CLUBS

Yancey County 4H

4-H didn't really start in one time or place. It began around the start of the 20th century in the work of several people in different parts of the United States who were concerned about young people.

The seed of the 4-H idea of practical and "hands-on" learning came from the desire to make public school education more connected to country life. Early programs tied both public and private resources together for the purpose of helping rural youth.

During this time, researchers at experiment stations of the land-grant college system and USDA saw that adults in the farming community did not readily accept new agricultural discoveries. But, educators found that youth would "experiment" with these new ideas and then share their experiences and successes with the adults.

So rural youth programs became a way to introduce new agriculture technology to the adults. A.B. Graham started one such youth program in Ohio in 1902. It is considered the birth of the 4-H program in the U.S. When Congress created the Cooperative Extension Service at USDA in 1914, it included boys' and girls' club work. This soon became known as 4-H clubs - Head, Heart, Hands, and Health.

Yancey County 4H
North Carolina 4H