#iam4H

This article was written for the Robesonian for their October 12, 2014 edition.

So here is the question of the decade.  When did the pound sign become known as a hashtag?  Until recently, the pound sign’s major function in terms of technology was the button on your phone that you pressed to activate or deactivate call forwarding on your phone.  That is before phones went everywhere with us, and now we no longer need call forwarding.  As social media has taken off, so has the term hashtag (which is still called a pound sign unless it is used in front of a series of words to create a grouping).  When Twitter launched on the world, users felt the need to find certain types of tweets easier, so the pound sign was used in front of the words as an organizational tool so searchers could group tweets of a specific topic together.  Since “pound sign” did not sound technologically advanced, the symbol evolved to be known as the hashtag. 
Evolving is what we must do to move forward, stay relevant, and prepare us for the future.  It’s just not people who move forward learning and evolving but organizations as well.  For example, take a look at 4-H.  Your first thoughts go to cows and cooking – rural youth growing up on farms learning technology to help their parents.  If you have read the columns we have written about 4-H, you have heard me preach how 4-H is about more than cows and cooking.  This organization has evolved to keep the interest of more than 200,000 youth in North Carolina (almost 6,000 in Robeson County).  Robeson County 4-H does have an animal science program; arts; citizenship; etiquette; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); leadership; and community service program, to name a few.   We know it is important for our youth to be well rounded to be successful now and later in life as adults.  So we plan programming to fit their needs now and in the future. 
October 5-11 is National 4-H Week.  It falls, so fittingly, into the same timeframe as the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair.  During the fair, you will be able to see many of our 4-H members, who are on the Junior Fair Board, demonstrating their leadership skills, the talents of our youth in the home exhibits building, and their responsibility skills demonstrated in the Tractor Supply Livestock Building.  We are encouraging all 4-H members and volunteers during this week (and even before or after) to get on social media and share their 4-H experiences using the hashtag #iam4H.  What better way to share how this program has evolved and helped them to evolve than sharing it with the world?  We would love for you to join us, share with the world the wonderful things you did if you were in 4-H or things you see our youth doing today.  Evolve with us and be a part of our Revolution of Responsibility by using #iam4H. 
For more information, please contact Shea Ann DeJarnette, Extension 4-H Agent with North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center, at 671-3276, by E-mail atshea_ann_dejarnette@ncsu.edu, or visit our website athttp://robeson.ces.ncsu.edu/.  North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status, or disability.  In addition, the two Universities welcome all persons without regard to sexual orientation.