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This is our second year in 4h. I have a hard time making sense of the acitvities. We live in an urban area, so it may be a bit different than in a rural area. Our primary focus is on the vet assistant project.

 

I have heard that there are scholarship possibilities. What contributes towards getting scholarships? There are leadership camps, project days (meeting at the extension office and being directed in activities such as cooking, photo, etc,), contests to enter, etc. My children do like photography, cooking, and sewing. What does all of this add up to? Not that we wouldn't do some of it because they enjoy it and learn from it. We are very busy and I am trying to figure out how to choose what to do.

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It probably varies by state, but here there are opportunities for different levels of involvement.

 

The lowest level would be attending once-a-month club meetings, and those aren't mandatory in our club except one per year. There are also other club activities scheduled that are optional.

 

Most kids do take at least a few projects to the county fair but beyond that it's dependent on the interests and desire of the member plus committment level of the family. Fair projects vary from simple inexpensive activities (making a pie crust) to very expensive, time consuming activites (ie making a piece of furniture). Projects that do well may be selected for state fair, but attendance is optional.

 

A higher level of club involvement would be to be a club officer. This would involve planning meetings and activities and helping to run the meetings. Most kids in our area who want to go further in 4-H (such as use it as a basis for scholarships) would be involved at this level and beyond.

 

Going from there higher committment levels would be involvement in the countywide student leadership council, participation in leadership events, state events, record keeping for state and national levels (very time intensive), older kids being involved with mentoring youger kids through specific events or even becoming a club leader themselves, etc.

 

My kids are involved in a lot of other activities so they are at the lower committment level--attend club meetings, maybe hold a non time demanding office, take some projects to the fair and they stop there. 4-H won't be a route to scholarships for them at this level, but they've gained a lot from it and I'm glad they're involved.

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This is our second year in 4h. I have a hard time making sense of the acitvities. We live in an urban area, so it may be a bit different than in a rural area. Our primary focus is on the vet assistant project.

 

I have heard that there are scholarship possibilities. What contributes towards getting scholarships? There are leadership camps, project days (meeting at the extension office and being directed in activities such as cooking, photo, etc,), contests to enter, etc. My children do like photography, cooking, and sewing. What does all of this add up to? Not that we wouldn't do some of it because they enjoy it and learn from it. We are very busy and I am trying to figure out how to choose what to do.

 

I am still learning about the scholarship opportunities b/c we aren't into high school years yet--soon, though:eek:. I know our county kennel club offers a scholarship to kids in our dog club. They like to award it to kids who participate in kennel club events in addition to the 4h events. We live in NJ and I was told by a parent of a college age 4her that her participation in 4h was a big factor in her being accepted into Rutgers University. Here in NJ Rutgers sponsors much of our 4h program.

I would say you need to talk to either your club leader or county agent to find out what is available for scholarships and get a list of activities. You may also want to talk to 4h parents in your club who now have college students (who were part of the club). It might be possible for your county agent to put together an info night about scholarship opportunities.

 

How 4H is administered varies from state to state. You are right, there are many opportunities, and it is impossible to take part in everything that is offered. My kids are in both a dog club and a horse club. I have to take into consideration what our other commitments are before I agree to participate in much of what is offered.

 

I think if I were you I would probably try to stick to activities that are most closely related to the Vet Assistant project, since that is your focus. The rest of what is offered you can decide on a case by case basis according to how much time you have and how great an interest. Often activities come up that aren't directly related to our area of interest, but I will have dc participate because I know it will help with a particular skill that they will need---public speaking is a good example. So you'll have to take that into account too. And, sometimes you will have to let great opportunities just go by b/c life is too busy.

 

HTH

 

Shannon

 

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I have heard that many high school grads include their 4-H record books as part of their portfolios. I believe that one of Micki and David Colfax's sons did that when he applied to Harvard.

 

Our San Diego 4-H club was great; dds would probably have stayed with it through high school. Sadly, we moved to another part of the state where the whole focus was on the county fair, and when the fair fizzled out, so did 4-H.

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So the feedback seems to be to do what goes along with your main interests and not worry about the other stuff? As well as the vet assistant project, I thought 4h would be a good fit for this daughter because she likes many things - cooking, sewing, knitting, photography, and animals. And she's good at them. I also have 2 younger kids that I can see doing more and more 4h as they get older.

 

I guess I am wondering if things like winning blue ribbons at the county fair add up to some sort of points that go towards getting big awards that would look good on scholarship applications.

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It varies a lot by state, county, and local extension office resources plus staff involvement. So, some counties have much more going on and a wider range of options than others.

