While it began as an agricultural organization and still is an extension of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 4-H has become so much more.

Although 4-H doesn't give one person credit for starting the organization, the group traces its roots to an Ohio school principal who promoted vocational agriculture in after-school clubs. USDA personnel picked up on the idea, and by 1914, there was a 4-H club in nearly every state.

The American landscape changed over the century, and so did the clubs. Yes, members still raise livestock, and the primary focus is agricultural.

But today only 15 percent of members live on farms. The student-completed projects are as diverse as the children who join: communications arts, clothing and textiles, mental health, the environment, hobbies and collections, biology and much more.

One local girl, Erin Fields of Gordonville, Mo., recently did a presentation on scrapbook-making at a 4-H event in Jefferson City, while a boy, Charlie Meier, presented the history of the Belgian horse breed. He helps raise the horses on his family's farm near Jackson, Mo.

There are 250 children and teen-agers involved in 4-H in Cape Girardeau County and 6.8 million nationwide.

This is something young people can do that is uplifting and educational in a time when the world encourages them to engage in other activities that are anything but. As such, 4-H deserves our full support.

In this its centennial year, 4-H is looking for families with a combined 100 years or more of membership or volunteer service, and new members always are welcome.

To register as a centennial family or as a new member, call Donna Taake, 4-H youth specialist, at 243-3581.