NATCHEZ — For many, the mention of the 4-H club conjures images of youngsters rasing sheep and grooming cattle for competition and bragging rights.

But a newly formed 4-H club in Adams County doesn’t have its focus on livestock; instead the group is concentrating on community service and leadership training.

The Adams County 4-H Junior Leaders was formed at the start of the school year and is being supported by the Adams County Extension Service.

Director of the Adams County Extension Service David Carter said he worked with a 4-H club in Baton Rouge with great success.

“The kids are able to get a lot out of it,” Carter said. “There are so many programs that focus on what they shouldn’t be doing, this is a chance for them to learn skills they’re going to need later in life.”

Newly elected 4-H president Catherine Myers, 15, said was initially interested in the program because it offered a chance to work on service projects throughout the county.

Since the group’s formation, the club has worked on food drives and various other service projects around the county.

“It’s a chance for to students to do a lot of good work,” Myers said. “And we want all the schools to be involved.”

The group is currently made of representatives from all the county’s high schools.

Myers, a Cathedral High School student, said her favorite project to date involved helping the Extension Service host a soil and water conservation day for local middle school students.

“They look up to you,” she said. “And it’s a chance for them to learn some new stuff.”

Melanie Sojourner, works for the Extension Service and 4-H, and said participation in the club offers more than just service opportunities.

Sojourner said students in the 4-H program have an opportunity to apply for scholarships through the program.

“That’s valuable for a lot of students,” Sojourner said.

And those scholarship opportunities are one of the main reasons Keundra Washington, 16, was attracted to the program.

“A lot of students might not go to college if they don’t have funding,” Washington, a Natchez High School student, said. “This is a chance for them to go.”

But Washington said she was also drawn to 4-H as a chance to make positive change in the community.

“The more people that work with us, the stronger our community becomes,” she said.

Sojourner said the group currently has approximately 30 members in schools across the county.