 

Our county has an incredibly active and supportive extension office and while there are simple activities such as you describe, there are many opportunities for older kids that can contribute to scholarships in the future. Our 4-H council awards a $2000.00 scholarship to one graduating senior 4-H'er per year based on life achievements...that would mean not just 4-H but also sports, school, music, you name it. Additionally, the kids involved in livestock can win scholarships from our local farm insurance agencies, farm supply stores, meat processing plants, graineries, etc. There are leadership awards for the kids that took an interest in politics and were active in our "capitol" experience opportunities. MSU offers six or ten (can't remember how exactly) $2500.00 per year ($10,000.00 total) scholarships to 4-h'ers accepted to MSU as incoming traditional freshman. The entrepreneurship program also offers scholarships from a group of area businesses who have joined together to help kids learn to set up and run a business.

 

Dh and I lead a science 4-H club as well as being the co-superintendents of the Youth Sciences Division of 4-h for our county. We do two major, huge science experience events per year open to youth in our county as well as meeting 10 times per year to do science experiments and industrial science projects with our club. We also have on community service project per year. Additionally, the older members of our club, for the first time ever, have registered to compete in TARC (Team America Rocketry Challenge). This rocketry team, if successful, will compete for $60,000.00 in scholarship money plus a chance to go to Paris, France paid for by Raytheon and NASA to represent the US at an international model rocketry competition. Last year, Penn Manor high school's senior team won both the nationals and international competition.

 

Oh, and clubs in our county must meet a minimum of four times per year and must complete a community service project each year.

 

DD, the paramedic student, is also beginning a whole new program for 4-H'ers next year called "Health and Medical Sciences Division". Students will have a chance to learn CPR, first aid, anatomy and physiology, tour hospitals and nursing homes, do volunteer work in medical facilities, take part in a disaster drill (playing the victims and learning how EMS, Police, FBI, and National Guard respond to and coordinate services in a time of major crisis), and job shadow medical professionals. There will be nutritional training, healthy cooking classes, etc. She is going to be a co-superintendent of this along with a registered nurse who is affiliated with 4-H.

 

You are not required to avail yourself only of the services provided within your county. You are welcome to travel to other neighboring counties to participate in their events too. So, explore your options. It could be that you are in an area in which there isn't much "fire" or passion for the many programs that 4-H offers.

 

Faith

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Ours here is a mess, so I can't really give you much useful info. 4-H and Scouts used to be great avenues toward scholarship dollars for kids. I've just read in the past year, however, that some liberal schools are actually declining admissions (apparently) of those who include things like scouting and 4-H on their resumes....

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Ours here is a mess, so I can't really give you much useful info. 4-H and Scouts used to be great avenues toward scholarship dollars for kids. I've just read in the past year, however, that some liberal schools are actually declining admissions (apparently) of those who include things like scouting and 4-H on their resumes....

 

 

I really can't see why this would be true. Why would an extracurricular activity be the deciding factor in college admission?

 

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Okay, I'm not linking this to start any sort of political debate of any type whatsoever, just to show the article where I read this info. and I'm copying the pertinent part of it and highlighting the bit about 4-H, etc.:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/opinion/19douthat.html?_r=1

 

"Last year, two Princeton sociologists, Thomas Espenshade and Alexandria Walton Radford, published a book-length study of admissions and affirmative action at eight highly selective colleges and universities. Unsurprisingly, they found that the admissions process seemed to favor black and Hispanic applicants, while whites and Asians needed higher grades and SAT scores to get in. But what was striking, as Russell K. Nieli pointed out last week on the conservative Web site Minding the Campus, was which whites were most disadvantaged by the process: the downscale, the rural and the working-class.

 

This was particularly pronounced among the private colleges in the study. For minority applicants, the lower a family’s socioeconomic position, the more likely the student was to be admitted. For whites, though, it was the reverse. An upper-middle-class white applicant was three times more likely to be admitted than a lower-class white with similar qualifications.

 

This may be a money-saving tactic. [I will agree and note that I saw this in my own son's admission to the private school he attends this year and the makeup of other students who are on campus with him.] In a footnote, Espenshade and Radford suggest that these institutions, conscious of their mandate to be multiethnic, may reserve their financial aid dollars “for students who will help them look good on their numbers of minority students,†leaving little room to admit financially strapped whites.

