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Show interest. There is an urgent need for youth programs to assist the home, church, school and other youth groups with education. Four-H programs are providing youth with the necessary knowledge and skills which can contribute to an improved quality of life. They h ope to expand horizons and "make the best better." During Utah 4-H Week, March 2-8, more than 48,600 4-H members in the state will rededicate their heads to clearer thinking, their hearts to greater loyalty, their hands to larger service and tlneir health to better living. "Four-H - Expanding Horizons" is the 1980 4-H week theme and it cha llenges youth, ages 9 to ' 19, to develop their fullest potential and to "learn by dong." Utah 4-H'ers expand their horizons through projects and activities in areas such as community service, citizenship, food and nutrition, energy conservation, con-servation, health, safety, mechanical science, agriculture, horses, livestock, clothing, child care, consumer education, leisure-time hobbies and more, according to Dr. Gerald Olson, state 4-H leader at Utah State University. The most popular projects carried by Utah 4-H'ers in 1980are food and nutrition, one-on-one basketball and bicvcles. The average Utah 4-H'er is enrolled in two projects, Dr. Olson said. "More than 5,000 volunteer volun-teer leaders, of whom many are parents, contribute their time to Utah 4-H and help build skills and character in young people. We estimate that nationally each volunteer 4-H leader donates 20 eight-hour days annually to leadership responsibilities," respon-sibilities," he added. The 4-H program is one of the important extensions of Utah State University - an off-campus laboratory of learning. Subject matter specialists from the university provide up-to-date information and teaching . methods to the extension field staff and to volunteer leaders. Although it has roots in rural America, today's 4-H program is for all youth --rural --rural and urban - from all I economic and cultural backgrounds. In Utah, only about 5,000 4-H'ers live on farms. More than 20,000 live in small towns, and another 20,000 live in the city. All of these youth benefit equally from the real-life learning experiences of 4-H Dr. Olson stated. "Four-H complements formal education by helping youth develop skills of finding fin-ding and using information to deal with today's and tomorrow's decisions," the state leader declared. "Four-H helps youth improve their family and home life by encouraging family-oriented learning experiences which lead to closer parent-child relationships," he said. Nineteen-eighty has been set aside as "The Year of the Family", but the aim of 4-H is to make each year a year to strengthen families. Parent involvment and participation in 4-H programs is one of the keys to its success, Dr. Olson said. Young people can participate par-ticipate in 4-H in a variety of ways - - as members of organized clubs, in special interest groups and as enrollees in short term projects, such as the EF-NEP EF-NEP Program (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program), he pointed out. "To help youth become useful, self-reliant, responsible, and productive members of society is the aim of 4-H. Programs are designed to strengthen young peoples' ability to make intelligent decisions, ' solve problems, and manage their own affairs in an ever changing world," Dr. Olson said. . He said that studies of problem youth constantly show that this group possesses almost no recreational skill or special |