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Nine-year-olds Oni Thomas,
(left), Chyna Goodlow, (right), use cotton balls to remove pollen
from lilies as part of a Garden Club experiement at their Indianapolis
school. Photo by Tom Campbell
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Today, 6.8 million American youngsters are involved in 4-H activities.
And while the Center for Inquiry's Garden Club may not fit the traditional
4-H model, it is one of three very different ways 4-H delivers programs
to American youth.
Traditional club programs reach about 70,000 kids in Indiana.
"It is the cornerstone of where we started in 1902 with corn clubs
and cooking clubs," says Janet Gordon, program leader for 4-H in
Indiana. "We have established a long-term relationship where we
can work with those kids in small groups (4-H clubs) over time and really
influence their lives in big ways."
But as the number of farms and farm kids dwindled over the last half-century,
significant growth in 4-H has come from two sources, school enrichment
and community needs programs.
Those programs reach as many as 230,000 Hoosier children, many in urban
centers like the Center for Inquiry School, or nearby at the Martin
Luther King Center, where Purdue students mentor Indianapolis Public
School students. It's called High Hopes, and who gets more out of the
program depends on who you ask.
Each Tuesday, the gold and black Purdue bus pulls into the parking
lot at the King Center in a predominantly black neighborhood on the
north side of Indianapolis.
The one-hour drive from Purdue's campus is a rolling lecture class for
students taking AGR 499A.
"On the way down, we formulate a lesson plan for what we want
to accomplish that day," says Jim Gregory, who wants to become
a teacher after graduation.
Gregory is taking the course even though it does not count toward his
master's degree in aeronautical engineering.
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