This is not your mother's 4-H. It's all that and more.

Today's 4-H focuses on leadership, life skills and citizenship through a wide array of projects that meet those objectives -- from animal husbandry, archery and quilting to small engines and videography.

It's a little known fact that 4-H got its California start in Humboldt County in 1913.

The same year saw the start of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau and the University of California Extension, according to Sandy Santhrum, the 4-H youth development program representative and the assistant county director of the University of California Extension in Humboldt.

Santhrum oversees the entire local 4-H organization, with nearly 750 youth and 277 adults involved in the 11 clubs as well as other programs, conferences and projects that fall outside the standard 4-H club and project structure.

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors recently adopted a proclamation in honor of National 4-H Week.

Clubs in the county are present from Garberville to the Arcata Bottom and east to Bridgeville and Hoopa. Some have large memberships, others just a few. Within those clubs are different projects that run the gamut -- provided there is a connection to the core lessons involving leadership, citizenship and lifeskills.

Establishing these projects can be as easy as identifying an interest and setting up a group to head up that effort.

The leadership and public speaking necessary -- whether

In the learning process, members become familiar with and comfortable with interviewing, something that often works to their advantage later in landing jobs, Santhrum said.

One of the more recent programs that began with the local 4-H organization is the North Coast Youth Summit, a leadership skill-building conference. Two years ago, Santhrum said, 4-H All-Stars -- top high school level members -- came up with the idea for the summit after participating in a Sacramento leadership conference. Since its beginning, eight other local organizations have joined in the planning.

The Humboldt County 4-H organization tried a different but similar route earlier this spring with the first Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Expo -- providing hands-on experiential learning opportunities.

More than 500 people attended the Redwood Acres event, Santhrum said, and plans are in the works for a second go-round in 2010.

Larry Ford, the manager of Redwood Acres and a former 4-H All-Star, said his own focus was primarily in the agricultural realm -- which is the common perception people have of 4-H.

”There are lots of programs now, that we didn't have then,” Ford said.

He was particularly impressed with the SET Expo and the many members and others who came together to make the event a success.

In a time of declining school enrollment, when a number of other interests compete for youth attention, Humboldt County 4-H has held its own.

And taken on new directions. One of those is the partnership with Coastal Grove Charter School, where the students are “group enrolled” in an animal science project and adults become the 4-H leaders.

In another instance, a 4-H club has become part of an afterschool program.

One of the keys to the organization's success is not only the many lessons imparted, but the fun involved. Learning about something one is interested in can be a pleasure.

The record-keeping and public speaking become part of the package.

”Most all these kids find these projects incredibly fun,” Santhrum said.

For more information about 4-H in Humboldt County, call the University of California Cooperative Extension Office at 445-7351.