4-H youth practices parliamentary procedure for club meetings. Photo Credit: UF IFAS Bay County Extension.
No matter what your political beliefs, there’s one thing we can all agree on: We have been inundated with election coverage. In November 2016, a new president will be elected to serve a four-year term, so now is an ideal time to start teaching kids about the presidential election process. Even though they may not be quite old enough to vote, kids can still benefit from learning about elections and how they can take part in the political process. Chances are that your child has noticed campaign signs, television commercials, news coverage, T-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons and conversations about the election. You may even hear them reciting what you say about each candidate.
Florida 4-H has a wonderful project that can help youth understand their government. It is Exploring Citizenship – My Government Unit 6. The My Government‖ project helps youth learn about our democratic form of government and understand the importance of citizen involvement in the government. It will also help youth find ways to get involved in government. 4-H Club officers are the beginning of the process learning basic parliamentary procedure. Another wonderful opportunity is the 4-H Day at the Capitol Program that provides youth with an opportunity to learn more about their state government and experience the political process first hand. During the day, participants will hear from public officials, participate in educational workshops, and see their congressmen in action.
4-H also has an outstanding teen program, 4-H Legislature, in Tallahassee annually. Senior 4-H’ers, ages 13 to 18, develop their skills to debate, analyze legislation and speak publicly, all while making new friends. At this civic educational event, youth can sponsor a bill, amend, or lobby it, then debate the issues on the Capitol House and Senate floors. The 4-H Legislature Program enables youth to understand the basic principles of democracy.
Democratic government requires citizen participation. Each citizen has a responsibility to stay informed on public issues, to express an opinion on these issues, and to make sure that government stays sensitive to the desires of the people. In the United States, only a small group fulfills this responsibility. To most people, voting is the extent of their participating. After election time they wait until the next election to become active again. Many citizens never become active even to register or vote.
Don’t be a “let someone else do it” citizen. Get involved! Make sure your democratic government represents you and other citizens and make sure your child understands what it means to be a citizen of the United States. For more information visit our website . 4-H is one of the nation’s most diverse organizations and includes people from all economic, racial, social, political, and geographic categories. There are no barriers to participation by any young person. Participants are given the opportunity to engage in activities that hold their personal interest. If you wish to volunteer or for more program information contact your local Extension office.
Did you know that you can extend your 4-H experience through your college years? If you plan on attending college consider joining Collegiate 4-H. Collegiate 4-H is an organization that provides its members with a sense of identity on campus, enriches their lives through group projects and recreation, and develops confidence and leadership skills. At the University of Florida, Collegiate 4-H provides service and support to Alachua County 4-H and the Florida 4-H State Programs. Collegiate 4-H is not only a professional organization, but also a service and social organization. Some of the ways they support 4-H include serving as judges, mentors, and volunteers. Recently, the executive officers of the UF Collegiate 4-H supported our district-wide Teen Retreat. Last year, the Collegiate 4-H chapter at UF hosted the National Collegiate 4-H Conference in Gainesville, FL. Earlier this spring, they were invited to attend and present at the National STEM Conference in Washington, DC. Being a Collegiate 4-H member can open lots of doors for scholarships, awards, internship opportunities, and careers. It also helps you connect with other young people who are passionate about 4-H Positive Youth Development and who want to continue to make a difference in their “club, community, country, and world.”
Membership
Collegiate 4-H is open to all college students who wish to support youth and the 4-H program. It is not necessary to have prior 4-H experience, only to have an interest in the 4-H ideals and in serving your community. Prior membership in the 4-H organization is not required. If there is not a Collegiate 4-H Chapter at your local college or university, contact your local UF IFAS Extension Office to inquire about securing a faculty advisor.
Questions?
To find out more about the Collegiate 4-H Program at the University of Florida, contact Joshua Clay Hurdle, UF Collegiate 4-H President jchurdle@ufl.edu
To find out more about Collegiate 4-H in general, visit http://www.collegiate4h.org/ or contact Dr. Kate Fogarty, Ph.D. Youth Development Specialist, Florida 4-H kfogarty@ufl.edu
Hearts of Gold 4-H Club and many others will be sporting the color Purple to support military youth on April 8! Join them celebrating April Month of the Military Child and Purple UP! Day April 8 or April 15. Be creative….the goal is for military youth to see the support in their school, youth groups, and the community! If you don’t have or own a purple shirt wear a purple ribbon, tie, headband etc. Just show your support and let our youth know we care about them! Can’t make the 8th then do something another day in April. We would like to encourage you to take pictures of your group wearing purple and share them on social media http://fb.me/msg/bayifas . This allows us to honor our young heroes and their families for their commitment and sacrifice for our freedom!
By 2050, the United Nations estimates that the total population will total around 9 billion people globally (United Nations: 2004). Meeting the challenge of addressing the needs of so many people is an opportunity for growth that can be gained through scientific developments and personal responsibility, areas in which 4-H eagerly works to educate youth and adults.
We learn that our everyday behaviors, even if they seem very small, can actually put a lot of strain on our environment when so many people do the same things.
We often ask our youth, “If everyone were to do the same things you do every day, what would that look like? What kind of impact do you think it would have?”.
We know that much of our daily energy use, like the amount of water we use, how much trash we produce, the kind of food we buy and where we buy it, and how much energy we use in our transportation, for example, can make a big difference if we all make decisions that keep our environment in mind.
