Lincoln County youth celebrate National 4-H Week Oct. 7-13

October 7-13 is National 4-H Week, and Lincoln County is celebrating the 4-H youth who have made an impact on the community, and are stepping up to the challenges of a complex and changing world. Throughout the week area 4-H clubs and families will be putting up displays in various locations in the county to promote 4-H and celebrate National 4-H Week. Twenty-two 4-H members submitted posters for the National 4-H Week Poster Contest conducted by the 4-H Board of Directors that will be on display in the lower level of the Lincoln County Service Center during the week. To wrap up and continue the promotion of 4-H, Lincoln County 4-H and UW-Extension will be hosting Project Discovery Day on Saturday, Oct. 20 at the Lincoln County Service Center in Merrill. Project Discovery Day is a day for 4-H and other community youth to learn new skills and have fun exploring the many opportunities the 4-H program in Lincoln County offers.

"Being an Ambassador has been the most valuable activity to me because I have been able to give back to a program that I love. As a young 4-H member I always looked forward to 4-H events and could not wait for them to happen. At these events there often were older youth who made the experience even better. As an older youth now I hope that younger youth look up to me the same way that I looked up to older youth and I hope that they will someday be an ambassador too," said Steven Roets, member of the Hamburg Hawks 4-H Club and Lincoln County 4-H Ambassador.

Recent findings from Tufts University's 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development indicate that young people in 4-H are three times more likely to contribute to their communities than youth not participating in 4-H. Notably, the Tufts research discovered that the structured learning, encouragement and adult mentoring that 4-H'ers receive play a vital role in helping them actively contribute to their communities. In Lincoln County, more than 300 4-H members and 160 volunteers are involved in 4 H.

Also during National 4-H Week, hundreds of thousands of youth from all around the nation will complete a single, innovative experiment on 4-H National Youth Science Day, which will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 10. The 2012 National Science Experiment, 4-H Eco-Bot Challenge, explores how robots can be used to preserve and protect the environment, while offering a glimpse into the future of science, technology, engineering and math. Youth involved in the Lincoln County 4-H After School clubs will be participating in this experiment during their October meetings.

4-H youth are a living breathing, culture-changing revolution for doing the right thing, breaking through obstacles and pushing our country forward by making a measurable difference right where they live. Learn how you can Join the Revolution of Responsibility at 4-H.org/revolution, or contact Debbie or Amanda at the UW-Extension office at (715) 539-1072 or visit our website at lincoln.uwex.edu or subscribe to the Lincoln County 4-H Blog fyi.uwex.edu/lincolncounty4h/ for up to the minute 4-H news. Wisconsin 4-H Youth Development is a program of the University of Wisconsin-Extension, Cooperative Extension in partnership with local, state and federal government in each Wisconsin county.