To many, summer is a time for relaxation, a time for the beach, for relaxing in the sand, for swimming, for parties, for staying up all night and sleeping all day.
However, hundreds of thousands of youth across the nation are getting up early, baking cookies, taking pictures, and sewing until they can't see straight.They are preparing hogs, sheep and goats, practicing how to talk to a judge and spending all day in the heat. They are preparing for the biggest event of the summer: The 4-H County Fair.
To many, the county fair is a time for carnival rides and funnel cakes, baseball games and demolition derbies, local celebrities and Fair Idol.
To 4-H members, it is all that and so much more. It is a time to present projects that have been worked on all year. It is a time to prove the superiority of great-grandma's secret cookie recipe. It is time for clubs to band together and work to create the coolest float for the county parade.
It is a time of friendly competition, where kids are taught to win with humility and lose with dignity. It is a time where 4-H-participants from all different clubs and all different walks of life come together for fun and fellowship.
4-H is often stereotyped as something "farm kids" do, something that is kind of lame or something super old-fashioned.
However, I strongly believe that that is not the case. 4-H is something for everyone. It teaches leadership, public speaking and what it takes to run a proper business meeting. It teaches responsibility and pride in your work. It shows you how to graciously accept praise and gratefully accept criticism. It teaches you how to be a role model for the younger kids in your club and the importance of respect for others. 4-H is a model of "making the best better."
This summer, instead of spending all day doing nothing but looking at a screen, I encourage you to visit your local county fair. Stop into some of the 4-H buildings. Compliment someone on all the work they put into this year. Buy some delicious cookies from the bake sale (I promise you they will compete with your grandma's best recipe). Tell a 4-H leader how impressed you are with the dignity and respect of the 4-H members. In short, support your county fair.
