The Effingham Extension office was loaded to capacity as 4-H’ers came to kick off the 4-H 2015-16 school year. The program offers opportunities for youth to acquire knowledge, develop life skills, and form attitudes that will enable them to become self-directing, productive and contributing members of society.

This mission is accomplished, through “hands on” learning experiences, focused on agricultural and environmental issues, agriculture awareness, leadership, communication skills, foods and nutrition, health, energy conservation, and citizenship.

4-H is the world’s largest youth development organization consisting of youth ages 9-19. Effingham County students in fourth-sixth grades are known as Cloverleaf 4-H’ers, with the fourth and fifth grades meeting once a month within their classrooms. The seventh-eighth graders are called Junior 4-H’ers and the ninth-12th graders are called Senior 4-H’ers. Currently, the sixth-12th graders meet after school in one assembly at the Extension office and then are divided into separate groups for age appropriate curriculum and activities.

Effingham County 4-H also offers a program for homeschoolers, which is opened to children from kindergarten-12th grades. K-third grades are Cloverbuds, fourth-fifth are Cloverleafs, and both groups meet at the New Providence Baptist Church in Guyton on a monthly basis. The sixth-12th grade homeschoolers are invited to participate in the monthly meetings currently being held at the Extension office.

For more information on the 4-H programs or how you can make a difference in the life of a child by volunteering with Effingham County’s youth, contact the Extension office at 754-8040.