Utah State University Extension 4-H youth from across the state celebrate National 4-H Week, October 4 to 10, with a variety of positive youth activities and opportunities.

This year’s theme, Opportunity4All, was created by the National 4-H Council to rally support for 4-H programs across the country and identify solutions to eliminate the opportunity gap that affects 55 million youth across America.

The 4-H program is the nation’s largest youth development and empowerment organization. With activities focused on STEM, agriculture, civic engagement, healthy living and more, 4-H members learn by doing and tackle the issues that matter most in their communities.

“If there is anything we as adults have learned from working with our amazing 4-Hers, it’s that youth input is essential to finding solutions to our community issues,” said Megan Hendrickson, state 4-H program coordinator. “When given the right tools from their leaders, these kids truly make a difference. We are excited to celebrate our 4-H program and our youth this week.”

4-H mock legislature

The 4-H program is dedicated to providing activities for Utah youth, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. USU Extension 4-H leaders have hosted virtual camps, virtual scavenger hunts and even virtual horse program contests to allow 4-H youth to continue developing skills while remaining socially distant.

The 4-H STEM Challenge, an event held every year during National 4-H week, is another chance for 4-H youth to learn something new. This year’s challenge, Mars Base Camp, is a collection of activities that teach kids ages 8 to 14 relevant STEM skills that could be used on Mars, including mechanical engineering, physics, computer science and agriculture.

“We believe youth perspectives are so important and a solution to eliminating the opportunity gap, because young people come with new ideas and new ways of seeing the world,” said Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO of the National 4-H Council.

To learn more about USU Extension 4-H opportunities, visit https://extension.usu.edu/utah4h.







Source link