It won’t be another Olympics. It will be a big deal, however, to
thousands of young
Americans. For four years starting in 1998, Atlanta will be the
host city for the
National 4-H Congress. A site selection committee made the
announcement this week.
“National 4-H Congress is the premiere event for 4-H across our
country,” said Bo
Ryles, state 4-H leader with the University of Georgia Extension
Service. “Cities
nationwide bid for the Congress. We’re thrilled the committee
chose Atlanta.”
National 4-H Congress brings together 4-H’ers from across the
nation and U.S.
territories. The teens will discuss challenges they will face in
the future and will search
for solutions.
The Congress convenes the day after Thanksgiving each year. It
lasts for four days.
“National 4-H Congress began as a recognition program for
outstanding performance in
project areas,” said Susan Stewart, who coordinates the event.
“It still is,” said Stewart, a UGA 4-H specialist. “But it has
expanded to be an
educational experience that exceeds the scope of what any one
state could offer.”
Using the lessons of the past 80 years, National 4-H Congress
combines its young
members’ leadership, citizenship and technological skills. And
it puts them to work.
The big event almost ended in 1994.
“National 4-H Council determined that (as it was), it could no
longer be funded,”
Stewart said. “After National Council abandoned sponsorship,
states picked it up and
redefined the mission as an educational experience. They
strengthened the program
from just a recognition event.”
National Congress also has changed to mirror the changing face
of 4-H.
With more than 5.5 million members (more than 170,000 in
Georgia), 4-H reaches an
ever-changing population. It now includes 1 million city
dwellers and more than 2
million suburbanites. Only a little more than 700,000 live on
farms. About 24 percent
are minorities.
“We haven’t abandoned our agricultural roots,” Stewart
said. “We’ve expanded the
audience we serve.”
4-H reaches city and suburban kids in the same way it reached
rural students at the turn
of the century.
“Experiential learning works whether you’re raising a steer in
Hahira or a backyard
garden in Decatur,” Stewart said. “We’ve found urban and
suburban applications for
agriculture. And we’ve established 4-H as the premiere
organization teaching
leadership and citizenship to America’s youth.”
Georgia’s 4-H reputation helped land National Congress in
Atlanta.
“We now hope National 4-H Congress will help us spotlight
Georgia’s outstanding
program,” Ryles said. “We hope it will introduce 4-H to a new
generation of
Georgians.”
The Congress will bring more than 1,200 young people to the city
each year.
“This program will give us an opportunity to unite young people
from a multicultural
base to network, discuss youth issues and establish
relationships they will build on for
the rest of their lives,” Stewart said. “Atlanta will be a part
of that.”
One big part of the learning experience of the event is
community service.
“What better place to teach service and diversity than ‘Atlanta:
The City Too Busy to
Hate’?” Stewart said. “That’s a vital message these young people
need to take home.”
Stewart hopes the students won’t leave without a good dose of
Southern hospitality.
“We want them to see the new South. This is a progressive region
with the best our
country has to offer in climate, industry and agriculture,” she
said. “We have shown a
cooperation of mutual respect between agriculture and business.
And that link is clear
in Atlanta.
“Plus, Atlanta offers gracious living you can’t get any other
place in the world,” she
said.
