4-H and Monsanto: Developing the Next Great Thinkers
The U.S. is headed for a crisis.
The 76 million members of the Baby Boomer generation are getting ready to retire. Generation X, which follows the Boomers, consists of 48 million people. That leaves an awful lot of empty desks in offices around the country.
Fortunately, the Baby Boomers settled down during the 1980s and produced the 79 million members of Generation Y, also known as the Echo Boomers or Millennials. This generation could go a long way in helping alleviate the retirement tsunami their parents will create. Maybe.
Unfortunately for Monsanto and other science-based companies, this generation as a whole has not been interested in science, so the U.S. now faces a future shortage of scientists. This could become a major issue in keeping the U.S. competitive in global markets, as science and technology seem to be the way of the future.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ 2005 report, only 18 percent of U.S. high school seniors are proficient in science. Additionally, only 5 percent of current U.S. graduates earn degrees in science, engineering or technology. Compared to the 66 percent in Japan and 59 percent in China who do, the U.S. is barely on the radar.
The good news is the younger members of Generation Y are still in high school and college, so many organizations are working to encourage these young men and women to enter science fields. One such group is 4-H, an organization Monsanto, through its commitment to the future of agriculture, regularly supports and many employees know first-hand.
What is 4-H?
4-H is a youth development organization that began more than 100 years ago. Its original mission was to introduce new technology to farmers in rural communities by educating the children about the benefits of using these technologies on their farms.
“Today, 4-H still has agriculture in its roots, but it has expanded far beyond farms and rural settings and has a broader focus on development,” John Raines, Monsanto business affairs lead and member of the Missouri 4-H board, said. “They’re focused on building the next generation of leaders, and Monsanto needs people with the skills they’re instilling in these young men and women.”
“Most people still think about 4-H as the project for the county fair,” Carl Casale, Monsanto strategy and operations lead and member of the national 4-H board, said. “But there’s a large, large portion of their clubs in urban and suburban settings, so it has a much broader reach than what we would typically think from an agricultural standpoint.”
In fact, according to 4-H’s Web site, the organization impacts more than six million youth across the U.S., and only 48 percent of these live on farms or in rural towns. The rest are in urban and suburban areas, a category Casale fit into as a member of a 4-H small-engine repair club.
“I’m a bit unique in that I grew up on a farm, but I grew up on a farm in a suburban setting,” he said. “There were 400 kids in my graduating class in high school, so that’s atypical from what you would normally see with people who come from a farming background. But the ability to be in a club like that came in handy not only on the farm, but also to this day.”
4-H programs are focused on developing youth through three main programs: citizenship, healthy living, and science, engineering and technology (SET).
“These key attributes of 4-H are synonymous with the characteristics we look for in potential employees,” Raines said. “We may use different names, but the idea is the same. 4-H is developing the pool of the next leaders in science and technology, and Monsanto needs to continue to be focused on supporting them.”
SET Programs: One Million New Scientists. One Million New Ideas.
While all three programs are important for developing young people, one in particular is near and dear to Monsanto--science, engineering and technology.
To help inspire, encourage and develop potential scientists, 4-H has created SET programs focused on showing their members, aged 9-19, how exciting science can be. Using hands-on experiences, 4-H is using these programs to strengthen young people’s discovery and exploration of science--and hopefully meet their goal of preparing 1 million new young people to excel in all three of these categories by 2013.
“As a company whose foundation is science--that’s who we are and what we do--creating more people who are interested in pursuing a career that’s based upon science, engineering and technology would obviously be very beneficial to us,” Casale said.
And that’s why Casale, Raines and many other Monsanto employees throughout the U.S. support 4-H. They want to play a role in developing the next generation of scientists and engineers that will be working alongside them.
