But I don’t want to do a record Book!!!!
How many times have you said it or heard it? If you’re like most kids, the number is rather
large. Let’s try and figure out why you might actually “want” to do a record book.
1) Are you thinking about having a career in the future?
2) Think you might attend college in the future?
3) Think you might win the lottery to pay for that college education?
Your record book can go a long ways in helping pay for your future college education! How’s
that work?
1) Record books are a great place to document what you’ve done the past 5, 10, 15
years both in 4-H, school and the community.
2) There are a lot of scholarships awarded through 4-H and record books are the main
source of information to fill out those scholarship applications.
So, can you see how doing a record book each year can actually have financial benefits in your
future?
I’ve filled out a lot of Letters of Recommendation in the past 25 years and every time I complete
one for a 4-H’er, it is so easy if I have a record of what they’ve done in their club, school and
community; I can get all that information from record books.
Now that you can “see” the benefits of completing a record book, let’s talk about what a record
book needs.
Every new member to Butler County 4-H receives a notebook to use for their record book.
Leaders can get these from the office. Inside the notebook is a page telling why record-keeping
is important. We’ve already decided that so let’s move on to what to include in your book.
These are the parts of your book that must be included:
1) The Butler County Expected Standards Sheet – a checklist of what you’ve done the past
year, signed by member, parent and leader.
2) The Cover Page – complete with name, club, grade in school for current 4-H year, years
in 4-H, photo of yourself (optional, but fun to look back on in future)
3) Yearly 4-H Summary – this is the helpful sheet in future years since it’s a more detailed
listing of what you’ve done the current year; it also lists recognitions and
communications you’ve done which are huge parts to future scholarships.
4) General Support Materials – are those photos, news clippings, programs that show you
were active in your club or county. These items are not for project area pictures or
clippings but general club activities like club tours, town parades, etc.
5) Project records - Juniors use Basic, Intermediates use Experienced, and Seniors use
Advanced. They all ask for the same information but the forms ask for more details as
members grow older. The most important part to the project record sheets are the
goals; the “for this project I would like to learn. . .” All forms ask for these statements
and a member’s answers through the years shows how he/she has grown in that project
area. This is the whole reason for 4-H! To help kids grow, gain confidence and skills in a
project area of their choice. These forms also ask for communications, leadership or
citizenship work a member has done in his project area for that year. Did you offer to
lead a workshop? If you gave a presentation at your club on one of your project areas, it
would go here.
Exhibits at the Butler County 4-H Fair must have included the Goal Sheet/Project Record
which is a two sided sheet. Only the front side will be completed before fair. This takes
the place of the goal cards used for fairs in the past. The back of the sheet will be filled
out after fair. This sheet can then be put in a member’s record book in place of the
project records forms. Obviously not a lot of information can be included so if you are
an intermediate or senior member, you will probably choose to do the project records if
you want to try for any county awards.
6) Project Support Materials – are those photos, clippings, programs that apply to one
project area. If you have a picture of yourself and the cookies you took to fair, that
would go here.