Head, Heart, Health, Hands

As we close out National 4-H Week, I've been doing a lot of thinking this week about what 4-H has done for me, and frankly, I don't know where I'd be without this great youth program. I don't think it was ever discussed in my household if I would join; it was just a given, and when I turned 8 years-old by that magical January 1 age, I joined my very first 4-H club, the Sandhill Hillbillies in Hooker County, Nebraska. It seems to me I enrolled in every project under the sun, but my dad's and my main focus was the beef project. I loved my cattle project, and spent every waking moment in the barn and corral with Herfy, my first calf. That was in 1982. I still have the trophy I won with Herfy. It has gone with me EVERYWHERE, and I do mean everywhere. While the others are left to collect dust at my parents' house, that little gold plastic fat cow on a red velvet crown standing a marble base was one of my proudest accomplishments--I mean I was 9, and it was the Hooker County Fair.

I think that little trophy goes with me from college to college and house to house as a reminder. A reminder of what 4-H has done for me. The next year, my family moved to Dawes County, where I joined Southern Valley 4-H Club, and started gaining my event planning skills. Our 4-H club started a spring lamb progress show, and I was a control freak even as a kid, serving on various organizational committees. But, Dawes County 4-H programs really expanded my horizons. I became involved in public speaking, photography, geneaology, and one of my favorite projects, "Teen Shop Smart"--you know for the non-sewers.

My second heifer, Holly, and I far exceeded my expectations that year, as I won the county fair--not only did I have champion Herford Heifer, I also had grand heifer, a feat I accomplished three consecutive years!



But, I also learned that 4-H wasn't about winning. It was about friendships. It was about record keeping. It was about sportsmanship and helping others. It was about community service. It was about parliamentary procedure. And, most of all, it was about memories. I can honestly say that some of my closest friends and deepest memories revolve around the friendships I've made and the time I've spent in 4-H.

4-H teaches responsibility. Yep, I had heifers and steers and lambs to feed, rinse, walk, and care for everyday. And, record books.


How many of you have sat around the kitchen table the night(s) before record books are do screaming and battling it out with your kids or parents? (depending on your age) That was the Stannard household scenario about every year in late September/early October for about a week straight, as we dug for receipts--cattle feed, film processing, or for photos or tried to recall something for that great 4-H story that Don Huls, my Extension Agent, was bound to read. I never really knew who was more relieved that record books were finished in my home--me or my parents.

4-H teaches life skills. I've already touched on this briefly, but if it weren't for 4-H, I doubt if I would be an event planner/activities director for a beef breed association today. I received so many of my "roots" for my professsion in the 4-H programs. I took photography in 4-H; now I take cattle photos nearly every weekend across the country. I wrote and delivered speeches every year in the 4-H speech contest; today I can get on a microphone in front of 1,000 people to talk about Angus programs or do a radio interview about the beef industry. I livestock judged in 4-H; and weekly I attend livestock shows, and I can tell the difference between a good and not so good animal. In 4-H we had community service, ranging from clowning at a nursing home to picking up trash in the road side for miles; today I know the importance of "giving back" and still volunteer time for worthy causes.

So, fast forward to the last two chapters of my 4-H career. I'm a sophomore in high school, and my parents uproot me from Nebraska to Kansas. This was pretty hard on a girl, but you know what I took with me? 4-H. That's right. I got involved in the Lawn Ridge 4-H club in Cheyenne County, and started livestock judging and meeting people all over Northwest Kansas. People that I'd later live with in college and then later in life even call my "best friends."

And now, an adult, 4-H still impacts my life. Each spring, I volunteer to share about my career with young people at the Global 4-H Conference in Kansas City. I attended this event as a 4-H member, and was so glad when I was contacted to be part of the program.

I know I am the person I am today because of this program called 4-H. "I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to better service and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world."