Rebecca Brewer-Thomas

County Extension Coordinator

 

4-H Youth Development Program

Words can not express how excited I am for our 4-H DPA leadership team.  They took Northwest District by storm, with success and success, achievement after achievement. It was an amazing weekend of leadership development, demonstrations, speeches and district officer campaigning going on everywhere.  Eighteen, Chattooga County 7th -12th grade 4-H’ers attended the Northwest District Jr./Sr. DPA, District Project Achievement at Rock Eagle during March 13-15, 2009.   These 4-H’ers participated in district competitions with their individual projects of speeches, demonstrations, or performances with the other 587 youth from Northwest District.   

Chattooga County also had five young people run for a district officer position during this weekend. There were 37 young people, from across the northwest area competing for eight senior district board positions and nine junior district board positions.   I am elated to report Chattooga County has five district officers.  They are: Garrett Salmon serving as Vice-President of NW District Junior Board of Directors, Amber Uptain, Board Member of NW District Junior Board of Directors, Matthew Daniel, Board Member of NW District Senior Board of Directors, Matthew Pace, Board Member of NW District Senior Board of Directors, and Devin Baker, Board Member of NW District Senior Board of Directors.  I am very proud of our district officers and the achievement which they accomplished.  Being as district officer is one of the highest honors in 4-H.  Chattooga County has never had more than one young person serve in this role as a time, and only two others in our history.  These young people will be leading NW district during our 2009-2010 program year.  I would like to wish them great success this next year. 

  

Our DPA leadership team also took top honors bring home many winners.  The youth who participated were: Juniors (7th and 8th graders) Jessica Brock placed 5th in Performing Arts General, where she presented a drama interpretation; Abraham Carillo, place 3rd in the Art Project; Jennifer Cosper, placed 5th in Performing Arts Vocal project; Victoria Hall, placed 1st in the Public Speaking Category; Raven Hollingsworth, placed 2nd in the Performing Arts Vocal Project; Bobby Jones, placed 1st in the Workforce Preparation and Career Development Project with his project on Civil Air Patrol; Garrett Salmon, placed 1st in the Workforce Preparation and Career Development Project with his project on Athletic Training; Amber Uptain placed 1st in the Sports Project for work in Basketball; Laramee Westbrooks, placed 4th in the Performing Arts Vocal Project and Ceara Williams, placed 1st in the Art Category. 

Senior 4-Her’s (9th -12th graders) were Devin Baker, placed 2nd in Public Speaking, with a sweepstakes win; Candace Bishop, placed 3rd in Conservation of Natural Resources project; Matthew Daniel, placed 2nd in the History Project, with a sweepstakes win on his UGA Football History project; Alleigha Dennis, placed 1st in Workforce Preparation and Career Development for her project in law; Nicky Mann, placed 1st in the Performing Arts instrumental project with his flute interpretation; Hayden Mitchell, placed 5th in Performing Arts vocal project; Matthew Pace, placed 3rd in the Beef Project; and Will Turner, placed 1st in the Conservation of Natural Resources.

Alleigha Dennis, Nicky Mann, Will Turner, Devin Baker, and Matthew Daniel will be representing Chattooga County at 4?H State Congress during July 21-24, 2009 at the Crown Plaza in Atlanta, where they will compete at the State level.  This is a prominent event and honor to represent our county and the state at this prestigious event. We wish Alleigha, Nicky, Will, Devin, and Matthew the very best of luck in July.

All of these youth represented the Chattooga 4-H Program to the highest level of professionalism.  We are very proud to call each and every one of them 4?H’ers!  Congratulations to all of them for all of their dedicated hard work throughout the year in preparation for this event.  

  If you are interested in learning more about the 4-H Youth Development Program or how you can make a difference please contact Rebecca Thomas or Susan Locklear at 706-857-0744.