Georgia 4-H Project Achievement empowers young people with skills for a lifetime. Students choose a project area of interest, research the topic, and write and present a presentation. 4-H’ers develop leadership, creativity, public speaking, record keeping, and other skills. As students become older, a record keeping component that promotes independent thinking, research and implementation is added. Cloverleaf and Junior 4-H’ers (4th – 8th graders), begin competition in their school or county and advance to the district level. Senior competitions (9th-12th grade) encourage youth to become more involved in their project areas and advance to the state and national levels.
Parent Resources
More information and resources are available on each age group page.
What is Project Achievement?
Project Achievement is skills for a lifetime! Youth develop leadership, creativity, public speaking skills, recordkeeping, and more through this program! Specifically, students pick a project area of interest, research the topic, write a presentation, and present to others. As your child advances grades, a record keeping component is added. However, for 4th – 6th graders, it’s all about sharing knowledge. For a Cloverleaf or Junior 4-H’er (4th – 8th graders), the presentation may begin at school or the county level competition and advance to the area or district level competition. Senior competitions may begin at the county or district level and advance to the state competition known as State 4-H Congress.
Youth Resources
Teacher Resources
Junior / Senior Resources
Parents
Whether your child participated in Project Achievement previously or this is their very first encounter, we hope to help you support your child in this endeavor. Beginning in the 7th grade competition process, youth are expected to produce lengthier presentations and submit a portfolio for written work. Both the portfolio and presentation comprise 50% each of the total score at competition. The following resources are developed with you, parents, in mind to support project development for your child. Please contact your local county Extension office to gain additional resources and discuss specific county and district competition dates.
Tips
- Contact your local county Extension office for assistance and information. Each county has a plan for preparing for 4-H Project Achievement and has a timeline that is important for you to consider. Many counties have workshops or one-on-one instruction to prepare. Counties may go to Junior / Senior 4-H Project Achievement in January, February, or March. Space is limited for the district competition, and 4-H’ers must qualify at the county level. Discuss your county’s plans with your local Agent and staff to be sure you can meet any school, county, or district specific deadlines.
- Guide your child in picking a topic that interests them and in finding interesting factual information on the topic. You’ll also want to discuss project development work with your child and encourage their portfolio planning. Your local county Extension staff is there to help with this process.
Judges
Project Achievement is one of our core 4-H programs, and we value your contribution in developing our young people. The following judging resources are developed for General Presentation Judging Certification for 7th – 12th graders; it does not address fashion revue, food lab projects or performing arts projects. Prior to the contest, please complete the following steps to prepare you for serving in the role of judge.
1. Judging Video
2. Presentation Examples
- Public Speaking Project: The Constitution
- Sheep and Meat Goats Project: Parasite Control on Meat Goats
- Veterinary Science Project: Deworm the Dogs
3. Short Quiz
Please contact your local County Extension Office to receive your Certification in Project Achievement General Judging for 7th – 12th grade. If your local County Extension Office has emailed you a quiz link, scoring 100% on this quiz will give you certification.
Thank you, in advance, for serving as a Project Achievement judge! Should you have any questions prior to the contest, please contact your local County Extension Office. We hope you enjoy your contest!
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (working cooperatively with Fort Valley State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the counties of Georgia) offers its educational programs, assistance, and materials to all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or protected veteran status and is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action organization.