Rebecca Thomas

County Extension Agent / Coordinator

4-H’ers excel at District Competition

Chattooga County 4-H took Northwest District by storm, with success after success, achievement after achievement. It was an amazing weekend of leadership development, demonstrations, speeches and district officer campaigning going on everywhere. Twenty eight, Chattooga County 7th -12th grade 4-H’ers attended the Northwest District Jr./Sr. District Project Achievement at Rock Eagle during March 4-6, 2016. These 4-H’ers participated in district competitions with their individual projects of speeches, demonstrations, or performances with the other 675 youth from the 37 counties in NW District. The projects range from Arts and crafts to Workforce preparation.2015-2016 District Senior Board Officer Hamp Thomas and Junior Board Officers, Lily Thibodeaux and Natalie Peterson led the delegation this weekend in the opening skit, several assemblies and activities.

Chattooga County 4-H was awarded the Highest Percentage of Winners Award.Six of the fourteenSeniors (9th -12th graders) will be advancing to 4-H State Congress, in Atlanta later this summer. Twelve of our fourteen Juniors (7th & 8th graders) placed in the top three of their project areas. We are very proud of the quality of our youth and their dedication to their communities. Each one of them excelled in their abilities and gained many new stills to add to their leadership qualities.

Junior 4-H students competing were: Tori Blalock placed 2nd in the Better Breakfast Cooking Lab. Brecklyn Brown received 2nd in the Crafts category. In the Dairy and Milk Science project Mary Anna Bentley paced 3rd. Gray Beach received 2nd place in Festive Food for Health. Chole Rosser placed 2nd in the Health Project. Lily Thibodeaux placed 3rd in the History Project. In the Human Development project area Bailie Pence received 1st place. Charlie Chisolm placed 1st in the Marine Science category. In Performing Arts Natalie Peterson placed 1st for her monologue. Austin Cordle placed 1st in the Sports Project. Receiving 1st place in the Wildlife Project was Christopher Timmons. 3rd Place in the Workforce Project was Kenzie Rosser for her work with Photography. Also competing in the vocal category was Morgan Long and Makayla McBride.

Senior 4-H students competing were: Placing 1st and advancing to State 4-H Congress in Atlanta are Hamp Thomas in the Dog Care and Training Project, Bronson Champion in Vocal Performance, Mekenzie Parker in the Photography project and Faith Coalson in Workforce Preparation. Sweepstakes win to attend State 4-H Congress with a second place wins are Chandler Godfrey in Food Fare and Tyler Hunt in the Target Sports Project. Logan Money placed 2nd in the Companion Animals Project. Kendra Conner placed 4th in General Recreation. In the Outdoor Recreation Project, Cody Conner received 3rd place. Placing 4th in Public Speaking was Meagan Perry. Travel Neal placed 3rd and Kaitlyn Conner placed 4th in the Safety Project. In the Sheep and Meat Goats Project area Cam Anderson placed 2nd. Taylor Ozment competed in the Target Sports category.

Part of the weekend was devoted to electing 2016-2017 Officers for Northwest District. There were twenty-nine 7th grade students who campaigned for 8 Junior Board Officer Positions and forty 9th -12thgraders which campaigned for 8 Senior Board Officer Positions. Gray Beach, a 7th grade student at LyerlySchool was elected as the 2016-2017 NW Junior Board President. Mary Anna Bentley, a 7th grade student, also from Lyerly School was elected as a Junior Board Officer. Mr. Bronson Champion, 9th grade student from Trion High School was elected as the 2016-2017 Vice President for NW Senior Board of Directors. This is a great honor for Bronson, Gray, and Mary Anna. We wish them the very best as they lead NW District over the next year.

Georgia 4-H is ranked as the number one 4-H program in the nation. It builds self-confidence – in projects and activities designed to help youth get to know themselves better and excel in their own area of interest. 4-H offers positive group interaction where our youth can share what they have learned and receive information from other members. They are rewarded and challenged to stay involved with a positive group of young people. 4-H develops inquiring minds – as students gather, analyze, and process information. It develops citizenship – by encouraging, rewarding, and recognizing youth for school, community, and other civic involvement activities. 4-H develops leadership by encouraging a student to work with others to accomplish goals and hold both appointed and elected leadership positions. 4-H develops effective resource management –through individual project work, planning experiences and facilitating events.

It was truly a great weekend. We are already planning for next year’s leadership team to compete. If you are interested in participating, please contact the Extension Office at 706-857-0744.