Boa Boswell thinks a lot more about four-stage rockets than 4-H.

But it's the 12-year-old Aspen Elementary student's obsession with escape velocity that makes him a perfect candidate for the program.

JoLene Bunnell admits rocket science is a break from the traditional focus of the agriculturally minded 4-H, but with the demand for better science and engineering education someone has to do it.

"We're the perfect entity to the lead in this in the nation," said the Utah State University Extension 4-H youth agent. "We discuss all that education in fun."

And so during the same week that 4-H participants were holding their annual livestock show, she was in front of the County Commission asking for funding to hire a science, engineering and technology agent through USU.

"We're not just all cows and cooking," Bunnell said, "that's the old mentality."

The new mentality won't come cheap. If the commission officially approves the request today, the county would assume the full cost of the position -- $51,500 salary plus $24,978 in benefits per year -- in 2010.

Commissioner Steve White said he sees the move as a way to introduce young people to careers like auto, computer and electrical technicians that may require specific training but not a four-year degree.

"This effort is an effort to expose young people to a technical education," White said.

Harvey Taylor has been trying to expose young minds to science -- specifically aerospace -- for more than 20 years. A fourth-grade teacher at Aspen Elementary School in Orem, Taylor has been running the Young Astronauts program for years, though only recently through 4-H.

"The demand is always high. We always turn kids away from Young Astronauts," Taylor said. "It really gets kids excited about science and math."

The excitement is clear on Boswell's face. The young red-head picked up his interest in the starry skies from his father.

"I thought, if he's interested in space then why not me?" he said. "Space isn't only cool, it's a mystery."

Exploring that mystery has been done on a shoestring until Taylor hooked up with 4-H, at which point he got improved materials, child supervision and even a stipend for himself.

He said he views the coming technological changes -- and the need to help kids understand them -- much in the same way his grandfather did when he saw his first airplane. His grandfather was told at the time that airplanes were so few and so valuable that "normal people" would never get a chance to ride in one. It wasn't long, of course, until the skies were full of aircraft.

"It's closer to go to space [20 miles, straight up] than it is to go to Salt Lake City," he said. "This generation of kids is going to be the one where space is public."