Covington County 4-H and Covington County Commission were honored Tuesday by the Alabama Extension.

Dr. Paul Brown of Auburn University spoke at Tuesday’s meeting.

He said that the extension service, specifically 4-H had been working to keep students interested in their programs

After the program celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2014, officials examined 4-H programs to see how they could improve farm and home and getting the youth involved.

Brown said officials reaffirmed that getting youth involved was very important.

They took a look at what has changed in Alabama, what they could do to bring in more young people and how they could continue to develop young people.

Brown said they wanted to give youth real-world experience.

Since then, the program has seen “numbers go through the roof.”

Brown said some 180,000-plus students are involved in 4-H in some way.

In Covington County, the local program has reached 6,000 students in the last two years.

Local director Chuck Simon said that they are in all three school systems in the county.

Simon has implemented a strong county team in Melissa Wise, Tara Dalton, Katie Lee and Catherine Rider, Brown said.

“Our 4-H staff jumped a lot of hurdles to get in all three systems,” Simon said.

Brown presented the county commission with the crystal clover award for the partnership with 4-H.

Brown said that only 14 out of the 67 counties have yet to achieve the status.

Commission Chairman Greg White said he looks at the extension office as a special activity in the county.