Published: September 04, 2008 12:00 am            

4-Hers looking at Centennial celebration

The 4-H you remember has changed.

What was, at one time, a club primarily focused on agriculture with a few sewing skills thrown in, has evolved.

Sure, you can still learn about animal husbandry or canning, but over 4-H's 100-year existence, the organization has evolved so much that today's members are just as adept at texting as they are at growing tomatoes.

"It's not same organization," says 4-H Educator Brenda Hill. "Science and technology are the new thrust for 4-H."

And this year, they're telling the world.

To celebrate the organization's 100th anniversary in Oklahoma, 4-H alumni are invited to share their 4-H memorabilia at this week's Cleveland County Fair. Hill said that could include record books, ribbons, awards, projects, photographs and other items from past 4-H days. The artifacts will be on display in the fair building near the 4-H exhibits.

Yet for Hill and fellow 4-H educator Justin McConaghy, some components of the organization have remained the same over the past 100 years -- life skills, leadership and teaching teenagers how to get organized.

"We still do the traditional skills," McConaghy said. "We still do the livestock, crops, home gardening, sewing, things like that."

But a typical club might also include designing World Wide Web sites, computer science, model rocketry or even robotics.

Robotics?

Yes. Robotics.

In fact, McConaghy said club organizers are working to bring a 4-H robotics club to Cleveland County. "It's very big and the kids love it," he said. "This year we had a robotics competition at the Cox Center."

With a membership of about 400 kids countywide, Cleveland County's 4-H club is one of the state's largest. They still have the meetings. They still do the summer classes. They still do the canning classes.

"But we also push public service," Hill said. "About half of 4-H is community service, the other half is their record book; but a big part is community. We really stress community service. We want the kids to know they need to give back to their communities -- especially those communities they grow up in."

Of course, robotics and helping the community are just part of the package.

Those "basic" courses remain as popular as ever.

For example, cooking.

"We're seeing a huge enrollment in basic cooking," Hill said. "With both mom and dad working, no one has time to teach their children how to cook, so they take the class."

The classes are so popular, Hill said, that sometimes there are kids on waiting lists. "We had a huge surge in canning this year," she said. "It was very popular."

With its new emphasis on science and technology, 4-H has evolved to embrace today's youth culture.

But it hasn't forgotten its roots.

"Kids still need to learn about good nutrition and leadership and organizational skills," Hill said. "And that's what we're trying to do."

For this year and the next 100.

M. Scott Carter 366-3545 scarter@normantranscript.com

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.