Dear Prospective 4-H Family,
Welcome! Founded in 1902, 4-H is the largest youth development organization in the U.S. with over 170,000 active 4-H’ers in Georgia alone. The purpose of this letter is to clarify what 4-H is, what we do here in Lincoln County, and how you can get involved.
The foundations of 4-H are the life skills of heart, hands, health, and head. Heart includes building relationships, developing social skills, and learning how to relate and care for others. Hands includes developing leadership, citizenship, teamwork, and community service. The principle of health involves stress management, healthy choices, self-esteem, and developing character and responsibility. Finally, the principles of head include setting goals, planning and organizing, thinking critically, and solving problems. Several research studies have indicated that involvement in 4-H allows students to develop these critical life skills and become more productive, contributing members of society as adults.
Support for 4-H programs is a joint effort of our local school district, county government, and UGA. Professional 4-H leadership is provided by staff and faculty of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service. The addition of new programs such as livestock showing teams, shooting sports teams, cooking clubs, and more, relies heavily on the involvement of members of our community. All 4-H volunteers undergo a full background check to ensure the protection of our youth. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for our 4-H program, please reach out to us for more information.
The purpose of 4-H is for youth to learn together in projects, events, and activities with guidance from their families, our volunteers, and our faculty and staff. Members can be as involved as they want to be and participate in things that meet their interests, goals and schedules. Lincoln County 4-H has a combination of club meetings and project meetings. Our club meetings are held during school hours once monthly for 5th grade and every other month for our 6th– 8th grade students. Our program meetings coordinate with our two main programs, Project Achievement (DPA) and Poultry Judging. Project Achievement is a program where youth research, write, and present an original speech and poster at a competition. Poultry Judging is a program in which youth learn about evaluating laying hens for productivity. Lincoln County 4-H also provides opportunities for socializing, fundraising, community service, and summer camp.
To join 4-H in Lincoln County, youth must be in 5th grade on September 1st. In 4-H events, our 5th graders are “cloverleafs”, our 6th-8th graders are “juniors” and our 9th-12th graders are “seniors.” Homeschooled students are welcome to join, and students may be members of both FFA and 4H (However, they have to pick 4-H or FFA for each livestock species that they show. For example, they can show heifers with FFA and steers with 4-H.). Georgia 4-H is open to all youth living in Lincoln County regardless of race, color, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, or disability.
There is currently no fee to enroll in Lincoln County 4-H, but students must have a completed enrollment card on file. Enrollment cards will be available at the first club meeting or may be completed online at: https://tinyurl.com/4HEnrollment2021.
Enrollment cards will be due by October 31, 2020, for the Georgia 4-H 2021 year.
Important Dates
Elementary Club Meetings (in school, 5th grade)
TBD
Middle School Club Meetings (in school, 6-8th grade)
Sept 18, 2020
Nov 13, 2020
Jan 22, 2020
Mar 19, 2020
High School Club Meetings (after school at 4H office, 9th-12th grade)
TBD
District Project Achievement
February 13, 2021 Cloverleaf Project Achievement at Rock Eagle
March 5-7, 2021 Junior/Senior Project Achievement at Rock Eagle
Poultry Judging
April 16, 2021 Area Contest at Oglethorpe County
April 30, 2021 State Contest at UGA Poultry Science
2021 Summer Camps
May 31 -June 4 Senior Camp at Rock Eagle
June 7–11 Junior Camp at Jekyll Island
June 28–July 2 Cloverleaf Camp at Rock Eagle
Contact us at uge3181@uga.edu or 706-359-3233 with any questions regarding our 4-H program and opportunities!
Robyn Stewart
Northeast District Extension | Lincoln County Extension Coordinator
