Local Youth to Attend Annual Tennessee 4-H Congress

For the 66thyear, 4-H members from across Tennessee will gather in Nashville for Tennessee 4-H Congress. The annual event, which will take place March 24-27, gives 4-H’ers the opportunity to learn about the day-to-day functioning of state government by assuming the roles of state representatives and senators. Since it’s beginning in 1948, 4-H Congress has given some 33,400 4-H’ers and volunteer leaders firsthand experience in state government.

Approximately 400 high-school-age 4-H’ers from all over the state will meet to become legislators and form a “junior” state Congress. They will have an opportunity to debate and vote on youth-oriented bills in the House and Senate Chambers. In addition to learning about government and their state capitol, delegates will compete in public speaking, poster and essay contests. 4-H’ers will also be competing in the leadership and citizenship projects for college scholarship money and trips to the National 4-H Congress in Atlanta. The theme for this meeting and for all 4-H programs in 2013 is “Tennessee 4-H: Leading the Legacy.”

. “Tennessee 4-H Congress is one of the highlights for our 4-H program,” said Sarah Vaden, Jefferson County 4-H Agent. “The event helps youth better understand government and the legislative process and how they can be a part of this citizenship experience in order to make a difference.”

In addition to project competition and learning about state government, delegates will participate in a number of other activities including the Tennessee 4-H Congress Pageant, a luncheon on the General Jackson Showboat, the election of the 2014 Tennessee 4-H Congress officers, the inaugural ball and a service-learning project.

The theme for the 2013 Tennessee 4-H Congress service project is “Our Hands to a Larger Service.” Delegates will be collecting items for the Nashville Rescue Mission. The Nashville Rescue Mission seeks to help the less fortunate in Middle Tennessee by offering recovery programs, as well as food, clothing and shelter to the homeless.

“Service opportunities are a very important component of the 4-H program,” said Steve Sutton, Director, 4-H Youth Development. “Last year, 4-H’ers statewide performed 74,790 hours of volunteer service with an economic value of 1.6 million dollars. Through the service-learning projects, our 4-H’ers learn that they can really make a difference in their communities.”

Representing Jefferson County at the 2013 Tennessee 4-H Congress will be Sydney Brown, R J Fanti, Ethan Ganett, Griffin Ganett, Landon Ganett, Lacey Helvey, Molly Pettit, Katie Seale and their volunteer leader Melanie Pettit.

4-H is the Youth Development program for the University of Tennessee Extension. 4-H teaches leadership, citizenship and other life skills to more than 194,000 youth in grades 4-12. 4-H also has more than 6,200 adult volunteers. UT Extension is one of four units in the UT Institute of Agriculture.