We can help prevent environmental damage that leads to climate change and human illness by conserving energy and making a smaller ecological footprint. An ecological footprint is the amount of resources from the environment that are required to meet the demands of our everyday consumption of goods. 4-H encourages youth to make thoughtful decisions about their behaviors such as:
Eating locally grown and in season produce
Using reusable bags for shopping
Buying products with less packaging and that are less processed
Turning lights off when they aren’t in use
Doing outdoor rather than indoor activities
Walking, biking, carpooling, or taking public transportation
Recycling
Conserving water when brushing teeth and by displacing water in toilet tanks
Only running washing machines with full loads
However, motivating people to change their behaviors can be difficult. In 4-H we work to encourage young people to understand at an early age the enormous impact they have on the health and well-being of others. The World Health Organization tells us that “…environmental factors are a root cause of a significant burden of death, disease and disability – particularly in developing (poor) countries. The resulting impacts are estimated to cause about 25% of death and disease globally, reaching nearly 35% in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa.” (World Health Organization: 2016). A good portion of environmental damage that affects us in negative ways is caused by our using more resources than our planet has the ability to renew at the same rate we use them and by extracting our resources in harmful ways. This may seem overwhelming, but there are actually very simple things that each of us can do that can significantly help lessen the impact. Actually, when we change our behavior is western countries like the United States, we can make more significant differences since we are one of the primary consumers of energy in the world.
And as always, youth learn not only by DOING but by helping to teach others! We encourage our youth to educate their friends and family as well as to mentor younger 4-H’ers in project areas like environmental science. If your youth or club is interested in learning more about energy conservation and environmental science projects, there are an array of wonderful resources, listed below, to help get you started. Your county 4-H agent is happy to help any youth or volunteer interested in this or any one of the project areas that help provide youth with research based education.
United Nations. 2004. “World Population to 2300”. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Population Division. United Nations: New York, NY.
World Health Organization: The Health and Environment Linkages Initiative (HELI). 2016. “Environment and Health in Developing Countries”. URL http://www.who.int/heli/risks/ehindevcoun/en/index1.html. Accessed February 5, 2016.
Photo: Wake County, North Carolina 4-H. http://www.wakegov.com/humanservices/family/4h/traditional/Pages/default.aspx
4-H literally got its start with gardening. The very first 4-H Clubs focused on growing tomatoes and corn for boys and canning for girls. Many youth and volunteers still enjoy gardening projects today. One great curricula that is used is the Junior Master Gardening Program. This program allows youth to enhance their life using gardening as the spark of interest. Gardening enriches youth’s lives, promotes good health, gives a sense of environmental awareness and saves money.
One of the activities I enjoy doing with youth combines gardening with recycling and crafting. As a group we will make our own paper grow cards or ornaments that have seeds embedded in them. Once the cards are dry, we deliver them as a service project. The cards are fun and inexpensive to make and are a perfect activity for your next club meeting! Try making them as valentines for Valentines Day. For beginners, we recommend growing tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, basil, chives, or parsley. Not into vegies? Try starting marigolds, cosmos, sunflowers, zinnias, pansies, or petunias.
Download our detailed factsheet with photos and directions. This activity is great for any occasion when you need a card or small gift. You can use as party favors by making them into ornaments using raffia to hang them from a tree or gift bag. You can take them to a nursing home, veterans center, hospital or other site as a service project for your club. Just be sure to share with the individual that they need to plant your card or ornament. It is a great way to help youth share their joy of gardening with others.
Other Extension gardening resources include:
• Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide
If you have a green thumb, consider going “totally green” as a 4-H gardening volunteer! 4-H needs caring adults like you to share their knowledge and passion for gardening with the next generation. Through the 4-H gardening project, youth not only learn gardening knowledge and skills, they also learn responsibility, teamwork, and other life skills that will help them grow up to be compassionate and competent citizens. To get involved, contact your local UF IFAS Extension Office, or visit Florida 4-H.
Fire Ants 4-H Club members prepare and serve meals for hospice patients and caregivers to develop compassion and empathy in their community.
There are many genetic traits you’re born with that can’t be changed. But what about traits such as compassion and empathy? Can they be learned? A new study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that adults can indeed be trained to be more compassionate and empathetic. But rather than wait until adulthood to grow this trait, youth involved in 4-H have the opportunity to grow compassion beginning as early as five years old. Giving back has long been one of the essential elements of 4-H programs where youth are given the opportunity to practice service to others.
The Fire Ants 4-H Club is one such club in Washington County that gives its members a chance to practice compassion and giving through its service project with Covenant Hospice. For the past two years, the Fire Ants 4-H Club has partnered with Covenant Hospice to provide volunteer services for its clients.
It began with a few members and parents volunteering to make a meal for a client. Last year, club officers applied for a Florida 4-H Foundation Community Pride grant to grow their efforts with the purpose of providing healthy, home-cooked meals for Hospice clients. Members and parents spent a day preparing and cooking made-from-scratch meals and then portioning them into individual serving containers. Over 100 individual home-cooked meals were frozen and delivered to clients. Members have also served at the past three annual Covenant Hospice banquet that honors patients and caregivers.
Community service has the ability to become life changing not just for those receiving the service but especially for the youth involved. 4-H’ers are learning through hands-on experiences that they can make a difference and that their efforts are important. Getting involved in a cause or effort that matters to youth helps develop skills and experiences that carry over into adult life and cultivate a sense of compassion for the world in which they live. If we grow youth who are more compassionate and empathetic, what does that potentially mean for our world? We are more likely to have youth who are socially responsible, who have a heart for giving back and helping others, who have positive relationships with peers and adults, who have improved communication and critical thinking skills and go into careers that feed their passions and interests.
What will you do in 2016 to grow compassion?
For more information on 4-H clubs in your county, or if you’re an adult who wants to work with youth to help them grow compassion and empathy to make help your community thrive, contact your local UF IFAS County Extension Office or visit http://florida4h.org.
