The 4‐H Leadership and Learning Credit is an external credit that provides 4-H members with an opportunity to go beyond traditional classroom study. The Leadership and Learning Credit shall be complete in addition to the standard 4-H year, in that the contributions a 4-H member makes to their Club and/or District are separate from the credit. To successfully complete this credit the student, who must also be a current 4-H member, should be ready to demonstrate skills in time management, organization and self-directed learning. This credit is meant to take the typical 4-H project to the next level. This is your opportunity to use the skills and knowledge that you have learned during your time in the 4-H program to explore a core topic of your interest, along with a more in-depth look at the foundational elements - agriculture, community and communications - of 4-H!

 

In choosing a core topic, students are required to identify a topic, question, or problem in which they have an interest or a challenging skill they would like to learn. The topic should be conceptualized by the student. The project should allow for a deep approach to the topic. The goal is for the student to gain a thorough understanding of the topic so that they are able to apply the knowledge or skills learned to new situations.

 

May 15th - The Credit proposal is due to the 4-H office by this date the year before you want to complete the Credit. It will be sent to a committee for review and thus approval/denial of beginning the credit. You will hear back from this Committee by June 1st.

 

End of June - If approved, you will have a Project Articulation meeting with your 4-H Specialist and Mentor by the end of June of the school year prior to the one which you wish to complete the credit. Students are not considered to be registered for this project until they coordinate their Project Articulation meeting with their 4-H Mentor and 4-H Specialist.

 

Before taking the 4-H Leadership and Learning School Credit, you must complete and submit the Student Intention Form to your course advisor (usually guidance counselor or vice principal). I

 

April 1 - You must submit all final work by April 1 of the school year in which you are completing the credit. Upon completion of the credit, project work and assessments will be handed back to the Review Committee to give a final pass/fail mark for the credit as a whole.

 

Upon passing the credit, the student will submit the student Completion Form to their course advisor (usually guidance councilor or vice principal). You will find the student Completion Form on the last page of this Guide.

 

PCR: Research component (essay or interview), experiential component (minimum 8 hours of documented hands on learning), leadership/communications component (group presentation), agriculture awareness activity (hands on activity or an essay on an agricultural topic related to core topic) OR community services activity (plan or participate in activity related to core topic), course binder component  (collection of all documentation and course work) and the overall credit development component (consideration of work, organization, planning, execution, effort and evaluation).