Early mornings have always been Anna Egan’s favourite time at the Iowa State Fair. She wanders the grounds before the crowds arrive, watching young people prepare to show off animals they’ve spent months raising.
“You can just feel the excitement in the air,” Egan says of mornings at one of America’s biggest fairs : Iowa’s fair typically welcomes 100,000 daily visitors. She has competed in public-speaking events there, twice winning honours. She entered via a 4-H (head, heart, hands and health) youth group.
The 4-H program trains American youngsters in agriculture, healthy living, arts, civic engagement and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The national network is administered by Cooperative Extension, a collection of state universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Since starting in 1902 in the Midwest, 4-H has expanded to all 50 U.S. states and 82 countries. Its many successful alumni include singer Dolly Parton and the late first lady Rosalynn Carter.
Growing up on a farm in Iowa, where 4-H is practically a way of life, Egan always knew she’d join. One in five Iowa children do, or some 130,000 students.
Egan’s father and grandparents participated, as did her siblings and 30 cousins. Yet she never imagined the extemporaneous speaking skills she learned in 4-H would set her on a path toward law school.
Now a student at Iowa State University, she hopes to one day work as a lawyer on policies that affect rural communities. “4-H taught me to give back and really care about the people around me,” she says.
During her 13 years in 4-H, Egan also raised livestock, helped senior citizens and raised funds for a classmate with leukaemia. Now interning with the Iowa 4-H Foundation for the summer, she assists the nonprofit that manages funds for the program that provides 3,000 students annually an opportunity to compete at the Iowa state fair.
As a volunteer at the fair, she still finds excitement after the morning quiet. “Before you know it, thousands of people will be walking up and down the streets of the fairgrounds,” Egan says. “Everybody is having a lot of fun, and you can sense the passion and pride for our state.”
