The new head of Tooele County's 4-H program hopes to increase involvement in the program, recruit more lead volunteers, and inform people of the broad spectrum of activities that 4-H encompasses.

Stephen Sagers, 28, was hired Feb. 22. He comes to the 4-H program at a difficult time, taking over from past head Curtis Crittenden, who was sentenced to six to 30 years in prison for fondling young boys he had invited to sleep over at his home.

"It was unfortunate," Sagers said, of Crittenden's crime. "My main focus is to put that behind us. If there are people with reservations, I would hope they'd meet with me."

Sagers said he hopes to increase participation in 4-H by publicizing activities, as well as keeping the organization's Web site updated. In addition, he wants to let adults know the benefits of being a leader and encourage their participation.

"There are a lot of kids that want to do some things with 4-H but they don't have a leader to do it with," he said.

4-H aims to teach life skills, with activities ranging from horse shows to teen leadership training to adventure camps.

"A lot of people think 4-H is just about raising livestock or making cookies, and while there are classes for that, 4-H isn't limited to just one thing," Sagers said, adding classes include mock legislature and information technology.

There are roughly 15 community clubs within 4-H -- groups that include youth with similar interests -- in addition to family clubs. Those are separate from the many classes offered by 4-H.

4-H works very closely with several organizations, including the Youth & Families with Promise, which is a prevention/early intervention program for youth. In addition, 4-H works with schools, as well as FFA programs.

"School is a great thing and 4-H doesn't want to take away from that, but instead adds to it," Sagers said. "It's not something we're trying to rival, but work with."

Sagers, who was involved in 4-H when he was young, graduated from Tooele High School in 1998. He graduated from Utah State University in May 2004 with a bachelor's degree in political science, and went on to receive a master's degree in political science in 2006, also from USU.

While in college, Sagers had an internship at the Utah State Legislature in the 2004 legislative session. From May 2004 to August 2004, he also held an internship working in Sen. Orrin Hatch's office in Washington, D.C. While there, he assisted with ag, energy and natural resource issues.

After graduating from USU, he worked at E.A. Miller, a meat processing plant in Cache Valley, before moving here.

Sagers said he wanted to find a job where he could make an impact on people, and the 4-H position seemed fitting.

"I wanted to make a difference in people's lives," he said, "even if it's just a small difference."

Through working with the Boy Scout program, most recently from January 2007 to February 2008 as a volunteer leader in Logan, he said he also knew he wanted to work with youth.

"4-H is to teach them new skills they can keep for the rest of their lives," Sagers said.

Sagers is the son of Transcript-Bulletin columnist Diane Sagers and USU Extension Horticulture Specialist Larry Sagers.

swest@tooeletranscript.com