4-H growing in Worth County

Published 12:11 pm Saturday, February 19, 2011

NORTHWOOD, Iowa — The Worth County Hartland Achievers 4-H Club is holding its first-ever fundraiser tonight.

It is just one of three new 4-H Clubs formed in Worth County over the past six months.

“I think our 4-H program is doing extremely well with declining populations,” said Mindy Tenold, Worth County Extension youth coordinator. “I do feel we’re fortunate to have such a good, strong county program.”

Tenold said the name Hartland Achievers is the name of a Worth County club that previously disbanded. She said this is not a resurrection of the old club; rather, it’s the re-use of the name with a new group. This new club formed last fall as a general interest program, which means members focus on a wide variety of activities rather than just one specific area of interest.

The other two new 4-H Clubs are special interest groups: Worth County 4-H Beef Team and Worth County 4-H Lego and Robotics Club.

Tenold said the Lego and Robotics Club is partnering with the school.

Before these new clubs formed, it had been three years since any new clubs had formed in Worth County.

“We would like to have this happen every year,” Tenold said.

Susan Kliment, one of the Hartland Achievers’ leaders, has three sons who are all old enough to belong to 4-H. She knew a few of the older clubs had “fizzled out” over the past couple of years, and there seemed to be some interest in starting a new club among her sons, their friends and a few neighbor kids. Since holding its first meeting in October, the club is up to 20 members who range in age from fourth to seventh grades.

“We want to work on our communications, citizenship and leadership, which is typical,” Kliment said. “Our main focus is on helping kids to become leaders and care about the community they live in.”

With these new clubs, Worth County is now up to 15 4-H Clubs all together, including the two Clover Kids after school groups. According to Tenold, special interest groups are becoming more popular in Worth County, and many kids cross over and get involved in two different clubs at the same time.

Freeborn County has 17 4-H Clubs, including the clubs that meet at the schools and at other youth agencies.

Megan Thorson, 4-H youth coordinator for Freeborn County Extension, said the number of kids involved countywide has stayed steady, with an increase in the after school programs in recent years. The most recent new club to sprout in Freeborn County was the Shell Rock Club of Glenville, in 1997.

Thorson said two clubs have dissolved over the past four years, in less populated areas. One of those clubs was in the north tier of Freeborn County; the other, on the east side.

“A lot of those members will join other clubs. Some clubs still have 60 members in them,” she said. “How well the clubs do is really dependent on the leaders.”

Tenold agreed.

“Our success has everything to do with our volunteers,” she said. “We are fortunate enough to have amazing volunteers to give their time to really make this work.”

While Worth County Extension is focusing more on special interest groups, the Freeborn County Extension is keeping its concentration on the general interest groups. Thorson said this simply has to do with the differences between the Minnesota and Iowa extension goals for their youth programs.

“We want kids to be in many different things and not cross over, so each club does a variety of things,” Thorson said. “We have shooting sports, but any of the kids from any club can come to that.”

In contrast, specialty clubs are thriving in Worth County, including the Lego and Robotics Club, Beef Team, a garden club, a shooting club and an equine club, just to name a few.

The money raised from the Hartland Achievers’ fundraiser will go toward startup expenses along with T-shirts for club members, future club activities and community projects.