Iowa PBS documentary from Creston resident features 4-H origins

After more than 25 years at Iowa PBS, Creston native Laurel Bower’s next project explores an overlooked history in one of the United States’s most important educational institutions: 4-H.

Through interviews and research around Clarinda and the "Mother of 4-H" Jessie Field Shambaugh, Bower has traced the history of 4-H back to a woman. Shambaugh designed the now-iconic clover logo, wrote several mottos and created a model for organizing 4-H clubs nationwide.

Bower is an Emmy-winning producer who has worked on several documentaries for Iowa PBS, with topics including the 1980s Farm Crisis and the history of 6-on-6 basketball in Iowa.

An advance screening of the documentary will take place at the CCAM Art Hangar in Clarinda on March 29, although the event is at full capacity. The documentary will be broadcast on Iowa PBS at 8 p.m., April 6.

Bower, who has spent the last year researching, interviewing, writing and editing her documentary, titled “The Legacy of 4-H,” has loved documentary production since she started working on them 15 years ago.

“I’m a one-track mind,” Bower said. “I like to dive into something and focus on that. Creating my own story and finding what that story is on a topic. Being able to create something my own, I get really engrossed on something.”

What drew Bower to Shambaugh and Iowa’s connection to 4-H has been about exploring a different side of 4-H. Bower noted how unique a founder of 4-H is to be a woman and her strong belief in the capabilities of rural students.

“She was the only female doing this kind of work,” Bower said. “She was the one who really made the connection that would lead to what 4-H is today. She was a school teacher in Page County. Within her first year of teaching, she was developing boys and girls clubs.”

Shambaugh began teaching in 1901 and would become superintendent of Page County’s schools in 1906, overseeing 130 country schools. Her status and contributions haven’t gone unnoticed.

“This was the turn of the 20th century,” Bower said. “Women had no power; [Shambaugh] became superintendent before women could even vote. She had a way of connecting with people and uplifting kids.”

The development of those initial clubs would become the model for 4-H nationwide. As 4-H grew across all parts of the country, even spreading from rural to urban areas, the core values Shambaugh instilled in her work has been preserved, more than 120 years later.

“Kids want to learn by doing,” Bower said. “That’s what Jessie was doing. She wanted them to know their values and know what would make their lives better. 4-H has adapted to that.”

For the project, Bower interviewed some local residents. One of those was Creston sophomore Charlie Anderson, who is heavily involved with local 4-H.

Bower said individuals like Anderson and the value they derive from 4-H today came from the developments started with Shambaugh. As STEM and other communication and leadership skills become more active in 4-H, the sky’s the limit.

“Every kid can find something in 4-H,” Bower said. “Their interests, it’s unlimited. There’s so many things kids can do now, robotics, STEM, the traditional livestock, visual arts with photography, soft skills like communication. One of the things that happens when hiring someone, if 4-H is on the resume, it goes to the top of the pile. What they’ve learned over the years really matters.”

Bower is grateful to both Iowa PBS and her collaborators, who have helped her continue to make documentaries.

“Working with videographers and editors, I like all the aspects,” Bower said. “The research, the editing, the writing, the interviewing. I’ve worked with musicians, with different narrators. It’s been kind of fun over the years to work with people who are well known.”

One of those collaborators is narrator Harry Smith, a career journalist who had worked for the national outlets of CBS and NBC. After his retirement in 2024, Smith returned to Iowa to teach at his alma mater, Central College.

Iowa PBS, at a time when public broadcasting has seen federal budget cuts, is seen by Bower as incredibly important.

“Anyone can watch Iowa PBS, statewide,” Bower said. “As I worked here more and more, documentaries became what I wanted to do. They’ve given me an opportunity to do that. There’s always a story to tell, people who can give a different meaning to times and events. I feel fortunate that I’ve been given this opportunity.”