By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The week of October 5-11 is National 4-H Week and clubs and programs around the United States are being highlighted for their community service and youth development among many other aspects of the organization.

Otter Tail County is separated into East and West sections through the University of Minnesota Extension Office and hosts four extension educators countywide. Jordan Gusa, who works out of the East Otter Tail Extension Office and is an Extension Educator in 4-H Youth Development, shared that National 4-H Week showcases the many contributions made by the program both on a national and local level.

“National 4-H Week is a week to showcase what 4-H is to the general public,” said Gusa. “It’s a great time, not only for kids, but also for alumni to showcase all the things that they did during their time or currently in the 4-H program. It’s a time for clubs to showcase all of the things that they do throughout the year, because they’re busy year round. It’s just a week out of the whole year to truly shine a spotlight on our youth, volunteers, and alumni.”

National 4-H Week is sponsored by the National 4-H Council and this year’s theme is “Beyond Ready,” encouraging 4-H members from across the country to wear green and to highlight the positive members of their 4-H community to showcase the importance of 4-H programming around the United States.

“The clubs will put locker hangs on their 4-H’ers lockers to promote it,” said Gusa. “I know some schools are putting ‘Join 4-H’ QR codes around their schools for the week and really showcasing what 4-H is to their peers and classmates within the school. Some clubs do certain projects or service work during National 4-H Week.

“We post some certain things,” she continued. “Sarah and I usually do a Wear It Wednesday post with us in our 4-H gear and people will comment their photos throughout the day. It’s a fun social media interactive between the office and our members, that’s always really fun.”

Gusa explained that the week also has themed days, similar to how homecoming is organized, including Make a Difference Monday which showcases service work, Thankful Tuesday where volunteers, mentors, and friends are appreciated, Wear It Wednesday where 4-H gear is shown off, Throwback Thursday, and Future Friday where goals for the 4-H program are shared.

“It’s fun to see the pictures on Facebook and our comments with the different themes each day, just how proud they are to be in our organization” she said. “They do it for sports and for FFA, so it’s fun to see it for 4-H as well. Getting to see what other counties around the state are doing gives us ideas as clubs and as staff as well.”

The East Otter Tail 4-H program has 11 traditional clubs, as well as three project clubs. Clubs local to NY Mills include Mills Magic, Heinola Hustlers, Ottertail Lakers and Butler 4-H. Project clubs in the region include clubs for shooting sports, sewing and the children’s garden. Project clubs are additional opportunities for those enrolled in traditional clubs and don’t require separate membership.

Otter Tail County and St. Louis County are the only counties in the state that are big enough and have enough involvement to be split in two sections for 4-H programming. Gusa, who grew up in the southern end of the state, said that support for 4-H programming in Otter Tail County is higher than many other counties.

“Otter Tail County is very supportive of 4-H and you don’t see that in some counties,” she said. “The commissioner teams and the people that fund the 4-H program and extension educators, there are counties that aren’t as supportive as here, so that’s super cool. West Otter Tail has a similar number of clubs, so that’s like minimum 24 clubs in one county, that’s crazy, and four extension educators in the whole county, you don’t see a lot of that.”

Gusa was a 4-H member in Wabasha County as a student and has enjoyed her time in the program and especially sees the impact it makes on children as an extension educator.

“Being on the flip side of it as an educator, you’re like ‘wow, you really do get to do all of those things,’ making a difference, having fun, making friends,” she said. “Getting to now be a role model for 4-H youth is really cool. Filling this role after Janet who was here for such a long time, I had some big shores to fill and I’m really loving it as a whole.

“Getting to see our kids succeed in those fund judging moments at the state fair,” she continued. “The whole thing, truly, it’s a fun job to be a part of. Getting to see adults and kids work together to make a four-day showcase happen at the county fair. Lots of kids go through there with their livestock and general projects and that would’t happen without our huge adult volunteer base. So that’s been a great thing to be a part of the last three years.”

Gusa joined 4-H after attending a potluck meeting with a friend and has been a devoted advocate of the program ever since. She encourages all interested youth to do the same and attend a meeting with a friend or find their local club and ask for more information.

“There are 4-H clubs in pretty much every community in our half of the county,” she said. “So in theory, people probably already know somebody that’s in 4-H. I think that’s the funnest way to get connected into a 4-H program. Otherwise, Sarah and I are very friendly, so you can come visit us anytime.”

The East Otter Tail Extension Office is located at 118 N Main Avenue in the basement of the NY Mills City Center building. Gusa and fellow extension educator, Sarah Downhour, are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and can also be reached at sarahu@umn.edu and gusa0010@umn.edu. The office phone number is (218) 385-5420. The East Otter Tail County 4-H program can also be found on their Facebook page.