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Consider 4-H

Learning by doing is one of the mottos of 4-H, which requires someone to both teach and learn.

Learning by doing is one of the mottos of 4-H, which requires someone to both teach and learn.

That sounds like a pretty important mission to accomplish, so it’s a shame that clubs around the region are losing members and are unable to find new ones, especially the older teenagers, who would normally be mentoring the younger generation.

Talking to 4-H key leader Bertha Kasbohm this week about some of the challenges facing the organization, we learned that numbers are slowly declining.

She isn’t sure why, but has noticed the trend in recent years.

The first club in the area was the Pibroch Beef Club in 1960 and clubs sprouted like weeds for years after. At one point there were 28 different clubs in the region. Now there are less than 10.

It may be that people are just busy with their lives, or it may be that as farms shrink, the number of farm kids shrinks as well.

4-H in the region is still in decent shape, don’t get us wrong, it’s not in crisis mode yet, but we encourage you to look into it for yourself or your child. It helps children develop and master skills they may not be able to learn elsewhere.

It not only teaches responsibility and leadership, but provides self-esteem and a sense of purpose for the member. You definitely notice something in the kids who have been through 4-H. They’re confident, well-spoken, community-focused and have leadership skills far above those of another child who hasn’t been in the program.

There is definitely an agricultural focus to 4-H,  which may keep some kids away, but as the story on page 21 shows, there’s a lot more to 4-H than farm animals. There are any number of clubs you can join and even more you can create with enough interested parties and adult supervision.

Photography, small engines, canines and even cosplay are just a few of the clubs you might not expect to find in the region. That’s right. Cosplay. 4-H caters to more interests than you can think of.

More than that though, 4-H offers members an opportunity to pass on what they’ve learned to others and that is the raison d’être for any group or organization isn’t it? And some might even say life? To pass knowledge on to the next generation?

4-H is a great way to do that and you may get a little something extra out of it as well.

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