For the past 25 years, the Buttercups 4-H Club in Clinton County has made it a tradition to bake bread on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The members have made a wide variety of bread creations including cinnamon rolls, bread in a bag, mini loaves and standard bread. This year's concoction was French...

The burning question in Logan County was "Are you smarter than a 4-Her." The answers came during a fast-paced trivia contest, sponsored, in part, by Farm Credit Illinois. Acting on a suggestion by the county's Expansion & Review Committee, the trivia contest hoped to provide opportunities for...

Elizabeth Auer was one of the first 4-H Shooting Sports members when the program began in Illinois in 2009. Now, at 23, she's the first former member to return as a shooting sports volunteer leader by completing training in rifle and archery. "I got so much from the program," the Woodford County...

4-H is fun, and so can the 4-H Pledge. The Champaign County 4-H Teens as Teachers wanted to spice things up during their summer 4-H youth programs, so they started each meeting with this peppy version of the 4-H pledge.   ABOUT THE...

Youth can and do make a difference in their communities, and Sparta (Randolph County) Lincoln eighth grader Conner Stewart is among them. Conner sells or donates farm-fresh eggs to a variety of local people and the Sparta Food Pantry through his enterprise, Conner's Cluckers. He was diagnosed with...

The real world is a lot tougher than most eighth graders know. Extension's "Welcome to the Real World" brings home that lesson. WTTRW is an experiential learning simulation which shows youth real facts about how the careers they choose and the decisions they make effect...

Members of the Grandview Pioneers 4-H Club chose aerospace as their theme for the year, and each month, these young people, who hail from Kansas, Shiloh, Paris and Ashmore in Edgar County, have completed aerospace-related activities. Recently the group made kites, and despite a light mist, flew...

4-H members are four times more likely than their peers to give back to their communities according to the 10-year longitudinal study conducted by Tufts University. Fulton County 4-H members have the stockings to prove it! Each February, members sew Christmas stockings and write notes in Christmas...

The Marion County 4-H livestock judging team had phenomenal success during the 2013 judging season, and that success is hard to contain. Last weekend, more than 200 youth participated in the county's annual livestock judging contest in Salem, with youth traveling from Indiana, Oklahoma and Oregon...

The competition is only a small part of the real accomplishments which happen through Illinois 4-H robotics. A group of Will County 4-H participants discovered that when 24 teams showcased their skills in the regional 4-H Robotics Box Bot Showcase in Joliet, hosted by University of Illinois...

For 25 years, University of Illinois Extension's "Simply the Best" program in Washington County has mixed the right ingredients to inspire positive change in the lives of 250 junior high youth there a year. High school teens who have been through the program themselves serve as mentors, helping...

The following message came from a middle school teacher in Northern Illinois where Illinois 4-H has teamed with National 4-H Council to provide grant-funded 4-H robotics special interest clubs. She has seen the change in one young boy's life because of our valuable program. "One of my boys has a...

It speaks well of a state program when one of it's former longtime employees is honored for the magic they did for generations of 4-H members. Illinois can be proud. Errol G. Burns, a former University of Illinois Extension staff member, now of Vernal, Utah, was inducted into the National 4-H Hall...

The DeWitt County "Where Does My Lunch Come From?" 4-H SPIN Club gave 4-H members a chance to check out local agricultural sites to see where their food comes from and how it is raised or grown. Each day, the youth prepared a lunch which related to those agricultural businesses they toured. "In...

Robots will take over the ARC this Saturday during the sixth annual Illinois State 4-H BoxBot Robotics Competition. Approximately 300 students within 45 teams from across the state will exhibit their robots and compete against each other. In addition to the student competitors, University students...

"I hear that train a-comin," and it's being led by a group of former 4-H members who found each other on the University of Illinois campus years after spending a summer together as 4-H counselors. David and Daniel Fulton, twin sons of U of I Extension staff Sherry and John Fulton, first met Grady...

As we fill our bellies this Thanksgiving holiday, some 4-H youth will have a greater appreciation for the food set before them. The 4-H Hunger Ambassadors in Milan held a Hunger Banquet, but not everyone filled their plates. In fact, many didn't even get a seat at the table. The Hunger Banquet...

It's easy to tell friends and family about 4-H. Now, imagine you're a teenager and you're telling your story at the Illinois State Capitol. This spring, 49 4-H members did just that. The youth were specifically trained, either through the Speaking for Illinois 4-H educational program or as members...

It's what every good carpenter knows; "measure twice, cut once." Now, 4-H members in DeWitt County know the benefit of careful planning after attending a woodworking workshop which taught basic carpentry skills, such as using a scroll saw, chop saw, band saw, belt sander, planer, drill and air nail...

When a tornado hit Washington, Ill., 4-H families across the state were quick to respond, due, in large part, to the work of the Extension staff in Woodford County. Through the efforts of 4-H clubs, families and friends, $10,000 in gift cards have been donated to help the families who lost homes...