When paying for 4-H events check need to be made payable to:

University of Maryland
Ascend One Building
8930 Stanford Blvd, Suite 25
Columbia, MD 21045
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UPCOMING EVENTS, INFORMATION AND DEADLINES

2026 Camp Counselor Applications:

If you are 13 as of January 1st 2026. You are eligible to apply for a 2026 Teen Leader position with the Howard County 4-H Residential Camp! This is a great leadership opportunity open to all eligible Howard County youth.

Howard County Residential Camp week will be June 21-27, 2026.  If selected for a Teen Leader position, you must complete 25–30 hours of camp training and attend an activity and participate in each training session beginning in January 2026.

Deadline:
Monday, December 1, 2025, by 4:30 p.m. Late applications will not be accepted.

For more information please read:

Horse Bowl?

Howard County 4-H is gearing up for another Horse Bowl season. What is Horse Bowl? In 4-H Horse Bowl, two teams of three to four players face off at the University of Maryland in front of a panel of judges and a moderator who asks questions during the matches. Each match consists of One-on-One questions, which are limited to one player from each team to answer, and Open questions, which may be answered by all players of each team. Players must be quick on the buzzer to earn the chance to answer the questions. Correct answers score points for the team. Both teams and individuals compete for respective awards, and the top four Senior individuals qualify to compete at the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup.

Howard County will begin its practices in early December in the coach's home. If your 4-Her is interested in Horse Bowl, please email your applicable coach as soon as possible. Please provide the following information in your email:

4-Hers Name
4-Hers Birthdate4-H Age as of January 1, 2026
Parents Name
Phone Number
Address
Parents Email.

Once the coach receives your email, you will receive further information.

Practices will run from December 2025 through March 2026.

Please see below for more information concerning each coach and practices.

Please email your 4-Hers Horse Bowl Coach as soon as possible so that we can get everything ready for the first practice.

4-H Office is closed - The County Government Energy Saving Days:

Our 4-H Office is affected by the Howard County Government Energy Saving Days. During these days the Ascend One Building will be physically closed to the public, staff will be working remotely to ensure the needs of community members are still being met and are accessible via email. Please make note of the following days for the rest of this year:

  • November: 12th, 24th, 25th, 26th
  • December: 5th, 19th, 22nd, 24th, 26th, 29th, 30th

Portfolio and Record Book Questions:

Seniors applying for a Leadership Trip will need to respond to the updated essay question as part of their 2026 Portfolio submission, due in January.

2026 Leadership Trip Question — For Senior Portfolios

  • “When faced with the potential of limited funding, how would you advocate to your community the value of funding the 4-H youth development program?”

2025 Record Book Essay Question

  • “Describe how one of your project areas has influenced your life outside of 4-H.”

2026 Special Awards:

We are looking for your support.  We have special awards for the 2026 Howard County Fair in need of sponsorship.  Since we had no awards last year we may have a number of awards that become available.  Please check availability often.

Maryland 4-H Annual Report

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2025

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJuly/AugSeptOctNov-Dec

Enrollment Information

As the youth development program of the Cooperative Extension System of land-grant universities, 4-H is the nation’s largest youth development organization, empowering six million young people throughout the United States. Cooperative Extension of 1862 and 1890  land-grant universities provide the leadership to engage young people in 4-H in all 3,007 counties of the United States.

4-H'ers belong to 4-H Clubs that meet in local communities.  University of Maryland Extension Volunteers help youth learn life skills to become caring, competent and responsible individuals through club work, community service, and 4-H project curriculum.  4-H members work with their club leaders to develop their educational plans for each year.  These plans might include community service projects, speakers, field trips, or learning activities.

4-H'ers participate in county-wide programs organized by volunteers and University of Maryland Extension faculty.  These programs include activities such as fashion shows, camps, public speaking contests, workshops, and more.  With so many community clubs and specialty clubs in Howard County, there is always something to do in Howard County 4-H.

Please click on the Club Information link to find specific information about joining a club and the 4-H clubs in Howard County.

To join the Howard County 4-H program, you will need to complete the online enrollment process.  Please keep in mind that we ask potential members to attend at least one 4-H meeting prior to enrolling in the online system.  

Current re-enrollment for the 2025 is currently open and the link to register is https://v2.4honline.com/#/user/sign-in. 

Volunteers

Please check back for the updated process.

Officer Training

The Central Maryland 4-H Cluster is pleased to announce the release of a virtual Officer Training resource that was created to help our 4-H club officers.  

The direct link to the resource is: https://go.umd.edu/MDofficertraining

Since this is a google presentation, anyone viewing will need to select the present mode. 

Once that has been done, click through the different images and words to take you to the next

slide. (Be sure to click around and have fun!).  If you wish to go back at any time, click the purple
“BACK” button at the bottom left of your screen.

For more information, please see the informational flyer.

2025 Howard County 4-H Member Policy

2025 Howard County Club Policies and Guidelines

For more information about the Howard County 4-H Program please contact one of the following:

Sheryl Bennett

4-H Youth Development Educator

410-313-1912

sherylb@umd.edu

Chris Rein

4-H Program Coordinator

410-313-1915

crein@umd.edu