4-H alumni reminisce during National 4-H Week on time spent and skills gained in the program

GOOD THUNDER, Minn. (KEYC) - We continue to highlight National 4-H Week with 4-H alumni that are taking life skills gained in 4-H with them as they take the next steps in their educations and their careers.

National 4-H week continues this week and two alumni are reminiscing on their 4-H days as they further their education, taking memories and lessons learned in the program with them.

“4-H really teaches you a lot of life skills. I think the biggest three would be leadership, is one of the biggest that it taught me, communication and also community service and how to give back to those around you,” said Emma Severns, a 4-H alumni and University of Minnesota student.

“It just taught me how to collaborate with people and that’s something I’m going to use for the rest of my life, so that’s another thing you can develop in a comfortable environment such as 4-H, it can be really, really valuable,” said Cara Teigum, a 4-H alumni and student at South Dakota State University.

Cara Teigum is majoring in Agricultural Leadership and minoring in Leadership and Management of Nonprofit Organizations and was in 4-H for around ten years.

Emma Severns is a junior at the University of Minnesota majoring in Agricultural Communications and Animal Science and was in 4-H for twelve years.

It’s helped them in choosing their paths as they further their education.

“It actually gave me my inspiration to go into the agricultural field, so it gave me that passion for agriculture and be a woman in agriculture, so it gave me that passion to help others,” said Severns.

4-H helped them gain an outlet to share their passions.

“Just my knowledge of the livestock industry, especially in today’s age, we’re taking a lot of heat, and so just having a basic understanding of where food comes from, how our food is grown and the importance of that and how people do that and take care of that,” said Teigum.

Both alumni continue to support the program.

“It was a huge part of my life and I learned so much through it that I think it could help anyone. It’s not just livestock as people think. We have STEM projects, there’s arts and crafts, there’s photography, there’s canned goods, there’s something for everything you could ever have interest in,” said Severns.

4-H is the largest youth development organization in the United States.

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