Success Stories

Alex Borroughs

Leading, Service and Transformation

You won’t find a more avid booster of 4-H community service than Alex Burroughs - which may not be surprising until the 22-year-old UMass Amherst freshman from Worcester notes that he was literally dragged into his first 4-H encounter.

“I was in an anger management program, and had been gang affiliated,” Alex explains. “Some friends dragged me to Amherst to a 4-H teen conference. I didn’t like it at first, being surrounded by all these happy people. I couldn’t figure what they were so happy about. I couldn’t wait to go home.”

While he didn’t initially take to 4-H, 4-H took to Alex in a big way. When he heard his name called from the podium at the closing ceremony that weekend, he figured he was in trouble. In fact, he was being honored with the 4-H Spirit award, which recognizes the integration of Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. That was a turning point.

“To be honest, I was just being myself. But it really sparked something in me, and I knew I wanted to make difference. Once I was recognized, I really wanted to put more and more into it.”
Alex did just that, focusing on community service as vice president of the state teen council and, now, of the UMass Collegiate 4-H Club.

“4-H continues to evolve, and to recognize the need for basic community service,” he says.
He has also been a delegate to the national 4-H conference, spoken as 4-H Ambassador, and studied in Luxembourg through a 4-H youth exchange. “If you can think it, 4-H helps make it possible to do it. I really want to help others discover their leadership, and nurture their desire to do bigger and better things."

Majoring in Social Thought and Political Economy, Alex sees 4-H as a progressive social force, and even as "alternative lifestyle" - an alternative, that is, to "the negative lifestyle I had."