Why Should I Join a Club?

When 4-H originally started, it revolved around the idea of clubs. Groups of young men and women came together to learn new skills from adults and from each other. Each club had the responsibility to educate its members, participate in community service activities, as well as work together to achieve common goals. As the years have gone on and families continually get busier, rules have been altered in order to allow youth to participate as “independent”. While this allows for more flexibility, it does not provide a well-rounded 4-H experience.

Today I want to focus on clubs and club involvement so hopefully you’ll see what you're missing if you're not active in your local 4-H club! Or you may get some new ideas for clubs! 

1. Clubs are like families!! When I was in 4-H my club did many different activities together. We had our monthly meetings which involved games, making decisions, and just hanging out together. My favorite part about being in a club was July! In July all of our paperwork was due for the fair and rather than trying to figure it out on our own, we would come together as a group at the pool. We would hold a short meeting to make sure that we were all prepared for the fair and then do the tedious job of figuring out class numbers for all of our projects. We of course took the time to sign up for our group projects at the same time! When we were done, though, we had the city pool to ourselves! All clubs do things differently, but in the end, it is a time for youth to come together to learn how to lead, make decisions, and be an active member! Many business and industry professionals say our young adults are lacking the ability to be engaged and participate as a team member. Many employers look for these skills and we need to prepare our youth for their future careers through the involvement in clubs. 

2. Civic engagement! Youth have many opportunities to be involved in the community especially as a teenager. It seems like every organization from basketball teams to track and National Honor Society to FFA, they all have some component of civic engagement. 4-H is no different! A common civic engagement project for 4-H Clubs is participating at a nursing home game night, highway cleanup, helping a local organization with a banquet. However, they can be more in depth. We see reports of youth all across the nation going above and beyond expectations to provide free books, free technology, education, and other resources to the needy people within their communities. Not only is this a way to learn how to give back to the community, it is also an important lesson in compassion and humility. These important soft-skills are also vital in any future career. 

3. Leadership! Club meetings should be ran by youth. This allows youth to learn organization, parliamentary procedure, patience, and so much more as they lead their group. Club leaders work hard to ensure that young leaders are able to learn while engaging and guiding their peers through the decision-making processes. 

4. More Learning!! While being an independent can alleviate that extra meeting, independents do not have as many opportunities to learn and be involved. The mission of 4-H is to assist youth, and adults working with those youth, to gain additional knowledge, life skills, and attitudes that will further their development as self-directing, contributing, and productive members of society. Without the club setting, many of these opportunities are missed. If you want more information about the benefits of being more INVOLVED in 4-H check out National 4-H Program at a Glance. 

5. Clubs are more FUN!! It’s fun to learn new skills, interact with other youth, and above all, give back to the community. Clubs strive to engage their youth which results in more fun! Some clubs have games nights, swimming events or go bowling. While those are fun to do with your family, by taking the extra effort to involve your child in club meetings, youth will appreciate all that you do to let me have that extra fun with their peers. 

Besides the pool memories with my club members, I remember going to a project leaders house to learn to make break from scratch, taking all of our animals to another leader’s house to work on our showmanship skills the week before fair, and the club picnic one evening at fair was an amazing feast after a long day of hard work! 

I highly encourage you to engage in a club and participate so your child can experience all that 4-H has to offer. Whether it be for the great memories or setting them up for future success, 4-H Clubs are where it is at!!! 

P.S. – The next edition will give a little insight into the clubs we have in our county! Stay tuned to learn more about clubs!