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.

4-H Colors

The 4-H colors are green and white.

Green is nature's most common color and represents youth, life and growth. White symbolizes purity and high ideals.

4-H Motto

To Make the Best Better

4-H Creed

I believe in 4-H Club work for the opportunity it will give me to become a useful citizen.

I believe in the training of my HEAD for the power it will give me to think, plan and to reason.

I believe in the training of my HEART for the nobleness it will give me to be kind, sympathetic and true.

I believe in the training of my HANDS for the ability it will give me to be helpful, skillful, and useful.

I believe in the trainingof my HEALTH for the strength it will give me to enjoy life, to resist disease, and to work efficiently.

I believe in my country, my state, and my community and in my responsibility for their development. In all these things

I believe, and am willing to dedicate my efforts to their fulfillment.

4-H Slogan

"Learn by Doing"

At the first National 4-H Camp in Washington, DC in 1927, the present 4-H pledge, worded first by Otis Hall, state leader in Kansas, was officially adopted.

The Executive Committee of the Land-Grant College Association had requested Dr. R. A. Pearson, president of Iowa State College, and Dr. A. C. True of the Federal Extension Service to write a pledge, and they had turned in the pledge substantially as written by Hall. The wording adopted for the whole country by the leaders in 1927 is:

This pledge remained the same until 1973 when the words "and my world" were added to the ending resulting in:

for my club, my community, my country and my world.

Also in 1927, the club motto originally proposed by Miss Carrie Harrison, botanist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, was adopted by the leaders. This was the now familiar:

"To make the best better"

The 4-H Creed was developed in Wyoming in 1918; later adopted nationally.

Compiled by National 4-H History Preservation Team.