CLARINDA, Iowa — Nearly 120 years ago, a young school teacher named Jessie Field started the Boys Corn Club and Girls Home Club at the Goldenrod school in rural Page County.

A few years later, while serving as superintendent of schools for the county, Field designed a three-leaf clover pin with the letter “H” on each leaf. Eventually, a fourth leaf was added. Millions of young people would commit those four H’s to memory — head, hands, heart and health.

KANSAS CITY — For Laura Evans, Platte County youth development field specialist for University of Missouri Extension, 2020 has been a year of making plans, breaking plans and making plans again.

“In everything we do, we strive to make sure that we are preparing youth for success, not just going through the motions,” Evans says of the restructuring the MU Extension team has done over the past nine months.

When Erin Kistner announced her idea to provide food to high school students who were hungry on weekends when school lunches weren’t available, her Hillsboro High School principal was skeptical. She didn’t believe that students would actually accept the food.

But Kistner didn’t get discouraged.

Of the four H’s in the 4-H organization, health has been a focus for many clubs across Iowa so far this year.

One of the key aspects of the organization is gathering — having lots of face-to-face contact with other members and leaders. However, during the pandemic, face-to-face contact has been discouraged, especially indoors. That has led to a few adjustments by many of the Iowa clubs.

National 4-H Week is especially exciting this year for Tina Veal, Illinois 4-H alumni and constituent engagement manager.

Veal, who is the first in the nation with her new role working with alumni, is using this year’s 4-H celebration to connect with past 4-H members. Nationally, there are 25 million Americans who share this unique alumni bond.