More than a century ago, the first “head, heart, hands, and health”, or 4-H, clubs were formed to help improve farming practices and farm life.  While agriculture and rural values remain a large part of 4-H, the organization has grown to include young people from all backgrounds and types of communities.  Through after-school programs, bilingual projects, technology clubs, partnerships with the military, and many other innovative approaches, 4-H remains one of the best hallmarks of American life.

This year, 4-H celebrates two events during National 4-H Week: the 4-H National Youth Science Day and the induction ceremony for the National 4-H Hall of Fame.

4-H National Youth Science Day
On October 10, 2012, millions of young people across the nation will become scientists for the day during the fifth annual 4-H National Youth Science Day (NYSD). NYSD is the premier national rallying event for year-round 4-H Science programming, bringing together youth, volunteers and educators from the nation’s 111 land-grant colleges and universities to simultaneously complete the National Science Experiment.

In this year's experiment, the 4-H Eco-Bot Challenge, youth will enhance their engineering skills by learning to think like a robotics engineer, assembling their own robots, also known as Eco-bots, and control surfaces in order to manage an environmental clean up. Youth will then test the interaction between the Eco-Bot’s environmental engineering design features and various control surface configurations to determine the most effective environmental clean-up solution for a simulated toxic spill. The experiment will be conducted in hundreds of locations across the country. Youth in the DC metro area will participate in the experiment at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, MD.  (Visit the 4-H National Youth Science Day page for more information)

National 4-H Hall of Fame
The National 4-H Hall of Fame annually honors a select group of volunteers, supporters, staff, and pioneers who made major contributions to 4-H at local, state and national levels. On Friday, October 12, sixteen new laureates will be inducted at a ceremony at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center. They will be added to the National 4-H Hall of Fame web site.

Other Opportunities
In addition to these national events, many local 4-H programs plan special activities to showcase 4-H work in their local communities.

National 4-H Week provides a great opportunity to put your local 4-H program in the spotlight! 4-H has created a toolkit to help celebrate 4-H youth by sharing their stories and recognizing their commitment to making a positive impact in their communities. Encourage new 4-H youth, volunteers, and supporters to get involved and to Join the Revolution of Responsibility. 

For more information:
Learn more about 4-H and how you can get involved