There’s more to 4-H than horses and cows.

As director of Island County’s 4-H program, Jennifer Biddle wants to dismantle the stereotype of 4-H as a proud backwater program exclusively for farm kids who tend blue ribbon livestock and once a year shovel hay at the county and state fairs.

Biddle, a lifelong 4-H’er who became a regional leader just last year, points out that among the many 4-H projects offered to members are courses on aerodynamics, entomology, conflict resolution, advanced leathercraft and even clowning.

Yet, while trying to expand awareness of the diverse opportunities available to 4-H’ers, Biddle also wants to retain what she calls the program’s “small town feeling.” This feeling she describes as trust, neighborliness and a strong sense of community.

“That’s part of it, giving back to the community and seeing the effect that can have,” Biddle said. “The 4-H’ers really learn to take pride in what they do, and how to take responsibilities for their actions.”

This year marks the official 100th anniversary of 4-H, though the program actually traces its inception way back to 1898, when a student at Cornell University started distributing “Junior Naturalist” leaflets to kids in rural public schools. Since that long-ago moment, 4-H has grown to become at present the largest youth organization in the nation, with a membership well over 5.5 million. About 400 of those 4-H’ers live in Island County.

One of them is Brianna Taylor, 16-year-old junior at South Whidbey High School who is also 4-H’er of the Year for 2002.

Taylor has been involved in 4-H for nine years, joining just after bringing home her first guinea pig — the kindergarten class pet.

“My mom was the only one who agreed to take it,” Taylor said. She’s been raising, showing and selling guinea pigs ever since, as a member of Cavies and Co., a South Whidbey 4-H Club. She took Grand Champion in fitting and showing at last summer’s Washington State Fair in Puyallup, and has 20 guinea pigs in her family’s garage.

“That’s down from 30,” she said. Last month she sold several for a tidy sum.

But while Taylor and her work with guinea pigs (she likes that term, although others prefer to call them cavies), represents the traditional element of 4-H, her membership in a second 4-H Club, the Teen Ambassadors, reflects the broad reach of 4-H.

Teen Ambassadors are learning leadership and community involvement, as well as the workings of government.

“I’m really into government,” Taylor said. She was a recent participant in the Know Your Government program, spending a weekend in Olympia in February. There she and her group toured the Capitol, met legislators and watched them work, even prepared a mock state budget.

“The program is a bridge between politics and teens,” she said. “It was good to talk with the legislators and see how government runs.”

The Teen Ambassadors are now preparing for the state conference, to be held in June in Pullman at Washington State University.

“We’re visiting all the clubs on the island to convince the kids to attend,” Taylor said. “It’ll be a birthday bash for 4-H, with about 600 people there. Any 4-H’er can go and bring their friends. It’s a blast.”

Ironically enough, the automotive organization AAA — which in many ways symbolizes the ever-increasing mobility and suburbanizaion of American society — is also celebrating its centennial this year. The agriculture-based economy is mostly gone with the wind, and these days, you’ve got to move faster and faster just to keep up.

Biddle, for her part, understands that in a world which has progressed in such relatively short time from horsepowered buggies to SSTs and electric cars, 4-H must evolve to remain a viable activity for ambitious kids. This, she said, without losing sight of its strong roots in the tradition of “head, heart, hands, health.”

“We try to keep it fun so the kids don’t get burned out,” Biddle said. Along with regional and state project competitions, there is a long list of activities including international exchange programs, workshops, classes, a “Know Your Government” and many other conferences, community service groups, rallies and award nights. To celebrate the centennial of 4-H, members from around the country recently attended the “National Conversation on Youth Development” held in Washington, D.C. Also in honor of the anniversary, Washington State 4-H donated 1 million hours of community service to Governor Locke.

Closer to home is the upcoming Spring Show taking place at the Island County Fairgrounds on May 18, which includes a “silent auction” that Biddle describes as one of 4-H’s biggest fundraisers.

4-H, by the way, charges no duties or fees. It’s free to anyone who wants to join including, Biddle added, adult volunteers who simply want to lend a hand.

With enrollment declining in recent years, Biddle is intent on pushing the character-building value of 4-H as a way for kids to cope with the increasing complexity and difficulties of today’s world. It’s fun, yes, but Biddle doesn’t flinch when pointing out that 4-H requires self-motivation and hard work.

“It’s an all-year responsibility,” Biddle said. “It is a commitment, but it’s a commitment that’s worthwhile. It teaches so many skills that kids can use.”

In fact, it may be the 4-H quality of engendering “wonderful social skills” that best helps the program survive this brave new millennium of digital reality, reality T.V. and metal detectors in public schools. What parents wouldn’t want their kid to learn the values of self-determination and social responsibility?

The kids in the program “really learn to take pride in what they do,” Biddle said. “You learn to come out of your shell and have an opinion. You learn to stand up for what you believe in.”

Island Living editor Joan Soltys contributed to this article.