Welcome to the club: Education where the bell never rings

Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this descriptive research study exploring the 4-H experience from participants' perspectives to determine if the nation's largest non-formal youth development program is effective in developing life skills. Three counties were randomly selected where all 4-H leaders were asked to take an inventory to assess their orientation towards working with youth. Based upon the leadership roles--control oriented or more autonomy-oriented five 4-H clubs were chosen for the study. 4-H promoted more life skill learning, was more fun, and was a more satisfying club experience for members in clubs led by autonomy-oriented leaders than those of control-oriented clubs. Based on this research, characteristics of effective clubs are given.