4-H Delivers

4-H SET Expo in Humboldt County

The Issue:

There was a great need in Humboldt County to bring Science, Engineering, and Technology into the 4-H program and into the public eye. The County SET committee determined that a community wide event, The 4-H SET Expo, would be a great way to showcase to the public the ways 4-H SET is incorporated into 4-H. The most common public view of 4-H is still that 4-H is the organization to join if you want to learn about animals or raise one for the fair. The 4-H SET Expo would also provide an opportunity to encourage project leaders to incorporate 4-H SET into their project work and for 4-H members to showcase their work at a community event. 4-H SET also needed to be accessible to project groups, camp, community events, after school program, and the classroom. The second goal of this project was to integrate the SET curriculum into as many venues as possible and to get more youth involved in 4-H.

What Did 4-H Do?:

The Humboldt County 4-H SET Committee and the 4-H Office staff assembled curriculum kits  including the essential directions, safety procedures, and non-consumable supplies for the activities in the curriculum. These 7 kits were used through a check out system for project groups, camp, community events, after school programs, and the classroom. Kits were also assembled for the National 4-H Youth Science Day Experiment. The 4-H SET Expo was publicized widely including flyers, emails, handouts at the parade prior to the event, newspaper advertisements, a parade entry advertising the event, public service announcements, and news articles. Door prizes and a grand prize were provided from local businesses.

The Impact:

The impact of this project has been far reaching and will continue to spread as the kits reach more audiences and as the 4-H SET Expo grows. There was a great response to the event and many attendees have requested more information about joining 4-H.  The second year there was twice as many booths hosted at the event. The volunteers now understand additional ways to incorporate 4-H SET into their project work and youth are making the connection between science and technology to their projects.

New connections were formed with school, after school care providers, community organizations, educational non-profits, and businesses. Many of the schools are interested in using the 4-H curriculum. Youth will be gaining valuable life skills and learning science inquiry through the curriculum materials. The county staff plans to continue to develop more kits according to interest expressed. Current topics of interest are Exploring youth Environment 4-H curriculum, plant science/gardening curriculum and food science. The National 4-H Youth Science Day experiments will also be added as kits.