Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfred
1902 and 1501 both formed as 4-H clubs after they lost the ability to work with their local schools and have made it work for nearly a decade now. Those numbers weren't the numbers the schools used, but the people transferred over (and that's what counts, isn't it?). Look up your county extension agent to start the dialogue sooner rather than later.
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YES! This happened to us last year and it was a MAJOR blessing, and I ENCOURAGE you to break away from your school!

1) By becoming a 4-H Club, you are able to gain members from across the county, think a larger member base to draw from. If it wasn't for my team doing this, I would have NEVER gotten to experience FRC!
2) County 4-H Programs are looking for programs like this! County 4-H Programs offer a solid backbone for any FIRST Team through the curriculum and trainings offered to leaders/coaches/mentors/parents. The National 4-H Program is also a
3) 4-H offers OPPORTUNITIES! See the photo of me above (my "Who am I" photo), I was invited to attend the White House Science Fair in April through my previous 4-H experiences. While I was there with the National 4-H HQ STEM programs director, I met Bill Nye along with directors of all the other programs that 4-H is involved in (Team Rocket America, InvenTeams, & many more!)
3.5) We have OVER 70 teams involved in FRC, many more in FTC, and ten times more in FLL

4) 4-H offers a solid brand name. When you promote yourselves as being a '4-H' team, you turn a LOT of heads, but you also get the trust that comes from being part of the International Organization. I believe that with the name comes a lot of opportunities to connect with business partners or find some of our partners on the State or National level (such as Lockheed Martin)!
5) I also forgot to add that you automatically get 501(c)3 status from just being a 4-H club!
Sorry if I made you read all that, but from my perspective (being a 10 year 4-H'er), being a 4-H team is so much better than being a school team mostly because it allows students from around your county to join in (how I got involved in my team) that otherwise wouldn't be involved in FIRST!