COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio 4-H extension educators see two trends with 4-H’ers this year: Some are taking a year off or otherwise stepping back from the program, largely due to concerns about the pandemic. Others are doubling down.

According to The Ohio State University Extension, counties have already chosen counselors and started planning for the summer. Audrey Dimmerling, 4-H youth development director for Columbiana County, is working with volunteers to talk about ways to keep it a positive experience and work with both in-person and virtual programs.

“We can expect a drop in numbers this year,” Dimmerling said. “We just want to keep everyone informed, give them tools to encourage them to meet on a regular basis…even when it might look a little different again this year.”

In Columbiana County, enrollment was just about 50 shy of pre-pandemic numbers after the March 1 deadline. In 2020, roughly 680 4-H’ers enrolled in the county.

Uncertainty lurks in other counties across the Buckeye State.

David Crawford, 4-H youth development educator for Stark County, is expecting lower numbers in his county as they look at safety restrictions and guidelines and what could happen in 2021.

“This is such a challenging time for 4-H,” Crawford said. “I understand families not being all in at this time. We do have a lot that are, and we have some that are still on the fence. We’re planning for in-person activities, knowing that we may need to pivot or make a change.”

Last year in Ohio, nearly 64,000 youth participated in 4-H through local clubs, down about 4,600 from 2019. Enrollment in 4-H for 2021 cannot be measured until later this year, since many counties have later deadlines.

4-H camps took a hard hit in 2020, with only about 800 campers joining virtually. That’s a huge contrast to the 12,079 campers who participated in 2019. 4-H extension educators are continuing to plan for 2021 camps, but won’t get official guidelines and decisions from OSU Extension until April 1.

Kristen Sikorski-Conklin, advertising chair for the St. Joseph 4-H Fair in South Bend, Ind., can’t determine if the 4-H numbers are up or down over last season as enrollment for 4-H in her county (which began Jan. 15) remains open.

“We’ve been working closely with the Indiana Department of Health, waiting to hear a final announcement on the COVID-19 restrictions,” she said. “COVID-19 has changed the way we look at things the past year and we’ll just have to wait and follow guidelines that we’re given.

“Should we open up as we wish I’m certain things will look quite a bit different than last year, but the pandemic won’t deter those who are anxious to see our 4-H fair rolling once again.”

The St. Joseph 4-H fair went virtual in 2020. “Our county did quite well with the virtual option that we offered last year,” she said. “We were able to have awards, pass out ribbons and trophies. Though COVID-19 put a dent in things I think our 4-H fair and fair board members did a great job of making it a good experience for the kids.”

In Kentucky, Mark Mains, assistant director of 4-H youth development at University of Kentucky, hopes to rebound from the pandemic, which forced a huge drop in 4-H participation.

“Because of the switch to virtual schooling we lost a lot of participant membership,” Mains said. “The last several years we have had roughly 220,000 4-H participants, to include 4-H programs in a day camp to a full year’s livestock project. In 2020, that dropped to about 190,000.”

The 4-H program in Kentucky has a more school-based program than those in Ohio and Indiana. A lot of Kentucky’s 4-H programming is performed in the school and supports school curriculum.

“In 2020, the 4-H season was a challenging one for our members,” Mains said. “Our staff did a lot of work to present programs in a virtual environment. But despite our best efforts it was still challenging as 4-H members dealt with missed opportunities and in-person events were suspended for most of the summer.”

Mains said those in Kentucky had some positive results from last season.

“We did have some ‘silver linings’ though,” Mains said. “Through our 4-H virtual programming we were able to provide educational content to youth that we normally couldn’t reach. Our online social media presence has tripled and we’re reaching more youth from diverse backgrounds. Like anything else, there has been good and bad come out of this experience.”