Lewis & Clark 4-H Fosters Mental Health During a Pandemic

Published: 2020
By Kara Tangedal

With the challenges of 2020 we were happy to continue offering both in-person and virtual 4-H opportunities to Lewis & Clark County families. Our 4-H community emphasized the importance of our fourth H: Health. We had a common goal of maintaining opportunities in the name of mental health and positive youth development, hosted a virtual Communications Day for 24 motivated youth who spoke on topics ranging from DNA to dog training. One participant who competed during 4-H Congress and placed second overall said, “[Communications Day] was the craziest 4-H event of the year. We were all nervous because no one had ever done a speech online. Instead of freaking out, [the organizers] kept everything organized and running smoothly…at virtual congress I finished my presentation and was thrilled to be in the finals. What I’m trying to say is none of this would’ve happened without 4-H. Thank you so much!” This positive attitude extended to the planning and execution of our 4-H Fair and Livestock sale. One parent remarked, “COVID has made life very hard on our kids this year. I want to thank 4-H from the bottom of my heart. The perseverance to make the 4-H Fair happen has provided an amazing moment in these hard times. Today I got to see my kids laughing and doing their regular fair routine. They did it with masks on and social distancing, but they got to do it! Thank you!”