By STHELE GREYBAR
4-H Youth Development, Purdue Extension Elkhart County

ELKHART COUNTY — More than six million young people across the country today will celebrate National 4-H Week, an annual celebration of 4-H during the first full week of October. Elkhart County 4-H will leverage National 4-H Week this year to showcase the great things that 4-H offers young people and highlight the incredible 4-H youth in the community who work each day to make a positive impact on the community.

We know that 4-H youth are making extraordinary changes in their communities every day.  During National 4-H Week, we are asking that they share their faces with the world.  Express your 4-H pride with this year’s theme “#iam4H.”  From Oct. 4-10, post a picture of yourself wearing green and share your pride on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, with the #iam4H and #4HWeek hashtags.

Research has proven that participation in 4-H has a significant positive impact on young people. Recent findings from the Tufts University 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development indicate that, when compared to their peers, young people enrolled in 4-H are:

• Nearly four times more likely to contribute to their communities.
• Two times more likely to pursue healthy behaviors.
• Two times more likely to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs in the out-of-school time.

In Elkhart County, more than 3,500 4-H youth and 700 volunteers from the community are involved in 4‑H.

Also during National 4-H Week, hundreds of thousands of youth from all around the nation will complete a single, innovative experiment on 4-H National Youth Science Day, which will be held Friday, Oct. 7. The 2015 National Science Experiment, Motion Commotion, empowers youth to explore the physics of motion and distracted driving.

Developed by Oregon State University Cooperative Extension, this exciting activity will combine a speeding car collision and a distracted driving demonstration in a simulated activity that investigates the physical and human factors of motion. To learn more about National Youth Science Day, visit http://www.4-h.org/nysd/.