Since 1902, 4-H has served and engaged young people in every part of Minnesota. The 4-H program empowers youth to be true leaders. Through learning and leadership experiences and with the support of caring adults, youth in 4-H discover their sparks (or passions) and build the skills they need for a lifetime.
Minnesota 4-H Mission
To engage youth, in partnership with adults, in quality learning opportunities that enable them to shape and reach their full potential as active citizens in a global community.
Why 4-H is Unique
•Our methods are based on research
•We teach youth to learn by doing
•Volunteers receive training
•Youth learn how to solve problems, make decisions and communicate ideas
•We are the largest youth organization in Minnesota
•We are the only youth organization tied to the research base of our nation’s land-grant university system, which allows the University of Minnesota Extension staff, and the volunteers they work with, to receive training based on the most up-to-date research on youth development theory and practice.
How Do Youth
Participate in 4-H?
4-H activities are open to youth in kindergarten through one year past high school in hundreds of locations across the state. We encourage youth to join a club. In clubs, small groups of youth and volunteer leaders meet regularly to work on projects, serve their communities and build leadership skills. Youth may choose to take part in short-term experiences, such as summer camp, a team preparing for a single competition or
an animal training day.
Youth can design their own activities or take part in a structured one. Our unique, learn-by-doing model teaches young people essential skills such as leadership, problem solving, decision making, coping, communicating and teamwork.
4-H Youth look forward to taking the projects they’ve worked on to the County Fair and hopefully the State Fair. 4-H at Minnesota county fairs are not just fun annual events.
Every summer, tens of thousands of 4-H youth participate in county fairs to showcase the knowledge and skills they’ve gained throughout the year, and to continue their learning experiences.
How Does Learning
Happen in 4-H?
The 4-H Slogan is “Learn by Doing.” The 4-H slogan is the educational philosophy of the 4-H program. Since young people learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process, 4-H programs are designed to provide hands-on experiences that are reinforced through personal and group reflection and application: “do-reflect-apply.” This research-based educational methodology is called “Experiential Learning.”
Who is in Minnesota 4-H?
In 2023, more than 41,000 Minnesota youth participated in an Extension youth development program, representing all areas of the state:
•41% Rural/towns (fewer than 10,000 people)
•34% Farm
•17% Town/cities (10,000-50,000 people)
•6% Suburbs
•2% Big cities (50,000-plus people)
Houston County 4-H
Houston County 4-H has a strong and active 4-H program. We currently have 17 clubs: 15 traditional clubs and two special interest clubs. We had 420 youth members in 2023 and 124 amazing volunteers!
At last year’s county fair, Houston County 4-H members brought 555 total head of livestock and 1,015 non-livestock projects. That means 4-H youth grew in their knowledge through 1,570 projects! The most popular projects last year were Crafts & Fine Arts, Agronomy & Horticulture, Swine and Dairy.
If you are interested in learning more about how to be a member of Houston County 4-H, we would love to hear from you! Please contact the Houston County Extension Office at (507) 725-5807 or email Rebecca Paulson at mnext-houston@umn.edu.
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