By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
It's not just for farm kids. Area 4-H Ambassadors Ailey Williams and Parker Dicks spoke at Wednesday's Barton County Commission meeting in preparation for National 4-H Week that runs from Oct. 2-8. The week celebrates the impact 4-H makes by empowering youth with the skills they need throughout life.
"4-H offers over 40 project areas from art to woodworking," Williams told commissioners. "We usually think of livestock projects, but 4-H is so much more than cows and cookies. We have eight active 4-H clubs across Barton County."
Great Bend has four of those clubs, Hoisington has two, and Ellinwood and Claflin-Odin each have one. 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent Michelle Beran said at least two of the four clubs in Great Bend are not agriculture or livestock based. Regardless of the project area, the goal is to prepare youth for successful lives as adults.
"There's reading, there's wildlife, there are all kinds of things they can explore," she said. "Really, 4-H is as much about how we develop the young person as it is about the project area. While they're learning about wildlife or woodworking, they're also learning communication skills, they're learning time management, and organization. They're really learning how, in many ways, to work as a team and to be committed to community service, and to leadership."
Beran added that without young leaders returning home to serve as business and government leaders, small communities not only fail to thrive, they fail to survive.
Commissioner Jon Prescott inquired about adding a computer coding program to the 4-H curriculum. Beran said 4-H has a strong STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) foundation and, in August, members participated in Crop Quest. They were able to see how a large drone can benefit farms, worked on computer coding and rocketry, and even flew some small drones of their own.