ABOVE: Youth from Fox Lake 4-H show off the fruits of their labor from a planting project they completed. From left: JJ C, Gus R, Ksenia R, Corben M, Mateo Q. Submitted photo.

MARTIN COUNTY – As part of a five-year initiative, National 4-H Week is themed “Beyond Ready.”

Martin County 4-H Extension Educator Lauren Pilarski said the past year has had several projects for area 4-H groups.

“We had our day camps this summer,” she said. “We did library pop-ups at each of the Martin County Libraries. The [county] fair is the big one, the headline event. We had really great participation in the fair this year, too. We had 238 kids show projects at the fair.”

This includes 180 youth who showcased animal projects, 155 youth with general projects, and 129 youth and adult volunteers.

With Beyond Ready, Pilarski said it is to prepare youth for work and for life.

“It’s this holistic approach to career readiness, but also to make sure that youth are ready to take that next step,” she said. “4-H can follow you from kindergarten to your year after high school, so you don’t necessarily even have to be enrolled in college after high school to still stay involved, which is kind of cool, because that is such a transitional time.”

There are seven 4-H groups that cover the Martin County Area. Pilarski said that having groups of both big and small sizes makes more connections possible.

“Something research is showing with youth is they’re feeling lonelier and not as involved in their communities as generations past have. I don’t know if that’s a technology thing or just in the fast-paced modern world, but I love seeing people make connections with the people in their communities and get to know each other.”

Looking forward, Pilarski said she wants to continue expanding Martin County 4-H with a purpose.

“We need to decide which direction we want to go into,” he said. “It’s all about figuring out how to grow intentionally and meaningfully. We obviously want to welcome new people in, but we don’t want to leave our current members behind, too. It’s managing those connections, making sure they’re still happening.”

Fox Lake 4-H Volunteer Reilley Rode said Fox Lake has around 18 members and is located in Welcome, but they welcome anyone. In the last year, they have made it a point to work in their community.

“We’ve done chemo care banks, we have been doing fundraising at burger nights, selling treats,” she said. “There’s a vendor fair coming up that I believe we’ll have some treats at this weekend, and we use that funding to put back into those things like chemo care bags or doing trunk or treat for the community and Welcome.”

When it comes to Beyond Ready, Rode said they have been letting their members do the talking.

“Leaning into letting our youth members guide the decisions and the direction they want to go,” she said. “Helps in letting them live with the consequences of those decisions, helps them prepare for what comes after 4-H.”

In the future, Rode said they have a few ideas and group learning sessions they are looking at.

“We will be at Welcome’s trunk or treat coming up at the end of the month,” she said. “We like to have a service project or a project the kids can bring to the fair at the end of every meeting. “We’ll also get to hear demonstrations from our members at the end of every meeting. Members get a chance to teach the rest of our kids about something.”

For East Chain 4-H, Club Leader Ann Kurt said they have 40 members and they’re based in East Chain, but members can join from anywhere. At this point in the year, Kurt said they are turning over a new leaf.

“September, everybody recovers from being at the county fair and state fair, but October is when we like to try to enroll new members,” she said. “We invite anybody that wants to be in 4-H to come to our October meeting. In November and December is our awards and recognition time, where we have a lot of our year-end banquets and award ceremonies within our club and in the county.”

One of the highlights of the previous year was the state fair. Kurt said 12 of their 40 members participated in the state fair, over 25 percent of their members.

For Beyond Ready, Kurt said the big thing is leadership and stepping outside your comfort zone.

“We really encourage people to eventually become an officer of our 4-H club,” she said. “There’s four or five officers each year. They’re the ones that take control of the club and help us decide what we’re going to do for community projects and stuff in the next year. Basically, how to be a leader in whatever you do in the future.”

Kurt said she has seen this in her own kids these skills and other benefits 4-H provides Martin County youth.

“If they want to see the results, they’ve got to put in the work,” she said. “Sometimes you’re tired after sports or something, but you have 4-H projects that you need to work on. A lot of times it’s animals. The animals depend on you, whether you’re tired or not.”

For those interested in volunteering or have youth wishing to participate in one of the seven 4-H clubs across Martin County, contact Pilarski at 507-235-3341 or pilar017@umn.edu.