By Faith Peppers
University of
Georgia
When the National 4-H Congress convenes in Atlanta Nov. 25-29,
participants will represent 46 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
This year’s congress, the 83rd annual national meeting for the
103-year-old organization, will also welcome international
visitors from Ghana and Liberia.
“Having international participants is a first for National 4-H
Congress,” said Susan Stewart, executive director of National 4-
H Congress. “We routinely have participants from the U.S.
Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, but
never from other countries. This year, we got a letter from
these two countries, asking if they could come and observe. And
we were delighted to have them.”
National 4-H Congress brings together representatives from
states across the nation to participate in leadership, service
learning and educational programs. Each state sets different
criteria for being selected to attend the event.
“Georgia’s representatives are the winners from our State 4-H
Congress project achievement process,” said Bo Ryles, state
leader for Georgia 4-H, a unit of the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “This year
we will send 66 Georgia students to National Congress to
represent our 198,000 Georgia 4-H’ers and to host the visiting
4-H’ers.”
Living well
During their five days in Atlanta, the 1,100 delegates will
hear from a variety of speakers, including Miss America Deidre
Downs. They will attend educational workshops, too, on living
healthy lifestyles.
“The workshops will include leadership skills, facing eating
disorders, teenage depression and how to avoid it, healthy
foods with preventative properties, and sport nutrition,”
Stewart said. “We will also have an Alpharetta, Ga., policeman
on hand to teach a class on personal safety. And instructors
will take the delegates through classes in Pilates and yoga.”
Giving back
Service learning is a major part of what 4-H is all about.
During this conference, the delegates will take a class in
baking as a gift and learn how it can be used for community
service. They will also get out and help Atlanta.
“During the week, each teen participates in a community service
activity,” Stewart said. “Some will assist at the Festival of
Trees set up. Others will help record oral histories from
senior citizens. Some will help clean up local parks and Zoo
Atlanta as a part of the second-largest day of community
service for Hands on Atlanta.”
Since 4-H celebrated its centennial in 2003, the students began
bringing a dime for each year 4-H has been in existence. “This
year, each 4-H’er will bring 103 dimes,” Stewart
explained. “The money goes to a savings account. And when we
have enough, we will partner with Habitat for Humanity to build
Clover House in Atlanta.”
4-H is a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It’s
administered in every state by the land-grant university. The
organization has more than 7 million members nationwide. It’s
offered in every county in Georgia through the University of
Georgia Cooperative Extension office. To find a 4-H program
near you, call 1-800-ASK-UGA1, or visit on-line at
ugaextension.com.
