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Clarinda 4-H
 In 1901 a young school teacher, Jessie
Field, was teaching in the rural Goldenrod School located in Fremont
Township in Page County, Iowa. In order to create additional interest,
especially in older boys and girls, she supplemented the basic 3R's with lessons
in basic farming and homemaking, which she had learned while attending Farm
Institute programs with her father. She felt this extended education would help
build self confidence and esteem in her rural students as well as keeping them
interested in attending school. She met with them before and after school for
these additional experimental studies.
Jessie Field returned to finish her college degree and after graduation took
a teaching position in South Dakota. Her brother, Henry, who was starting in the
nursery and seed business, urged her to return home to fill a county education
position. In response to his insistence, in 1903 Jessie was elected to the
position of Page County Superintendent of Schools.
As superintendent of the 130 rural schools in the county, Miss Field
organized her teachers into a group she called the "Page County
Progressives" to implement her extended curriculum idea in all the schools.
Soon Boys Corn Clubs and Girls Home Clubs were meeting after classes in all the
schools.
They worked on many of their projects during school lunch and recess
times or at home with the help of parents. The students chose the three leaf
clover as their emblem. Ribbons and pins showing their new emblem--each of the
three leaves of the clover contained an "H" representing Head, Heart,
and Hand, centered with a yellow kernel of corn bearing the name
"Page", and on the stem of the clover, the name "Iowa"--were
given to all students who participated. Miss Field's philosophy was that
"everyone who tries is a winner!" Soon "friendly
competition" between the schools expanded to competition in corn growing
and judging in Omaha and at the Iowa state contests. The students gained self
confidence and pride in their learning accomplishments.
After Page County was acclaimed as "The Best Rural Schools in
America" by the National Educational Bulletin in 1908, the ideas of
learning by doing spread far and wide. County superintendents from the south and
east visited the county schools to learn about this novel new twist in teaching
young people and took the ideas back to be implemented in their own schools. In
Page County, summer camps were held in the Clarinda City Park with
demonstrations, classes and contests to further the learning and enthusiasm of
accomplishments--and for fun! By 1910 the ideas fostered in this rural school
environment had spread throughout the state and even the country, and an
additional fourth "H" leaf, representing Health, was added to the
clover emblem. The organization formed to enhance the lives of rural students
had indeed brought new extensions to learning and cooperation of parents in the
process of preparing young people to meet the future.
Today "The Very Beginnings of 3H and 4H" are displayed and
interpreted at the Goldenrod School and Nodaway Valley Historical Museum in
Clarinda. Goldenrod, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as
"The Birthplace of 4H" is a working school, hosting area school
classes in a country school setting. Visitors of all ages enjoy seeing the
changes that have taken place in Page County 4H clubs through the years.
Exhibits, displays and audiovisual presentations are available. For more
information contact: NVHS, Box 393, Clarinda, Iowa, 51632 or telephone,
#712-542-3073.
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County Extension
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