4-H Youth Development

What is 4-H?

4-H is the youth development education program of Washington State University Extension, which is conducted jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, your state land grant university (WSU) and King County. Today 4-H is everywhere–in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural communities.

4-H is the largest youth development organization in the nation. The United States has more than five million members and 600,000 leaders. Around the world, 4-H-type clubs exist in at least 82 countries.

No matter the location, all 4-H programs are guided by research-based curriculum and follow an experiential education approach, which means youth learn by doing.    4-H enables youth to develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to become competent, caring, and contributing citizens of the world. These life skills include positive self-esteem, effective communication, teamwork, leadership, healthy life choices, problem solving, and much more.

All 4-H programs are similar in that they focus on experiential education in four program areas: STEM, CITIZENSHIP, HEALTHY LIVING, and MENTORSHIP.

Here in King County, there are many different ways to connect with 4-H, including volunteer-led clubs, after-school programs, in-school programs, Ropes Courses, day camps, teen conferences, and fairs.

Here are some examples of the ways 4-H is helping youth to thrive in King County:

• In the north, we have Cooped Up In Seattle, Seattle’s first urban farming-focused 4-H club featured on NPR
• In the south, all 6th graders at Totem Middle School in Federal Way participate in 2-day hands-on engineering projects (e.g. wind turbine design with our National Youth Science day project Wired for Wind or Eco-bots) as part of a 4-H in-school program
• In the east we have the Fall City Flames, a horse club with members who take initiative to help others in need
• In the west, youth in Vashon Island’s Eyes of the Future club raise guide dog puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind
• We also offer opportunities for youth from across the county, including unique teen leadership opportunities such as Know Your Government, an annual 4-day teen conference in Olympia, and Health Rocks!®  a program in which teen and adult facilitators partner to educate youth on the consequences of substance abuse.
• And of course, there is the King County Fair where youth from all over the county compete and showcase their projects from the last year, hoping to make it to the Washington State Fair!

4-H Mission

4-H Youth Development education creates a supportive environment for all youth and families to reach their fullest potential. This will be accomplished through a systematic approach of foundation and mission-driven science to meet the 4-H goals to:

• Provide formal and non-formal experiential learning
• Develop skills that benefit youth throughout life
• Foster leadership and volunteerism in youth and adults
• Build internal and external partnerships for programming and funding
• Strengthen families and communities
• Employ research-based knowledge and the land grant university system
• Embrace and expand the traditions of the 4-H Youth Development program

What is 4-H?

 

Leadership

Youth leadership is what 4-H is all about. In 4-H, you are in charge of your own programming. Adult volunteers work with you and/or your club to plan your activities to meet the goals you have set for yourself. In King County, we offer many different levels of leadership opportunities.

Club leadership – you may choose to serve on a committee, as an officer or to lead an event. Each individual club has a slightly different structure; once you’ve joined a club you can set goals for what leadership roles you might want to take.

• Club Officer Handbooks:
  • Officer
  • President
  • Reporter
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Vice President
  • Parliamentary Procedure Made Easier
  • 4-H-Club-Program-Planning-Book

Research Shows 4-H Helps Young People Excel Beyond Their Peers.