Publications
Initiation Ceremony - Members
4-H Volunteer Leaders’ Series
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Setting • Ceremony
The following ceremony is only a suggestion for the use of local 4-H clubs when
they take in new members. The formality and the thoughts expressed will help
impress members with the spirit of 4-H club work and inform them about its
purposes.
Setting
With the president, vice president, secretary and reporter facing the audience
and the new members assembled as a group in the front of the room facing the
officers, the following ceremony is carried out:
Ceremony
President: To you who are about to become members of the ____________ 4-H Club,
we say, welcome! In order that you may have a full understanding of 4-H club
work, it is necessary that you learn more about the purpose of our organization.
The officers here assembled will help me in explaining the meaning of 4-H club
work. Listen attentively as each speaks so that you will be able to carry out
the obligations you are assuming as a member of the ____________ 4-H Club.
Vice President: The purpose of 4-H is to help us to be better citizens by
teaching us how to work and play together, by giving us a means of learning
worthwhile skills, by developing our talents and by encouraging us to set high
standards and goals. The 4-H program is a part of the University of Arkansas
Cooperative Extension Service. It is conducted in each county in the state under
the guidance of county Extension agents working with local 4-H leaders. Any boy
or girl between five and nineteen years of age, regardless of race, color,
national origin, religion, gender or disability, may become a 4-H member.
Secretary: (Exhibiting a 4-H club emblem) The 4-H club emblem is the green
four-leaf clover with a white H on each leaf, symbolizing the four-fold
development of Head, Heart, Hands and Health. Our motto is "To Make the Best
Better."
Reporter: All loyal 4-H club members are willing to carry out their share of
work. They attend meetings and contribute to the program when called upon to do
so. They finish what they start. They win without boasting and lose without
complaining. They help others and, in turn, receive assistance when needed. They
complete a project during the year.
President: You have heard what 4-H means and what you must do to become a
member. Are you willing to live up to the ideals symbolized by the four H's?
New Member: I am.
President: Do you wish to become a 4-H club member?
New Member: I do.
President: And now as a sign of your good intentions to live up to the meaning
and opportunities of 4-H club membership, will you repeat after me the 4-H Club
Pledge.
New Member: (Repeats after president)
I pledge: My Head to clearer thinking
My Heart to greater loyalty
My Hands to larger service, and
My Health to better living,
For my club, my community,
my country and my world.
President: You are now a member of the ___________ 4-H Club. Please sign the
roll of membership. May you ever be faithful in carrying out the pledge you have
just repeated, always striving in your everyday relationships with your parents,
schoolmates and neighbors to live up to its high ideals. Fellow club members may
I present the new members of our 4-H club: (give names of members). We will
close this ceremony with the singing of the first verse of the song "America the
Beautiful."
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
This material was developed by Ann Brown, county Extension agent - staff
chair, and Lori Mills, 4-H Volunteer, Searcy County. Updated by Beverly Hines,
former 4-H program specialist.
| Author: |
Darlene Z. Baker, Ph.D. , State Leader - 4-H
Youth Development |
DR. DARLENE Z. BAKER is state leader - 4-H youth development,
Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas, Little Rock.
4HCO3-PD-10-02RV
|
