Marissa Hurst, 4-H Youth Development Agent
Photo Courtesy of RVED
October marks the beginning of the 4-H Year and with that comes the excitement of all that this program can offer! With so many activities, camps, educational opportunities, and over 45 projects that a youth member can enroll in, it is important that youth make goals to ensure that they accomplish what they want to during the 4-H year.
Goals are important because they help youth grasp a sense of ownership of their projects. They are reflecting on what they would like to see growth in and writing them down in their project records to remember them throughout the year. These goals are important because they are project specific and they are also specific to each youth member, pushing youth to improve steadily throughout the year.
When creating their goals for the year, youth should remember to think “S.M.A.R.T.”
S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.
Specific: Be descriptive. Don’t say “I want to be better at showmanship.” Say something like, “I would like to improve my bracing technique so I can set up my sheep within 20 seconds.”
Measurable: Give a certain number so that you can tell if you achieved the goal or not. Example: “I would like to bake my county fair recipe three times before exhibiting.” You can easily tell if you did the activity 3 times or not.
Attainable: Make sure that these are goals that you can reach this year. It is perfectly fine if you do not reach all your goals, but they should be in your grasp with some hard work. For instance, if this is your first year in woodworking, you may set a goal of “Learn to sand with the grain” but you probably shouldn’t set a goal of “Build all of the furniture for my bedroom.”
Relevant: Make sure that the goal is relevant to your project. Don’t write a goal about Shopping in Style in your Leadership Record.
Timely: Make sure that you set a time that you want to achieve this goal and make sure that the time you set is enough time for you to achieve the goal.
The control test will also come in handy! Do you have control over all parts of what happens? If you can answer “yes,” then you are ready to begin record keeping. For example, “I want to win grand champion with my cookies at the county fair,” does not pass the control test. A 4-H member doesn’t have control over ribbon placing.
A good rule of thumb is three to five goals per project for ages 7 to 10, four to eight goals per project for ages 11 to 13, and 7 to 12 goals per project for ages 14 to 18.
For more information about 4-H, contact your local River Valley District Extension Office. Belleville at 785-527-5084, Clay Center at 785-632-5335, Concordia at 785-243-8185, and Washington at 785-325-212
