4-H connects members with engineering careers

Yesterday I wrote a post to this blog about a 4-H article in Mechanical Engineering, the publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Alas, I learned later that our Web Action Team was performing an upgrade to the blog system which required some database upgrades. My post was lost.

I did want to link the story again because it illustrates the breadth of 4-H programs. According to the article, the perception that 4-H programs are limited to agriculture, nutrition and citizenship is wrong. In fact, in the 1940s, 4-H programs in electrical engineering brought awareness of circuitry and control systems to youth in rural communities.

Director and 4-H advisor for Merced County UC Cooperative Extension Richard Mahacek has fond memories of his own participation in scientific 4-H projects in the 1960s.

“What I really got out of 4-H was a better understanding about electricity by participating in electrical projects," Mahacek was quoted in the story. "We made toy buzzers and electromagnets. It was an opportunity to internalize and understand electricity, not from a textbook, but from hands-on activities that brought those concepts to life.”

The 4-H activities that Mahacek now oversees are some of the five million 4-H science, engineering, and technology projects being offered in communities across America. Because of its reach and existing science, engineering and technology curricula, 4-H considers itself well positioned to help promote science education in urban, suburban and rural settings, the story says.

Merced 4-H member learns by doing.

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