Computer science, rocketry, even robots – there’s no question about it, this isn’t your grandma’s 4-H.

And while members of the Sugar City 4-H in Chaska are markedly different from their early predecessors, this year they will pay homage to those that came before them.

Chaska’s 4-Hers are looking for memories and memorabilia from the club’s 75-year history. They are hoping to put together a scrapbook and a short film with the materials in order to celebrate the group’s past.

Locally, member Rachel Vipond estimates that the Sugar City 4-H currently has about 50 members, ranging from second-graders to recent high school graduates.

“For us, our club is growing,” said leader Julie Rasmussen. “Other clubs are disbanding.”

Nationally, 4-H boasts 6 million current members and 60 million alumni. The organization promotes learning leadership, citizenship and life skills through hands on activities sponsored by land-grant universities.

The 4-H program kicked off in the early 20th century, born out of a desire to help rural kids by introducing them to agricultural discoveries and ideas that they could then experiment with and pass on their successes to their elders. Today, 4-H has evolved to focus more on its members’ personal growth, though you can still see members showing animals at county and state fairs around the country.

Twelve-year-old Michaela Rasmussen has been in 4-H since she was in second grade. She followed in her mom Julie’s footsteps joining the group. Michaela started learning how to sew and now works with llamas.

Jacob Vipond, 13, has worked with llamas as well since he joined Sugar City 4-H in second grade. These days he’s interested in shooting and metal works.

“There’s a lot to do,” he said. “There’s so much variety, so many things I haven’t done yet.”

His 15-year-old sister Rachel agrees, noting a major difference from the 4-H of those in its early days. “We’ve been looking through the old records and it seems like there was livestock and sewing and that was it,” she said.

Today, the list of activities one can focus on is vast – from food review and scrapbooking to robots and woodworking.

“These kids are getting exposure to occupations you wouldn’t normally get,” said Julie.

Both of the Viponds and Michaela agree that the difference between learning in school and learning in 4-H relates to stress.

“In 4-H you don’t have to do it for a grade,” said Rachel. “You do it for fun.”

She has studied a number of areas since joining in fourth grade, including llamas, sewing, photography and performing arts. Rachel also serves as a 4-H ambassador, educating the public on their group and encouraging others to join.

“My friends think it’s such a country thing,” she said. “But it’s not anymore.”

Members of Sugar City 4-H have been lucky enough to get their hands on some record books dating back to the club’s inception in the 1930s. They have poured over the books, noting how different their monthly meetings are today.

“It was a different atmosphere then,” said Michaela. “It was all about family. Everyone would get involved.”

Michaela also noted the detailed notes they would take about the meetings including what snacks were provided and what songs they sang.

They have grown interested in their alumni members after looking through the books and are now hopeful that other alumni will step forward and share their memories of being in 4-H via interviews or their memorabilia.

“We’re looking for all sorts of stuff,” said Michaela. “Ribbons, pictures, records, anything.”

Memorabilia can be temporarily donated to the group, Julie noted.

“We won’t keep it if it doesn’t need to be kept,” she said. Any items that are given to the group to keep will eventually be passed along to the Chaska History Center for display.

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer

To share your memorabilia or stories about Sugar City 4-H email bakeb002@umn.edu or call (952) 466-5300.