 

But cultural biases seem to be at work as well. Nieli highlights one of the study’s more remarkable findings: while most extracurricular activities increase your odds of admission to an elite school, holding a leadership role or winning awards in organizations like high school R.O.T.C., 4-H clubs and Future Farmers of America actually works against your chances. Consciously or unconsciously, the gatekeepers of elite education seem to incline against candidates who seem too stereotypically rural or right-wing or “Red America.†"

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But cultural biases seem to be at work as well. Nieli highlights one of the study’s more remarkable findings: while most extracurricular activities increase your odds of admission to an elite school, holding a leadership role or winning awards in organizations like high school R.O.T.C., 4-H clubs and Future Farmers of America actually works against your chances. Consciously or unconsciously, the gatekeepers of elite education seem to incline against candidates who seem too stereotypically rural or right-wing or “Red America.†"

 

Wow! Thanks for posting this. I think this is really sad, but it won't change our commitment to 4H. In our area 4H offers so many varied opportunities and teaches so many valuable life skills, there is no way we would stop.

 

My DS (who is only 12) has been asked 3 times to present his public speaking project from 2 years ago to various community groups. Even the county health dept contacted me to ask him to give his presentation (it was related to dogs lowering blood pressure). He's too young now, but he will eventually be able to compete in public speaking at the state and even national level.

 

We don't live in a rural area, and I wonder if the stigma is coming from the idea that 4H is only for farmers kids. Even so, how sad that our society in general doesn't value farming or agricultural pursuits.

 

We probably won't be shooting for the 'elite' colleges anyway, but it is good to be aware that these biases exist. Whether or not they will affect your child's chances of admission to the college of his/her choice will probably vary depending on which college/university he/she is aiming for, what type of major he/she is pursuing, and how your state 4H is run. I would imagine the biases wouldn't come into play where universities or colleges are actively involved in 4H, as in the case of Rutgers and MSU. I know that 4H involvement helped in the case of our dog club president--but she is majoring in Equine management.

 

Just my thoughts on the info in the article and how it might impact college admissions.

 

Shannon

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I think the problem is that those controlling admissions to some universities are just waaaaaay too liberal and are doing something they shouldn't be doing - exhibiting bias towards those who they see as politically different from themselves.

 

I wouldn't let it stop my children from participating in anything I thought worthwhile, either. But I also steered mine toward more conservative universities, relatively speaking....

 

If there's a child who has big dreams of attending some very competitive "ivy league" type schools, they might want to modify their resume when applying to "fit" the profile that they think will get them accepted....

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It varies a lot by state, county, and local extension office resources plus staff involvement. So, some counties have much more going on and a wider range of options than others.

 

Our county has an incredibly active and supportive extension office and while there are simple activities such as you describe, there are many opportunities for older kids that can contribute to scholarships in the future. Our 4-H council awards a $2000.00 scholarship to one graduating senior 4-H'er per year based on life achievements...that would mean not just 4-H but also sports, school, music, you name it. Additionally, the kids involved in livestock can win scholarships from our local farm insurance agencies, farm supply stores, meat processing plants, graineries, etc. There are leadership awards for the kids that took an interest in politics and were active in our "capitol" experience opportunities. MSU offers six or ten (can't remember how exactly) $2500.00 per year ($10,000.00 total) scholarships to 4-h'ers accepted to MSU as incoming traditional freshman. The entrepreneurship program also offers scholarships from a group of area businesses who have joined together to help kids learn to set up and run a business.

 

Dh and I lead a science 4-H club as well as being the co-superintendents of the Youth Sciences Division of 4-h for our county. We do two major, huge science experience events per year open to youth in our county as well as meeting 10 times per year to do science experiments and industrial science projects with our club. We also have on community service project per year. Additionally, the older members of our club, for the first time ever, have registered to compete in TARC (Team America Rocketry Challenge). This rocketry team, if successful, will compete for $60,000.00 in scholarship money plus a chance to go to Paris, France paid for by Raytheon and NASA to represent the US at an international model rocketry competition. Last year, Penn Manor high school's senior team won both the nationals and international competition.

 

Oh, and clubs in our county must meet a minimum of four times per year and must complete a community service project each year.

 

DD, the paramedic student, is also beginning a whole new program for 4-H'ers next year called "Health and Medical Sciences Division". Students will have a chance to learn CPR, first aid, anatomy and physiology, tour hospitals and nursing homes, do volunteer work in medical facilities, take part in a disaster drill (playing the victims and learning how EMS, Police, FBI, and National Guard respond to and coordinate services in a time of major crisis), and job shadow medical professionals. There will be nutritional training, healthy cooking classes, etc. She is going to be a co-superintendent of this along with a registered nurse who is affiliated with 4-H.

 

You are not required to avail yourself only of the services provided within your county. You are welcome to travel to other neighboring counties to participate in their events too. So, explore your options. It could be that you are in an area in which there isn't much "fire" or passion for the many programs that 4-H offers.

 

Faith

:iagree: Your best bet would be going to the local County Extension Office and speaking with the 4H Agent about local and county opportunities. One simple way to prepare is the 4H Record Book Project. The other opportunities are endless and your County Agent will help you find your niche. We loved 4H!!

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