Apple and 4-H program brings tech to kids, not just agriculture

Apple and 4-H are working together to extend the training offered by the youth development network, which is best known for an agricultural focus.

With Apple’s support, the network of youth organizations is teaching kids to program in Swift, as well as use technology for other creative work …

4-H is a US-based network of youth organizations, the four Hs representing the development of head, heart, hands, and health. It helps teach new skills to more than six million children and teens each year.

The group’s motto is “Learning by doing,” and Apple has played an important role in extending the tech options.

The name 4-H traditionally conjures up images of teenagers raising farm animals, or learning how to bake or sew — and those skills are still a big part of the organization that has helped support and educate young people across America for more than 100 years. On a recent day at the Franklin County Fair in Columbus, Ohio, 4-H club members presented livestock and displayed quilts they had crafted, but on closer inspection, there were signs of something new, and perhaps surprising.

Outside a 4-H mobile classroom bus parked near the fair’s midway, kids were using iPad to drive Sphero robots across the pavement, while inside, they were coding with Swift and composing music using GarageBand.

In recent years, 4-H has expanded to include greater access to technology, thanks in part to support from Apple and its Community Education Initiative (CEI). Since Apple launched CEI in 2019, the programming has provided coding, creativity, and career opportunities to tens of thousands of students in 99 countries and regions, and across all 50 states, with an emphasis on communities that are traditionally underrepresented in technology.

Apple says it has enabled tech programs to reach more than 90,000 young people across Ohio, New Jersey, Michigan, and Florida – and is now expanding into Illinois, Kentucky, Idaho, and North Carolina.

One of the 4-H teachers says that kids get so excited by the training, they don’t want it to end, even for fairground rides.

Mark Light is one of the educators who runs the 4-H bus. He started his career as a civil engineer before joining 4-H to lead STEM programming in Ohio.

“Technology is a big part of 4-H, and when kids pick up an iPad or Apple Pencil on the bus, it becomes the spark that gets them excited about learning new skills. I love when we have parents saying ‘It’s time to get off the bus and go on fair rides,’ and the kids don’t want to leave because they’re so engaged.”

Photos: Apple