4-H Emblem

What exactly is 4-H? 4-H is an organization sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, established chiefly to instruct young people, originally in rural areas, in modern farming methods and other useful skills, as carpentry and home economics. 4-H is a program that started in the late 1800s, the 4-H emblem was created and changed throughout the years to what it is today, and has made many different types of advancements throughout the changing society.

The roots of 4-H were started in the late 1800s and was officially recognized in the early 1900s. Before there was any clubs, programs or even the 4-H program entirely there was only small little corn contests and the Farmers’ Institutes, according to “ 4-H History Timeline,” O.J. Kerns

When the first 4-H emblem was created it wasn’t a four leaf clover. It was a three leaf clover. Within “4-H Emblem,” it states O.H. Benson created the first 4-H emblem design in 1907 along with Jessie Field Shambaugh.This first design of the emblem was a three leaf clover with H’s on each pedal. The three H’s stood for Head, Heart, and Hands. A few years after the first 4-H emblem was created which was a three leaf clover, O.H. Benson decided in 1911 that the emblem should be changed into a four leaf clover which would stand for Head, Heart, Hand, and Hustle. Later that same year,1911, the new 4-H emblem design went to a club leaders meeting in Washington, DC. The design was approved, so the new 4-H emblem was going to be a four leaf clover with an H on each leaf. However instead of having the four H’s stand for Head, Heart, Hands, and Hustle O.B. Martin suggested that the four H’s stand for Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. ("The History of 4-H")These meaning for the four H’s are still used today in the 4-H pledge and also along with the four leaf

Today’s 4-H program has made many advancements since it was first started. When 4-H was first started 4-H clubs were consisted of various boys’ and girls’ clubs that had to do with agriculture, home economics, and other related subjects according to “ History of 4-H | University of Maryland Extension.” Today 4-H clubs are consisted of boys and girls from different communities that can participate and do tons of different kinds of projects. Since 2010 to today’s date which is March 8, 2016 to many years beyond this the 4-H program has changed due to the drastically changing technology. In 2010 in Pope County the 4-H program mainly used paper copies for different types of information from fair updates, project areas, registering for livestock/projects for the county fair, and many more. Today however Pope County is using the internet and emailing the updates to 4-Her’s and their families. They do have some paper copies of things too, but they are mostly doing things online and through emails. 4-H has become a very big and popular program throughout the nation. The 4-H foundation started off as small little community corn contests, but stated at “4-H Today| An Overview,” today’s 4-H program has about 6.3 million youth participating throughout the program. From the 6.3 million kids that participate about 1.5 million kids participate in 4-H clubs,