Marshfield Fair Reflection

Throughout high school 4-H and FFA were both very important to me. These organizations fueled my love for agriculture and ultimately were instrumental in deciding my college major. I am an Agriculture Communication major with a Food Science minor. I love and communication goals, and objectives to others and I this is why public relations is the dream job for me. I am very interested in the sheep industry and love helping my nine year old sister and other livestock exhibitors with their show animals. If I am not with friends, working on school work, involved in organizations, you can

Growing up on a family farm in rural South Dakota, I never considered myself different from any other farm kid. At the age of eight, I joined the local 4-H club. Through my ten years of membership, I have participated in many differing project areas from showing beef calves to visual arts and everything in between. Through my many failures, I learned from my mistakes taking numerous best of show awards at county fair and finding success at state fair. 4-H has also given me the opportunity to become more involved in my community through local, county, and statewide community service projects. 4-H sparked my interest in agriculture.

My most important 4-H accomplishments include joining the Illinois State 4-H Youth Leadership Team (YLT), being chosen to serve on the Illinois Farm Bureau Youth in Education in Agriculture Committee 4-H representative (YEA), and county awards I have earned. Serving on YLT was a goal of mine ever since I went to the Junior Leadership Conference (JLC) my 7th and 8th grade years. On the team I have met some of the best people I now can call friends while representing 4-H across the state and impacting 4-H members too. Being apart of the team I have helped plan and execute two JLCs assisted with SFI-4-H training, worked at the Illinois State Fair, and represented 4-H at the University of Illinois Salute to Ag Day tailgate and football game. As

We then reimplant them and take them off the halters until a few weeks before a show. When they are off the halters we check on them daily. In the summer, we tie up our steers, and walk them 3 times a day to water. We also give them a rinse each evening to help keep them cool. Over the years I have won Rate of Gain, Class Champion, Reserve Grand Champion, and Grand Champion with my steers. But, Livestock is not all I have done in 4-H. I have also tried a few general projects. My favorite general project has been my sports fishing project. My first year showing this project I created a soda can casting device to help me practice my casting, I then recorded my improvements as I practiced. My second year I built a fish habitat for our farm pond. I used old plastic culverts, stainless steel cables, and clamps. To build the habitat I used fifteen gallon drums attached to the top, and to keep it from floating to the top I attached concrete stepping stones to the bottom. To show the project I created a poster and was chosen to go to the Illinois State Fair to represent my county. All of my projects have taught me responsibility and have helped me improve my public presentation

I learned how to make things from banana bread to a blanket to a wood planter box. The projects that I made and entered at the fair helped me become a well-rounded person and I am so thankful for that. Not only did making the projects shape my life, but learning to talk with the judges and tell them about my project was a great experience for me also. I was also taught how to learn from my mistakes and receive constructive criticism from the judges. I did not always receive a blue ribbon and I would have to learn from that and how to make my project better the next time. The things 4-H and my projects taught me growing up is

This year, entering the county fair for the sixth time, the most important thing about 4-H hit me. My 4-H club has become more than just that. They are my family, my friends, my future. Each year brings more kids

How amazing that your family has been involved in 4-H for 198 years! It’s incredible that four generations of your family have been involved in 4-H. Your dedication to leadership, volunteering, and service is inspiring!

On January 26, I had the opportunity to attend The Major Fair, an event in which the academic departments of FSU showcased their programs and gave information about various majors. Originally, I believed that I would not benefit from attending this event, but my perspective has changed. Although attending this event was mandatory for all students who enrolled in Freshman Seminar 2, The Major Fair allowed me to gain insight into the many majors and minors offered at this university. By the time I left the event, I received information that related to my intended major, which is chemistry, and the other programs that I found interesting and beneficial, which are the honors program and the 3+2 dual program.

Before starting college, being a ten-year 4-H member allowed me to develop leadership skills and an affinity for helping out in my community. I found that I have a love for not only animals, but people as well. I started the first beef club in my county where I organized workshops for kids to learn how to show

My 4-H experience has helped me immensely in my high school coursework, and has greatly influenced my involvement in high school activities. First, 4-H has taught me to work hard. This hard work in the classroom has led me to maintain a very high GPA, and give me honors as an Academic All-State Football Player for the state of Iowa. 4-H has taught me to manage my time wisely, and to be a leader in my activities. As I am involved in many activities, hold down a job on a 1,000 sow farrowing unit, and support many more activities at the school, I have had to discover a way to manage my time that allows me to be successful at each of those activities. While being heavily involved in activities at the high school level, I plan to be just as involved

Being a third grader, I wanted to try something new to make new friends and be more involved in my community. I decided to join 4-H, which is a club where I can compete in events, do projects, and show livestock. 4-H was filled with numerous activities to do and I knew there had to be at least one that suited me. I started to show poultry and as the years went by I started to show different species of livestock as I wanted to try raising different animals. Not only did I show livestock, I also competed in public speaking where I found that communicating in front of a crowd was my talent.

Throughout the years, I have had many great opportunities to grow as a person and as a leader through 4-H. My ten years of involvement in the Columbia County 4-H Project has had an enormous impact on my life. It taught me how to be a better leader. It introduced me to some great people and some wonderful leadership positions. I gained skills in the project, such as horsemanship, but more importantly, I grew as a person. If it wasn't for the things I learned and the people I met in 4-H, I would not be the person I am today. The many activities I have participated in through 4-H have given me opportunities to grow as a student, athlete, horseman, and leader. The skills that I have gained through 4-H will stay with me for the rest of my life,

Throughout my schooling at Nashua-Plainfield I have taken initiative in many ways. I was apart of the student council, FCCLA treasure, and was the captain on my softball team. I felt I learned the most about being a leader in softball. In softball I felt as if there was two ways to be a leader, on the field, and off the field in the dugout. I was a leader in the filed, by talking. Talking is a major part of softball. You constantly have to be aware about where the ball is and what you are going to do with it if it comes to you. You need to talk about where the runners are and what the plays are depending on where the ball is. I was a leader in the dugout by picking my teammates up. It’s hot, your loosing, you just struck out, your awesome drive

I am involved in 4H. I’m second year president of the Howard Center Stars 4H Club. I stared 4H over six years as way to advance my artistic skills and to help the community. Now as club president, I am directly involved with planning our club community projects. In the past year I have organized and participated in two club community projects; making malts for Cresco’s 150th town celebration and a canned food drive for the local food pantry. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to give back to your community and encourage others to do the same as well. I also use my position as president to help and encourage younger members to participate in several 4H activities and to develop their interests through project areas. I have developed my interest

One of my most significant 4-H projects was reserve supreme heifer in 2007. I chose this because this was the first year I had ever shown and this was the year I did the best. Showing cattle taught me how to be responsible. Without the responsibility of taking care of an animal I wouldn’t be able to remember all the homework I needed to do that night. Without this skill school would be a struggle and I would be stressed all the time knowing my grades weren’t the best. So I’m glad I have learned this skill because it helped shape me for the person I am today a very successful, responsible girl in the top 25 percent of my class. Once I had the feeling of responsibility it helped me decide that I wanted to help others and care for them just like how I took care of the cow. I love helping and caring for people and this project helped me decide that I wanted to be a nurse.