Health is one of the “H’s” in 4-H and therefore Pendleton County strives to incorporate physical activity and health wellness as a major 4-H programming effort.  Physical fitness combats obesity, offsets sedentary life styles, and improves mental health.  Pendleton County 4-H fitness programming has impacted males and females fourth through twelfth grade and includes individuals of all races (white, black, Hispanic, Asian) as well as youth with special needs.   

The 4-H Fitness Club meets monthly and has participated in a variety of physical activities such as Zumba, line dancing, workout videos, outdoor workout equipment, walking trails, 5K’s, and hiking trips.  4-H also meets with the middle school gym classes for 6^th through 8^th graders.   This year’s seventh and eighth graders engaged in a kickboxing lesson as well as body sculpting.  The also received an advanced lesson with learning dance moves through the decades to build off of their creative dance lesson that was taught their previous year in gym class.  Last school year, these same students learned about and engaged in cardio and strength-building through circuit training and stretching and relaxation through yoga.  

For the past school year, 6^th graders participated in a 2 day seminar using the curriculum, Adolescent Brain, while engaging in an additional day of dancing.   The latter had youth learning about dance, participating in dance for exercise, and utilizing creative expression through development of a group dance.  Post evaluations conducted with 101 6^th grade students indicated that 83% of the individuals agreed that the Adolescent Brain was informational and 73% said they understand how to protect their teenage brain as a result of the program. Eight-eight percent of participants indicated that based on the program, they now have an understanding on how harmful and risky behaviors can harm the teenage brain.  Concluding the program, 80% of students reported they can identify health lifestyle choices that serve to protect the development of a healthy teenage brain.

Several students throughout the physical activities implemented in the middle school gym class said they were exhausted or physically worn out and feeling like they had gotten a good workout. One student reported back to the 4-H agent the following day saying she heard classmates talking about how sore they were from the previous days’ 4-H body sculpting exercises.   One class of 8^th graders who did not get to participate in a dance lesson due to a snow day cancellation, expressed their disappointment that they had missed the 4-H dancing.  The gym teacher reported the students had enjoyed it so much from the previous year and were really looking forward to the opportunity again this year.  Unfortunately, COVID-19 community shutdown prevented a rescheduled session.  Nonetheless, success can be found with the enjoyment and excitement those students had towards the physical activity from last year.