York County Families Celebrate 4-H
Gocke Earns Diamond Clover Award
The first annual York County 4-H Banquet ceremoniously wrapped up another great 4-H year. On Sunday, October 23th, 4-H families were invited to a banquet celebration at the Cornerstone Building on the fairgrounds. A dinner was catered by Kerry’s of McCool Junction. 4-H members were honored and volunteers were recognized. Â
A program was given by the nine York County delegates who attended the Citizenship Washington Focus Conference. I had the pleasure of taking 27 emerging 4-H leaders on the trip of a lifetime. Youth from 6 Nebraska counties traveled together for a national program called Citizenship Washington Focus, CWF for short. The 4-H Council generously supported the nine York County youth with trip scholarships. They gave a brief talk about the experience and shared what they learned. The York County delegates were Kathleen Esser, Lexa Rauert, Nicole Mittman, Hailee Pohl, Lucy Haarman, Sydney Samson, Holly Rockenbach, Sydney Woodruff, and Jessi Harrington-Newton.
Nineteen 4-H members were recognized for completing their 4-H Career Portfolios. Medals were awarded to Career Portfolios showing outstanding achievement in a particular curriculum area. For completing a Career Portfolio, 4-H’ers were given a $20 scholarship to be used toward any 4-H event in 2017, sponsored by the York County 4-H Council. Earning medals in curriculum areas were:
Clover Kids: Emma Hall, Mason Epp and Pieper Epp
Goat: Mattie Pohl
Horse & Rabbit: Tucker Robinson
Poultry: Chloe Holmes
Swine: Bailey Hall, Mattie Pohl
Photography: Jessi Harrington-Newton
Clothing & Textiles: Bailey Hall, William Wilton, Bailey Gocke, Clare Wilton
Public Speaking: Tucker Robinson
Shooting Sports: Leon Linhart
Food & Nutrition: Hailee Pohl
Leadership: Bailey Gocke
Citizenship: Mattie Pohl, Hailee Pohl
Home Environment: Clare Wilton, Dakota Wollenburg
Four of these Career Portfolios will be moving on to state level judging for a chance to be selected for National 4-H Congress. Those individuals are:
Leadership & Citizenship: Bailey Gocke
Family & Consumer Science: William Wilton, Bailey Gocke
Communication & Expressive Arts: Jessi Harrington-Newton
The Outstanding First Year 4-H’er award is given to two 4-H members in their first year of 4-H who demonstrate outstanding involvement and have completed their Career Portfolio. The 2016 Outstanding First Year 4-H’ers were Bailey Hall and Dakota Wollenburg.
The Outstanding Senior 4-H’er award is given to two 4-H members who have been leaders in the program and completed their Career Portfolio. The winners each receive a $500 college scholarship sponsored by the York County 4-H Council. This year’s recipients of this award, were Bailey Gocke and Clare Wilton.
The Nebraska Diamond Clover Awards are part of a noncompetitive program that recognizes the accomplishments of 4-H members across the state. The Diamond Clover consists of six levels that require a 4-H member to plan and report chosen accomplishments. Examples of accomplishments are learning the 4-H Pledge, completing the Career Portfolio, and recruiting a new 4-H member. As members progress through each level, the accomplishments become more involved. The ultimate goal is to receive the Diamond level Pin.
Receiving the Amethyst Pin and completing three accomplishments were Bailey Hall, Olivia Linhart, Josephine Turnbull and Dakota Wollenburg. Receiving the Aquamarine Pin and completing four accomplishments were Tucker Robinson, Clinton Turnbull and Mattie Pohl. Hailee Pohl completing seven accomplishments and received the Emerald pin.
We were also proud to recognize one 4-H member who has completed the highest level in this program this past year. Bailey Gocke received the Diamond Clover Award for completing her service project titled Four Your Baby: Holding Hands, Holding Hearts.
She logged over 750 volunteers hours between herself and others to make 150 hand-made baby blankets for the York County hospitals. This project took determination, organization and leadership skills to complete. Congratulations Bailey on this impressive accomplishment! As a result of her Diamond Clover project, Bailey has made a great impact on her community.
4-H leaders were also recognized for reaching milestones in their years of volunteer service. Lana Hoffschneider received the 5 year 4-H leader pin. She is the leader of the Movers & Shakers 4-H Club. Amy Pohl received a 10 year pin as the leader of the Lively Livestock Club. Congratulations to each of these special volunteers for reaching these milestones!
Special Recognition was also given to Xann Linhart, Lisa Cogswell, Diane Crowder and Lori Bruns as a thank you for their service to York County 4-H as a council member for many years.
The 4-H Banquet was sponsored by Central Valley Ag, Aurora Co-op, Henderson Co-op, Farmers Co-op of Dorchester and McCool Junction, Constellation Energy and the York County 4-H Council. One-hundred youth and adults were in attendance.
