ZANESVILLE, Ohio – 4-H is a popular youth development program that provides a wide variety of important skills that will serve kids the rest of their lives.
The Muskingum County Commissioners recently proclaimed March 5th through 11th as 4-H week and Muskingum County 4-H Educator Jamie McConnell explained how 4-H week is for signing up as well as how interested kids can join.
“There’s a couple of different ways people can find out about a club in their area,” McConnell said. “Number one is ask around, ask your friends, chances are you know someone who is already involved in 4-H. We have about 1,200 kids in 4-H here in Muskingum County. March the 7th, from 5:30 to 7 at all the library branches in Muskingum County all at the same time. So there will be 4-H volunteers, 4-H youth on hand to learn more about 4-H. They’ll be representing their own clubs, so you can go to the libraries and find out specifically about clubs in the area.”
McConnell said that cost is very minimal and that it usually varies between $8 and $25 dollars per-year, depending on the project and the club.
Many people associate 4-H with farming but it offers more than 200 programs that can range from STEM to Creative Arts to Natural Resources and Outdoors for kids from 5 and in Kindergarten through 18-years-old.
“A lot of people think of livestock. Kids can take Clothing, Cooking, First Aid and Health projects. There are… and if you can’t find something that you like, that’s a pre-designed project, there’s actually a self-determined project. So kids could take an interest in anything. We’ve had prosthetics, self-determined projects because a kid really had an interest in that,” McConnell said.
The Muskingum County Courthouse will be lit in green this week to honor the 4-H program and this year’s 4-H enrollment deadline is April 1st.
For more information about 4-H you can call the OSU Extension office at (740) 454-0144. You will be asked questions such as: where do you live, which school your child attends, and the subjects that interest them.
