Boone County 4-H clubs invite children to be new members

BOONE COUNTY – One out of every seven adults in the U.S. is a former 4-H member. Clubs are accepting new members this month to grow that number even higher.

4-H members in the county will join the six million youth across the country in celebrating National 4-H Week Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. 4-H youth development programs provide hands-on learning activities for youth in Illinois and throughout the country. 4-H youth programs focus on leadership, citizenship and life skills.

Every county in Illinois has a 4-H program which is operated through University of Illinois Extension. 4-H club membership is open to youth aged eight to 18. Youth five-to-seven-years-of-age may join the 4-H Cloverbud program.

There are several ways to participate in 4-H. Youth may join 4-H community clubs, coordinated by local certified adult volunteers. Each club decides how often it meets, the location of its meetings and the activities held during the meeting. Members may select from over 100 different project areas to study while they build leadership, teamwork, cooperation, decision-making and communication skills.

Youth may also choose to focus on a very specific project area and join a club specifically related to that one project, these are called spin clubs.Robotics, photography, gardening, visual arts, and nutrition, are just a few of the popular topics for special interest clubs.

One may also participate in 4-H through short term projects held during school or at after school youth organizations. Some of these popular groups teach youth about caring for the environment, science, preparing for a career, making healthy choices or other priority issues which build a person’s life skills.

To learn more about 4-H and enroll your child in a local club, one may contact:

Boone County Extension office 205 Cadillac Court Suite #3 in Belvidere, call (815) 544-3710, or visit our website at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/bdo/boone4h/.

About 4-H

Illinois 4-H strives to help youth learn skills for living. University of Illinois Extension provides 4-H programs in every county in Illinois. Illinois 4-H aims to impact the lives of 200,000 youth each year through sustained learning clubs and groups and short-term programming.

For further information contact:

Source: Dr. Lisa Diaz, Assistant Dean and Director 4-H Youth Development: (217) 333-0910.

News Writer: Judy Mae Bingman, Extension Media Communications Specialist, (217) 300-2113.