The benefits from participating in 4-H programs do not stop when a young person ages out. Nebraska 4-H chapters are found across the state, and their experiences help members develop skills and discover opportunities of long-lasting value.
University of Nebraska–Lincoln sophomores Jaylea Pope and Noah Holoubek said their 4-H experiences helped them greatly in those ways, as does Catherine Frerichs, a Husker alumna now with the National 4-H Council.
“4-H is really that starting point where I learned those skills that have helped me transition into larger roles over the years,” said Pope, a Shelton, Nebraska, native who served as a 4-H chapter president and an FFA officer at the chapter and state levels.
Skillathon competitions, requiring 4-H team members to accomplish tasks and solve problems, helped teach the value of teamwork, said Pope, who is double majoring in agricultural communications and animal science with a minor in the Beef Industry Scholars program.
As a young Nebraskan who grew up on her family’s cow calf operation, Pope benefited from years of participation in 4-H’s livestock judging events, starting when she was 8.
“Learning how to evaluate livestock, but also learning how to give reasons and learning how to speak in front of people, has really been a big thing in my life, especially as I’ve taken on different leadership roles,” she said.
Pope, now a member of the Husker livestock judging team, has excelled in developing those skills and achieved strong scores in multiple competitions. Last fall, she placed first overall among all competitors in the 4-H national competition in Louisville, Kentucky.
4-H has agricultural roots, but it also offers opportunities that extend to a wide range of additional interests. For Holoubek, who grew up on a cow, corn and soybean farm just north of Clarkson, Nebraska, 4-H membership proved crucial in helping him develop his enthusiasm for science and technology. At the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, he is double majoring in physics and biochemistry.
“4-H really allowed me to start with my experience in STEM,” Holoubek said.
Holoubek’s first 4-H experience came through a robotics program offered via a club in a neighboring county.
“That was one of my first experiences where I could apply my interest and learn new things and work with other people with similar interests,” he said.
In the following years, 4-H activities helped Holoubek pursue additional projects, such as digital video. In high school, he handled livestreaming of school events and pursued technology-focused club activities. He’s helped for years with server management and programming for a West Point web design company. Houlubek has participated in multiple robotics competitions and at UNL is an intern for the 4-H Thrive Lab, which helps Nebraska youths dive into STEM topics.
For his career, Holoubek aims to develop drugs and pharmaceutic therapies to target cells and improve human health.
“4-H was such an impactful opportunity for me in determining my career and helping me find something I was really interested in,” he said. “Without 4-H, I might not have found that.”
The scientific principles one learns in robotics apply directly to precision agriculture with its focus on sensors, data processing and accuracy, Holoubek said. Precision ag companies, he notes, were among the sponsors for Nebraska 4-H’s FIRST LEGO League Challenge Championship held at UNL this spring in conjunction with the inaugural 4-H Robotics Expansion.
Frerichs, a Husker alumna who works closely with corporate sponsors in her job with the National 4-H Council, said modern agriculture encompasses a remarkably wide range of career opportunities, and 4-H provides flexibility in its activities to help young people discover those options.
“The list is endless,” said Frerichs, who was introduced to 4-H through activities associated with the horse boarding facility her family operates in Sarpy County. “You could be in sales if you’re really passionate about communication. You could be in HR if you’re passionate about relationship development. You could work in a lab if you have more of a STEM background. Maybe you’re passionate about food science or about water. That’s all connected back to agriculture.”
One of the most encouraging aspects of 4-H is how alumni return to help the next set of members get off to a good start, said Frerichs, who majored in agriculture communications in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication.
“You can be a part of it in any way, shape or form. That’s the beauty of it,” she said. “You can volunteer to be a judge or you can host your own 4-H club or just be a part of a community project.”
Holoubek said one of the strengths of Nebraska 4-H is its alumni — the majority of whom are always willing to give back.
“One of the reasons why so many alumni are happy to help is that we want to see other students enjoy the same 4-H we grew up to love and have so many good memories from,” Holoubek said. “We want to see that expanded. We want them to have similar opportunities to what we had.”
