More than 6 million young people across the country will be celebrating National 4-H Week, which takes place annually during the first full week of October. Deschutes County 4-H leverages National 4-H Week to celebrate the great things that the 4-H youth development program offers young people and highlights the incredible 4-H young people who each day work to a make a positive impact on their community.
Research has proven that participation in 4-H has a significant positive impact on young people. Recent findings from the Tufts University 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development indicate that, when compared to their peers, young people in 4-H are:
• Nearly 4 times more likely to contribute to their communities,
• Two times more likely to pursue healthy behaviors like, and
• Two times more likely to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs in the out-of-school time.
In Deschutes County, more than 860 4-H members and 150 volunteers are involved in 4 H.
Also during National 4-H Week, hundreds of thousands of youth from all around the nation will complete a single, innovative experiment on 4-H National Youth Science Day, which will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. The 2013 National Science Experiment, 4-H Maps & Apps, will introduce youth to the importance of geographic information systems (GIS) and geographic positioning systems (GPS) as they design and map their ideal park, use mapping to solve community problems and contribute data to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) The National Map program as citizen scientists through The National Map Corps project.
4-H, the largest youth development organization in the world, is a community of seven million young people across the globe learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills. In the U.S., 4-H programs are implemented by the 109 land grant universities and the Cooperative Extension System through their 3,100 local Extension offices across the country. Overseas, 4-H programs operate throughout more than 50 countries.
Learn more about 4-H at www.4-H.org, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/4-H and Twitter at www.twitter.com/4H.
