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Show Utah's 8,400 Members Observing 4-11 &uh Mieraeni Keek, lov. 5 -13 Nov. 5-13 is national 4-H club achievement week, and Utah's 8,400 4-H boys and girls and 1800 club leaders throughout the state will be holding county achievement programs. National 4-H club enrollment, growing rapidly each year, is now near thetwo-million mark, making it by far the largest rural youth organization in the world. Utah's 1949 4-H activities and accomplishments are here briefly brief-ly summarized by David Sharp, Jr., and Fern Shipley, supervisors supervis-ors of youth programs, Utah State Agricultural College Extension Ex-tension service. (The 4-H club program is administered by the Extension service, with county agricultural and home agents having charge in each county.) Most important folks in the 4-H picture, besides the members mem-bers themselves, are the volunteer volun-teer club leaders, who serve without reimbursement. Part of the goal of achievement week is to recognize this unselfish service and pay tribute to the accomplishments of these farmers farm-ers and homemakers. Recent fairs and exhibits have highlighted 4-H projects, Clothing1 Cloth-ing1 is the most popular project with the girls. Food preparation and preservation, home improvement improve-ment and home grounds beauti-fication beauti-fication are also popular. Beef projects lead the list for enrollment on the agricultural side of the 4-H picture. Dairy runs a close second, with swine and sheep also having high enrollment. en-rollment. Garden and poultry projects are definitely on the upswing. Handicraft projects are also growing in popularity. On the crops side, most members elect to grow cereals, sugar beets, or potatoes. Highlight of the year's training train-ing for local club leaders was the 30th annual 4-H club 'leaders 'lead-ers state training school, held at the USAC Feb. 28 - March 4. Two hundred representative I leaders from each county attended, at-tended, participating in general discussions pertaining to club methods and project training. Following the state .school, leader training schools were held in each county. Leaders who attended the school at Logan Lo-gan assisted extension staff members with the county meetings. meet-ings. Additional training periods were spaced during the summer to give leaders help as they needed it. Two training schools were also al-so held for tractor leaders, one at USAC and one at the Branch College in Cedar City. Fifty leaders attended these two schools. County camps have come to be a vital part of the club program. pro-gram. These camps, held in forest for-est recreation areas, emphasize outdoor games, nature study, handicraft, and campfire programs. pro-grams. Some 7,000 members at-tended at-tended in 1949. Each camp elects its own officers, who take charge of the events, with trained personnel available where technical skill is needed. In 1949, for the second straight year, the Extensiuii oer-vice oer-vice sponsored two camps for older 4-H members, in advance of the county camps, to train older members to help conduct the county events. These older camps were also held at USAC and BAC. Competition plays a vital part in the club program. 4-H'ers exhibit ex-hibit at county fairs, 4-H exhibit ex-hibit days, junior livestock shows, the state fair, and elsewhere. else-where. Four annual out-of-state trips for club members include: the National 4-H camp in Wash., D. C. each June, attended by three Utahns this year; the In ternational Livestock E x p o s i-tion i-tion at Portland, Ore., in October, Octo-ber, attended by four Utahns; the National 4-H Congress at j Chicago in November-December, which will be attended by at least 16 Utah boys and girls, and a livestoek show at Denver in January, to be attended by a four-man team from Utah. |