Volunteers
4-H volunteers are valued partners working with youth!
The process to become a Mississippi State University Extension Service 4-H Registered volunteer will consist of three-steps:
- Effective December 1, 2018, all potential 4-H volunteers must complete the MSU-ES approved TrueScreen background check. See the TrueScreen instructions here.
- Must fill out a Volunteer Application Packet.
- Must complete the Mandatory Online Training, Minors on Campus: Working with Underage Program Participants and Campers (Closed Captioned) and must complete the Minor Protection Policy Acknowledgment Form.
- Must be a registered 4-H Volunteer 30 days prior to any 4-H activity/event.
(Special Note: Only MSU-ES approved TrueScreen Background Checks will be accepted. This is an MSU policy and as an MSU Unit, we will comply.)
Volunteers In 4-H Youth Development Programs:
- Work in partnership (adults and young people) to lead 4-H clubs, activities, and events
- Lead workshops to share knowledge with young people
- Help plan and conduct events
- Chaperone field trips and leadership conferences
- Recruit other volunteers
- Serve in management roles.
- Contribute through promoting and supporting 4-H.
Volunteering is a privilege.
All that’s needed is a desire to provide a quality educational program for 4-H'ers. Previous 4-H youth development experience is not necessary. For more information, contact the youth development staff in your local Mississippi State University Extension Service office.
The Mississippi 4-H Volunteer Leaders’ Annual Conference
Will be held February 25 – 26, 2022, in the Bost Extension Conference Center. The conference will begin with registration at 3:00 p.m. Friday, and conclude Saturday by 4:00 p.m.
The annual conference provides an excellent opportunity for 4-H volunteers, Extension faculty and friends of 4-H to participate in outstanding experiential learning activities, workshops, great fellowship, and enlightening entertainment. The theme this year is "4-H Volunteers Taking Steps Today for a Better Tomorrow”. We hope you and volunteer leaders from your county plan to share in this event.
Publications
Success Stories
Ray Henderson’s love for the outdoors began in his youth with learning by doing in 4-H Forestry. He won the State 4-H Congress competition, went to nationals, and placed fifth. After he aged out of the youth development program, he pursued a career with the U.S. Forest Service, and he volunteered in the 1990s as a coach for a few 4-H Forestry teams in Wayne and Greene Counties.
Since he was featured in the first issue of Extension Matters magazine in 2015, Nic Carter has continued his involvement in 4-H, breeding show pigs and attending the Dixie National Sale of Junior Champions when he can.
Cleaning Up Our Coast
About 2,400 community volunteers came together October 22 for the Mississippi Coastal Cleanup to tidy their beaches and coastal waterways.
4-H volunteer invests in community kids
When Rose Coffey-Graham first began teaching children, she was just 7 years old and pressed into service by local families who needed someone to watch their kids while they picked cotton. Her teaching materials?
“I had a big tree to sit under and some cardboard, and I acted as if I was the adult,” she remembers.
Noxubee County volunteers make a difference through service
Everybody who knows Landis and Katherine Mickens, who’ve lived in Noxubee County all their lives, knows they care about service. The Mickens’s ties to their Macon neighbors are strong and run deep, just like their 38-year marriage.