A Farewell to 4H

4H is an organization that instills ethics, hard work, and compassion. Kids (and their parents) often learn life lessons as well as a little more about agriculture and responsibility. The following speech is one that a local college student would give to graduating 4H members if she had the chance.


I would like to start off by thanking all of you for the great achievements you all have made over the course of your 4H participation. Whether you started out as a clover or entered the program later, whether you raised livestock or chose only from indoor projects, whether you went to 4H camp or not, you have all made great contributions to this program and we thank you for that. As we say in the 4H pledge, we are out there trying to better our club, our community, our county, and our world. Yes, to this day I still have our pledge memorized and you all will probably never forget it as well. Each and every one of you should feel a sense of accomplishment for what you have done to improve not just this club, but the entire 4H program.
Most of you entered this program as clovers, meaning you entered before the age of eight. Which also means that you’ve been dedicated to 4H for over ten years. That’s ten Howard County Fairs and for some of you, ten Maryland State Fairs. You stand out from the crowd. You didn’t waste away your summers watching television or being lazy in bed all day. You made use of that break from school to give your attention to your animals and/or indoor projects.
For those of you who raised livestock, I want to personally thank you for bettering this community. You may not understand now, but if you do a little research on US meat factories, you will see just how important it is to raise livestock the humane way and without and artificial products. This goes hand in hand with those of you who grew your own produce. In America, we’re facing a food scare. How exactly do we guarantee what we’re eating was raised or grown the right way? I’ll tell you; it’s doing it yourselves. You may be familiar with the saying ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself,’ well that applies in every aspect, including what we eat.
Those of you who had enough dedication to raise cattle, I am thoroughly impressed. In my time as a 4Her I never had the dedication for that. For those of you who don’t know how hard it is to raise cattle, at the next fair or the next cow field you pass, take a look at just how massive these animals can get. Then imagine having to take care of that. Imagine how often those heifers have to be milked. During fair week, cattle raisers usually spend most of their time at the fair grounds; some even spend the night. They are also required to wash their cattle twice a day, everyday. Now imagine having to do that to more than one cow you brought to show. That is the dedication we are all so proud of you for.
I am thoroughly impressed with the rest of you as well, even if you didn’t raise any type of livestock. Indoor projects take a lot of dedication as well. If you weren’t lucky enough to have a family member teach you the ropes of baking and you still placed and participated in the bake auction, cheers to you because the lucky ones that had a family member teach them don’t have anything on you. As I walked through the indoor 4H barns this past summer, I saw amazing works of art. From photography to fine arts and clothing to crafts, the standard is really rising. I’m not even sure I could consistently win total points like I used to back in my day.
If you were one of the brave enough willing to spend a week of your summer away from home at 4H camp, I know you have some fond memories that will never leave you. As a kid, I was only brave enough to go one summer and I cried every night. I am jealous of the memories you all share. I know there were some great moments that I missed out on.
Now let me tell you all a little about my experience as a 4Her and how I still participate now. I moved to Howard County when I was five years old and my parents enrolled my brother and I in the local club. Since I was so young, my first few years were spent as a clover. I fell in love with crafts. To this day Mrs. Graybeal uses me as an example of how kids should plan their summers. Every year after my last day of school, I would head home and start planning my projects that I wanted to enter in the fair. As the years went on, I added more and more projects building up to entering over a hundred projects some years. You may say that’s a little crazy, but what other elementary school student do you know that could make $400+ in a summer. As I matured I explored other categories such as photography, fine arts, candy making, food preservation, baking, and cake decorating. I realized I don’t really have the knack for fine arts or photography but I fell in love with candy making and cake decorating. Food preservation wasn’t my favorite to make but the outcome made it worth it. I realized I had a talent for cake decorating and even toyed around with the idea of opening a bakery one day. Then I watched those specials on the Food Network and saw my real competition. The annual bake sale auction will always be some of my fondest 4H memories. There’s no better experience than walking around that ring with your cake and hearing the auctioneer call out bids. Still to this day I have no idea how he talks so fast. The best thing about the auctions was the togetherness you felt. Even though we were competitors everyone would chant “higher, higher, higher” as the bid price went up. There’s no explaining the feeling that being cheered on by your peers brings. Indoor projects were always so much fun, but sometimes the dirtier parts of 4H could be better.
I was lucky enough to grow up on a farm. Unfortunately my parents decided to move us to a neighborhood and everyday I miss that farm. My grandfather also grew up on a farm so he visited us frequently to help out. On our seven acre plot of the farm, we raised pigs, all types of chickens, and rabbits. I always wanted to raise goats and sheep but apparently they’re really stubborn and my parents didn’t want to add to the stress raising livestock brings. I also found out you have to stick your finger in their butts to get them to move and I was not too fond of the idea of doing that. One of my favorite memories was from our first year raising pigs. It was a nice spring day and also the day of the first weigh in for livestock. My grandfather came over to help us load the hogs in the back of our pick up and take them down the road to the fair grounds.
Now, I said it was a nice spring day, but the day before was rainy and the ground was still muddy. You can imagine the joys we faced trying to force three pigs up onto a trailer. With the amount of squealing, you’d probably think that we were slaughtering them right then and there. One of the hogs even escaped and tried to run away down our hill. If you’ve never seen three grown adults chase a pig down a muddy hill, I highly recommend you find a way to witness it. That is still one of my favorite memories with our pigs. We eventually caught the escaped one and successfully got them to the fairgrounds for weigh in. I think we all can agree that the first year participating in livestock is the hardest.
Only a few years ago I was sitting right where you are waiting to receive my certificate. I was excited but also sad. This marks a chapter of your life coming to a close, but you don’t have to leave the program entirely. I still participate to this day. Every summer I go to the fair a day before it starts to judge indoor projects in the candy making and food preservation category. So for those of you who have participated in the in recent years, I was the one writing your comments and rewarding you premium ribbons. Not only do I get to spend a day eating homemade candies, jams, jellies, and such, but I also get paid! Fourteen years in this organization and I never knew the judges got paid. I hope I’m not letting out any secrets but we are kind of desperate for more judges, so if anyone’s interested, please let us know.
Let me be the prime example of how 4H never leaves you. You may be leaving 4H, but it will stay with you for the rest of your life. You may not feel that way right now, but trust me, it never fully goes away. When I was a 4Her, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and I really didn’t want to join the field of agriculture. But now that I am not involved, I miss it. I can’t wait to have kids and enroll them in this program so I can live vicariously through their experiences.