With over 1,100 registered student organizations (RSOs) on campus, it’s impossible to know them all. But one organization, the 4-H House, is trying to get the word out on what their sorority is really about.

“I feel like a lot of people think we’re just farm girls,” said Taylor Walk, sophomore in AHS. “I think a lot of people just stereotype us, like 4-H and farming, when we really have a lot more going on than that.”

The 4-H House is a sorority that provides affordable housing for girls with a 4-H background. According to the organization’s website, 4-H is a “youth development program” with over six million members all across the country. Youth can participate in 4-H from elementary school to high school, in research-driven programs that include “hands-on learning activities in the areas of science, citizenship and healthy living.” 4-H stands for the main living by learning aides: head, hands, heart and health.

“Each county has multiple (4-H) groups, and we show at the same county fair,” Walk said.

Amanda Rosendale, president of the 4-H House, got involved in the organization at the age of eight.

“When I was in elementary school, they had Cloverbuds, and I was in that until I was old enough to actually join the 4-H club,” Rosendale said. “4-H has really been a family club — my dad was in it, my sister was in it, and (now I’m) in it.”

While the 4-H organization formed in 1902, the University 4-H House formed in 1934, after the State 4-H Director Mary McKee and 16 other University women joined in efforts to form a cooperative house on campus.

“It was back in 1934 during the Great Depression, (and) girls needed a low-cost place to live to come to college — otherwise they wouldn’t be able to come,” Rosendale said. “What Mary McKee did was she developed this low-cost housing for farm women to come live here for a cheaper price.”

Margaret Cline, alumni board president of the 4-H House, directs the association that owns and maintains the 4-H House.

“(Mary McKee’s) whole premise was to buy or rent a house for all these girls to live at together (and) support one another (by doing) their own cooking and cleaning,” Cline said. “It’s a unique history.”

The house has since moved several times since then. On June 10, 1962, the current house located on 805 W. Ohio Street was dedicated.

Walk describes the current house’s atmosphere as a “home away from home.”

“The day you move in, you have 36 to 54 friends that you’re going to meet the first day,” Walk said. “Everyone’s from really little areas, so we all kind of have the same background (and) it’s not hard to find things in common.”

The way the cooperative house runs is that the girls do their own cooking, cleaning and home duties. This makes the cost of living affordable.

“The house runs (well) because everyone has to work together. When a toilet breaks in this house, it’s not us as alums calling the plumber,” Cline said.

In the mid 1980s, the 4-H House was invited into the Panhellenic community.

“A lot of people don’t know we’re Greek,” Walk said. “Sometimes, when I meet someone, I’m surprised if they know what 4-H is.”

Along with getting the word out about what 4-H is, the girls hope to spread awareness about their philanthropy, which they support through an annual euchre tournament and bake-sale.

“Journey is our philanthropy. We raise money to give to police officers to buy cameras to stop repeat drunk drivers,” Walk said.

On June 8, 1997, two 4-H house members, Jennifer and Jackie Esworthy, were killed in a car accident on their way home from a family gathering when a drunken driver broad sided their car.

“Whenever we raise money it seems like we’re really helping something out because it personally affected the house,” Walk said.

Cline said that 4-H is very much based upon the principle of living by doing. There’s a lot of hands-on education, working in teams and working cooperatively.

“All those years of being in 4-H as an organization really helped pave the way for (the 4-H girls) to come to the University and live in a house with other young women,” Cline said.