4-H Club continues to grow and give life lessons

CALHOUN COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)-  Learning by doing – It almost seems like a lost art in this day of webinars and YouTube tutorials, but there are groups out teaching young people hands-on lessons in building, growing, and creating.

You may have heard of the 4 – H Club, and think that it’s all about raising corn or cows. But there are bigger lessons in responsibility and life skills.

And for the over six million members those skills can last a lifetime.

Head. Heart. Hands. Health.

For over 100 years, the 4-H Club has been teaching young people to navigate their way through life combining by making the best use of all 4.

MSU Extension Agent Trent Barnett has been involved with 4-H for 20 years and he said its lessons are just as vital today.

“It’s important to have our young people active, in today’s world a young person needs a project or an activity. And a lot of free time with our adolescence and our teenagers is just not good cause someone is wandering around looking for something to do,” said Barnett.

He said 4-H helps them develop skills and habits that can last a lifetime.

“It just meets all those needs by doing that and learn a lot of responsibility by working on their projects, whether that be a sewing project to enter in our exhibit contest, or whether it be a photography project, or whether it be one of the livestock projects here,” said Barnett.

Those exhibits give club members a chance to show off what they’ve learned and accomplished and they help develop a sense of community.

“All the kids in our county get to come together and just be a part of this awesome program. You get to learn a lot too, there are a lot of different clubs that you can join. It’s a very educational program and I really enjoy being apart of it,” said Anna Grace Pullen.

“It teaches me responsibility, and you can make a lot of friends through 4-H and all that and you can learn a lot,” said club member Conner Shelton.

“I feel like we’re family but they’re not even family. Like I didn’t even meet them until a few years ago, but I feel like they’ve grown close and I feel like we got a really good relationship and I got people that I can rely on,” said club member Addie Belle Knight.

Barnett isn’t sure where the future of 4-H is going, but he hopes more young people will consider joining and staying active in their communities.

“It gives them something to do that they desire and want to learn and participate in,” said Barnett.

“I think it’ll be beneficial to kids that aren’t in it yet to get into it and learn a lot of stuff about agriculture and stuff like that,” said Shelton.

If you’re interested in joining, visit Mississippi State’s Extension Service to find your local county extension office to find out what 4-H Clubs exist in your area.