Project Achievement
Georgia 4-H Project Achievement empowers young people with skills for a lifetime. Students choose a project area of interest, research the topic, and write and present a presentation. 4-H’ers develop leadership, creativity, public speaking, record keeping, and other skills. As students become older, a record keeping component that promotes independent thinking, research and implementation is added. Cloverleaf and Junior 4-H’ers (4th – 8th graders), begin competition in their school or county and advance to the district level. Senior competitions (9th-12th grade) encourage youth to become more involved in their project areas and advance to the state and national levels.
Cloverleaf grades 5 -6
Junior 7-18
Senior 9-12
Project Achievement is one of the most important activities we have in 4-H. Across Georgia children are learning about a topic of their choice, creating a presentation and delivering the information to a panel of judges. The number one fear of adults is public speaking, even ranking before death at number 2. We would like to help raise young adults who are comfortable with public speaking, so when they get older they will have a strong voice in the world. District Project Achievement, also known as DPA, has many other benefits including learning how to effectively research a topic, vocabulary, organizing the flow of a paper, creating quality visual aids, interviewing skills, resume building, and mastery of a subject. It covers many of the CCRPI requirements for English Language Arts.
The categories are divided by age groups. 5-6th graders are considered Cloverleafs and only compete in those subject areas at a local level. . Our Senior 4-H'ers, 9-12 graders, participating in DPA have the chance to advance to the State competition in Atlanta if they win their category or are the winner of a sweepstake placing. Advancing to State Congress is a very special honor for 4-H'ers. Students will compete against their peers in the same project area from all over the state to receive Master 4-H status and a trip to National 4-H Congress. If a child makes it to this level they are considered among the best in the U.S. and will meet people from all over the world at their week's stay in Atlanta.
Portfolios? What's that? If you don’t know what a portfolio is, then please let me enlighten you. A portfolio is the first half of Junior/Senior Project Achievement. Project Achievement is a three-day trip to Rock Eagle in the spring where 4-H members do a presentation or performance based on something that they like or have been working on all year. The portfolio is basically a list of all the things that the student has done this year. We have lots of information at the office about how to get a portfolio started. If you or your child is afraid of public speaking, Project Achievement is a wonderful, safe way to conquer that fear. It worked for me. But please don’t wait until the last minute. We are here to help you succeed. Turning in a last-minute portfolio only means that we don’t get to tweak it and make the best... better. Call to set up a time to come by or e-mail us . You can win this year, but half of your jr/sr score comes from your portfolio. If you are lacking in a certain area, we need to know early so we can get you some extra activities to put there. It can be done!! Contact us!