The 4-H program in Iowa is already popular, and when ground breaks Thursday on the new Extension and 4-H Youth Development building, the program will only continue to grow.

The groundbreaking will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, north of the Administrative Services Building on Stange Road. 4-H members from each Iowa county will be on hand for the event.

“We have such a strong 4-H program in Iowa. It’s not like that all across the country,” said Ashley Glade, sophomore in biology and 4-H member. She has been involved in 4-H since third grade, and has served as an executive at the local, county and state levels.

“I was really interested in the leadership opportunities 4-H offered,” Glade said.

Glade has found 4-H to be both a way to keep busy and a way to stay active in a farming community.

“Living on a farm, it was kind of an easy way to start keeping livestock,” she said.

In addition to the Iowa 4-H Youth Development program, the new building will house the Extension educational materials and marketing services divisions, and will continue to work with ISU Extension offices statewide. These divisions work with every unit on campus, and provide publications and information to the extension office in each Iowa county as well as act as a primary source of university outreach.

“Our goal is to take the knowledge and information from the university to the people of Iowa,” said Mark Settle, field specialist in the Cooperative Extension Field Program and Interim Director of External Relations for the Extension office.

The building will also house the “WOW” Center, or “Why Opportunity Works,” which will feature interactive programs in agriculture, technology and other science fields. The center will provide visitors with a place to learn about Iowa and Iowa State’s educational opportunities.

The idea behind the “WOW” Center is to provide youth with opportunities to garner interest in higher education and Iowa State, Settle said.

At the groundbreaking, Glade will be speaking on the past, present and future of 4-H, and telling people what 4-H has done for her.

“I hope the building will draw many more to the campus than have previously come to ISU,” she said.

The building will accommodate 60 staff members as well as visitors, and is projected to open in the summer of 2003. The project has been in planning and fundraising stages for the last several years.