When most people think of the 4-H Club, images of horses and farms are the first to come to mind, not the tightly packed metropolitan landscape of Hoboken. But a group of dedicated students from the Brandt Middle School believes that the service oriented philosophy of the 4-H Club does belong in the urban environment.
The Hoboken 4-H Club is the only one of its kind in Hudson County.
Once a month for the past several months, 11 students from the Brandt School traveled to the Presby Memorial Iris Garden in Upper Montclair. There they learned everything that there is know about the colorful flowers. They learned so much about the irises that they are now able to give area seniors and veterans tours of the blooming gardens.
In the past two weeks, the students have taken a group of Hoboken seniors and a group of Paramus veterans to Presby Gardens.
“Many of these seniors citizens may not have a lot family, and those that do, their family is often busy working Monday through Friday,” said eighth grader and 4-H Club member John Mehta Tuesday afternoon. “They really like being able to have someone to talk to and do something with during the week.”
The 4-H Club is the youth education branch of the Cooperative Extension Service, a national program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with more than 6.8 million participants and more than 610,595 youth and adult volunteers working directly and indirectly with youths. Universally recognized by its four-leaf clover emblem, 4-H serves youth through a variety of methods including organized clubs, school-enrichment groups, special interest groups, individual study programs, camps, school-age child care programs, and instructional television programs. To date, more than 45 million people are 4-H alumni.
Joe Miele, the school district’s coordinator for Service Learning and the coordinator for the Brandt School’s 4-H Club, said Tuesday that projects such as this one are beneficial in several different ways.
“On one level, these kids are providing an invaluable service to the senior citizens in their community,” said Miele. “But these trips have also become a great learning tool. The students have become very knowledgeable about all different types of Irises.”
Eighth grader Elisa Maricich said that learning about and seeing the flowers was fun, but the most rewarding part of the trip was spending time with the seniors and veterans.
“It’s good just to be able to go out and spend time with the senior citizens,” said Maricich. “To be able to walk around the gardens with them and have them tell you that they hope that they can come back again next year really means a lot.”
Gerard Ryan, a Brandt School teacher who went along on the trip, said Tuesday that the veterans really enjoyed talking to the young students. “It gives them the opportunity to tell the kids some of the stories that they have told a thousand times before,” said Ryan. “The vets enjoy telling them, and the students are really receptive and listen to every word they say. It was a good experience for everyone involved.”
Ryan added that it is trips like this one that teach students the importance of volunteerism and service to their community.
In addition to the tours of the iris garden on the last Tuesday of every month, the 4-H Club joins up with the Hoboken Elk’s Lodge to go play bingo with the Paramus veterans.