I am indebted to 4-H as a youth organization that deeply influenced my life. I do not think 4-H is better than any other national or local organization, but it was central to my formative years.
Youth organizations were not abundant in my rural community. I wanted to join Campfire, but mom said I would have to wait until I was old enough to be in 4-H. I had no choice.
In the 1950’s, I had to be a member of a girls 4-H club before I could show livestock and join the boys’ 4-H club. I wanted to raise sheep, do gardening, and not learn to cook, sew, or do home furnishings. In retrospect, however, I am glad I learned those homemaking skills as I enjoyed them far more than I thought I would—and they have come in handy!
I was an overachiever in 4-H as has been my life tendency. I earned blue ribbons at the fair and acquired leadership skills. 4-H was a place where I could “learn by doing” (the 4-H slogan) and get rewarded for my efforts. I was proud to be elected president of the Linn County 4-H Council my senior year of high school.
My parents were supportive and willing to schlep me to all kinds of meetings. Both were leaders of the local clubs and volunteered hundreds of hours to make 4-H successful in my county. My first 4-H leader, Winnie Henderson (a distant relative) inspired me early to set goals and strive to “make the best better” as has been the motto of 4-H since 1927.
My dream job was as a 4-H professional when I served in Tama County (Iowa) for five years after I graduated from college. My life was changed forever by spending six months on a 4-H international exchange program to Turkey in my young adulthood. I intended to continue in 4-H youth development employment after graduate school, but chose other opportunities in higher education. Nevertheless, I will always be indebted to 4-H and the development that it provided to make my best self better.
I loved 4-H but had to do the same as you… I had to be in the Sadorus BusyBees for cooking and sewing, then I could join the Sadorus Plowboys for the fun stuff with gardening, hogs, etc. One of the best parts was that the IL State 4-H office ran a competitive girls’ softball league at the county level that eventually ended up at the Regional and State tournament. In fact our Sadorus Plowboys girls’ team ended up going to the State championship several times during my playing time and we even won it at least once! At this time before Title IX when HS sports for girls were non-competitive “play-days”, 4-H softball was the one place were girls as young as 10 years old could be competitive athletes… we were granted the same opportunity as the boys to compete as a team where we learned to put in the hard work to be winners and sometimes losers and all the underlying pieces to becoming competitive when no one else thought it possible or appropriate for us girls!
We didn’t have any sports options in my Iowa 4-H program. I wish we had, but I had plenty of other stuff to do with the other options in 4-H. 4-H is much different today but I think the main youth development core will always be there whether like it was in the 1050s or how it has been modernized and urbanized in the 2020s.