The Impact of 4-H
Enrollment for the 2018 – 19 4-H year opens on October 1. By enrolling, your 4-H’er can explore a variety of project interests such as agriculture, photography, foods, shooting sports, robotics, and so much more. Beyond that, the 4-H’ers establish valuable friendships, develop powerful habits, and practice skills for success.
Happy 4-H New Year! Following are some former 4-H’ers who shared their stories of how 4-H impacted their lives.
Megan McLaughlin, DVM
Megan just graduated this year, 2018, from K-State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. She was an active member of the Johnson County 4-H Dog Club.
She shares,“I entered 4-H mainly with the goal of training my wild puppy. My dog taught me perseverance because she was very shy and very stubborn. 4-H was a great vehicle to teach me goal-setting, problem-solving, and giving me the grit to accomplish those goals. What a sense of pride and achievement once I was able to attain them! Along the way I also learned a lot about leadership from teaching other 4-Hers in dog training classes, holding club offices, and being a camp counselor.
4-H even led to a wonderful living situation and network of friends in college. I lived in Alpha of Clovia 4-H Cooperative Leadership house at K-State for three years and gained strong friendships and additional leadership experience. I even was blessed to be the recipient of a few 4-H scholarships which helped me through college.
All in all, 4-H was a great experience which I believe will continue to benefit me throughout life.”
Danielle Mears
Danielle was part of many different clubs over the years but spent a lot of time in Johnson County 4-H Dog Club and Johnson County 4- H Horse Club.
“Ten years after participating in 4-H, the memories of my time in this organization still stands out as some of the best times in my adolescence years. The memories and friendships I made while in 4-H will stay with me for a lifetime. Even after being out of the organization for 10 years, my 4-H friends and their families are still a huge part of who I am today.
The memories we made showing animals, participating in the JoCo Fair, going to 4-H camp and being leaders together will stick with me for a lifetime. I’m so grateful for the opportunities 4-H provided to me both professionally and personally. In addition to lifelong friendships, 4-H also helped me grow professionally by offering me leadership experience, scholarships and community volunteer opportunities.
There is no other organization that offers such a variety of opportunity, there is truly something for everyone!”
Sarah Kallansrud 
Sarah, a proud member of the Burns Go-Getter 4-H Club, just recently became a registered volunteer and she will be leading the county-wide knitting and crocheting Project. She has been knitting for 50 years and has warm memories of working on her knitting projects for 4-H growing up.
As a 4-H’er she participated in knitting, cooking, sewing, gardening and livestock. She held offices in club, participated in county activities, took projects to the State Fair, and made a lot of friends from other clubs during her 10 years in 4-H. She feels that “doing talks in their clubs and county helps people speak in front of groups of other people.”
She is looking forward to sharing her love for 4-H and her passion for knitting with the Johnson County 4-H’ers.