New 4-H Record book system. There will be a two year grace period for Seniors. For any teen in the Senior division, you have the choice of using the new Career Portfolio or continuing with the Building Your 4-H Record Book for the next two years. After that, everyone must use the new Career Portfolio. Go to the link below to get material or contact the office for a CD.
NEW 4-H Career Portfolio
Following is a summary of margin settings and other helpful information for use with word processing programs to assist in completing Building Your 4-H Record.
Record Book Templates
The margin, column and/or tab settings are based on 10 or 12 point font. The 4-H Story must be printed at six lines per inch. Be very careful when using computers to observe the number of lines per inch and type size. Condensed/small type size of more than six lines of type per inch (three lines when double spaced) are not within guidelines. Column format should be close to that provided in the printed copy (4-HF 52 "Building your 4-H Record) available from the Extension office. In some situations, one less column may be necessary due to software limitations.
Any word processing software may be used. (Word, WordPerfect and Excel files using columns have been provided to each county via the Nebraska 4-H Home page. Future versions will be announced via e-mail and will be available through the District 4-H Specialist.) A letter-quality or near letter-quality printer should be used. Make sure the printer provides a clear, readable copy. Very light or hard to read type will detract from the application since selection committees may spend an entire day reading - and eyes can get extremely tired.
As long as the same format is used on appropriate pages of "Building Your 4-H Record" (software links of form below), the application does not need to be printed on the original form. Vertical lines dividing columns do not need to be inserted (they are helpful, but not required as long as there is a clear distinction between columns). Lead statements that are in italics on original form should be retyped prior to entering information. Remember the margins given may or may not be best for your individual wordprocessor (for example, your word processing package may not allow .75 (3/4) inch margins so .5 (½) or 1 inch margins will be needed.)
Front Page: Use a typewriter or print neatly. Trying to line up the various blanks on the form, with a computer and printer would take far more time and effort than anyone can afford. This page like all others, may be replaced with a computer reproduction.
Page 3: Top/bottom and left/right margins of at least .5 inch. Tab or column settings at: 1.25, 2.75, 4.5, and 6.25 inches. (See example at end of this section.)
Page 5: Same top/bottom and right/left margins may be used throughout "Building Your 4-H Record". Tab or columns for page 5: 1.25, 2.75, 5.25, 7 inches.
Page 7: Tab/columns for page 7: 1.25, 2.5, 3.25, 6, 7.25 inches.
Page 9: Tab/columns for page 9: 1.25, 2.5, 3 inches
Page 11: Tab/columns for page 11: 1, 1.5, 3.25, 5.75 inches
Page 13: Devote the top half of the page (top 5.5 inches) to Elected/Appointed Leadership. Tabs/columns: 1, 1.5, 3.5 inches.
Bottom half of the page should record 4-H Promotion Leadership. Tabs/columns: 1, 2.75, 7.75 inches.
Page 15: Tabs/columns: 1, 2.5, 7.25 inches.
Page 17: Tab/column: 1 inch
Any word processor, spreadsheet or other computer program you are familiar with may be used to create a computerized version of Building Your 4-H Record. Just be sure to follow the same general format as the original form.
Templates for the various pages have been developed for WordPerfect, Word and Excell. You may download these files rather than create your own. The choice is yours!
