4-H'ers for Life
To say the Ziegler family has
a romance with the North
Dakota 4-H program might be an overstatement. But not
by much.
 Larry and Barbara Ziegler, then Barbara Haugen,
were crowned 4-H king and queen of the 1961 McLean
County Fair. Larry, a member of the Flickertail Farmers Club,
endured the midway rides to impress Barbara, a member of the Nimble Fingers Club, during
their first date the next evening.
More than 40 years later, Barbara still loves midway rides.
Larry still dislikes them. They're both still stalwart supporters of 4-H
and have passed their love of 4-H to their children. Daughter Karen
Skjold is a 4-H leader and her children Khale (12) and Clair (10) are in 4-H. Son Steve was crowned 4-H king. He lives in Hazen with
his wife, Dawn, whom he met at a state 4-H conference. Daughter
Deb, of Minot, was McLean County 4-H Princess and an active
4-H'er.
"It was strictly rural clubs back
then," Larry notes. "We had lots of livestock and agriculture-related
projects." Larry now serves as president of the McLean County Fair.
"We had as many projects this year as we've ever had, but they are much more diverse.
Everything from photography to rocketry."
That diversity is reflected in the activities of Khale and
Clair. Karen's children are in a club in Grand Forks. Last year, the
club had a focus on different sports. This year, the group is planning
a fishing trip with parents.
Keeping parents involved is a challenge, Karen notes.
"If the kids are going to get anything out of 4-H, parents have to be
involved," Barbara says. She and Larry served as 4-H leaders for
years. Larry was leader of his former club for more than 20 years.
"Lots of clubs have failed, and now we have one club
where there were eight or 10 clubs. The population in the country is
aging. There just is not the number of kids there used to
be," Larry said.
"And we are not the 4-H we used to
be," says Brad Cogdill, state 4-H director.
"We're still reaching youth through local clubs, but
we also reach them through after-school programming and
school enrichment programs. We also do training and development
activities for people involved with youth."
Examples of school enrichment programs include an embryology project to enhance science in the classroom, food safety
programs, and character education, teamwork and conflict
resolution curricula for teachers.
The national 4-H centennial this year was more forward-looking than nostalgic. Activities focused on community
service. County, state and national
"conversations" with youth were held to assess their needs. From North Dakota, several themes emerged:
- Communities and organizations need to develop
programs that promote cooperation among business,
schools, communities and youth groups.
- Youth organizations need to explore mentoring
programs that develop partnerships between individuals that
build trust, respect and tolerance.
- Extracurricular activities such as 4-H, Scouts,
special interest clubs, etc. need to be embraced by schools
to provide the best opportunity for youth success.
- Communities need to involve youth in their
decision-making processes to encourage youth to take pride
and responsibility in their communities.
"We'll be developing new programming as a result of those
discussions," Cogdill says. "They give us some great direction
for moving into 4-H's second century."
One thing that hasn't and won't change is 4-H's family
focus. "Many families have parents and brothers and sisters involved in 4-H programs. That has not changed," Cogdill says.
"We're stressing the importance of family activities with
today's busy lifestyles. Families are looking for opportunities to spend time
together."
That's something Karen and her family appreciate. Her
grandmother was a 4-H leader, making her children the fourth
generation of her family to be involved in 4-H.
"We're not going
to do cows in our club. We've gone to rockets, computers and
electronics, and we also touch on writing and careers.
I'm very
grateful that 4-H has kept up with the times."
For more information: Brad Cogdill,
701-231-7253, bcogdill@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
Garfield