GUILFORD – Chenango County’s 4-H program marked its 2011-2012 year with celebratory Achievement Day held at the Rockdale Rod & Gun Club last Sunday. The 4-H program has 200 members in Chenango County, and the national 4-H program is among the largest youth program in the country, boasting membership numbers in the millions.

Last weekend’s annual Achievement Day was hosted and sponsored by the Guilford Carry-On 4-H Club.

“We like to move the Achievement Day celebration around the county so the kids get to see more of Chenango,” said 4-H Youth Extension Educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension, Janet Pfromm. For instance, last year’s Achievement Day was hosted by the Greene 4-H Club, and next year it will be held in New Berlin.

As New York State’s Land Grant University, Cornell is responsible for the State’s 4-H program. In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Morrill Land Grant Act, which designated 30,000 acres in each state to be used to in the creation of special Land Grant Universities. In 1867, New York State Senators Ezra Cornell and Andrew D. White utilized the Morrill Land Grant Act and Senator Cornell’s wealth to create the State’s Land Grant School, Cornell University.