Month: April 2017

Congrats to Greg Coulter – Lancaster Eagle Gazette, 2017 Orchid Award Winner!

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The 2017 Advisor’s Orchid Award was presented to Greg Coulter, Advisor of the KKEZ 4-H Club, at the 4-H Achievement Banquet on April 4th, 2017. This award was presented by Mike Throne of the Lancaster, Eagle Gazette.

4-H Leadership is unique. Individuals serving as leaders in the 4-H Club program give much time, vision, and personal energy in helping youth to achieve individual goals.  All of these leadership sacrifices are on a voluntary basis. Understanding and working with youth are some of the most rewarding adventures that over 200 4-H club leaders in Fairfield County take on each year.

Greg Coulter has served as a 4-H Club Advisor with 30 years of 4-H Leadership.  He has been a lifelong member of the Fairfield County 4-H Program and started 4-H by participating in the Cloverleaf Livestock Club. His project area was rabbits and continued on to participate as a member in the countywide Junior Leader Club as a teen. As a young 4-H member, Greg held the office of President in the Cloverleaf Livestock and the Pet Bonanza Clubs. After completing his youth member years, Greg became an advisor in 1985 by starting a new club called Kuddly Kritters and soon after that he started another club called Energy Zoo. For six years, he served 4-H members in these two clubs.  In 1996, he combined the two clubs together to become the KKEZ club in the Baltimore area. The KKEZ 4-H Club currently has over 50 members with many other advisors assisting as volunteers. Currently, Greg serves as the 4-H Advisory Committee President and is the Rabbit Superintendent for the Junior Fair. He has also served as a hill supervisor at 4-H Camp and brings his many colors to help campers learn how to tye-dye shirts at camp. Greg’s involvement in 4-H has helped many 4-H’ers reach their goals through the leadership that he has so graciously given to each 4-H member. He definitely knows what it means to carry on the tradition of 4-H here in Fairfield County. Congratulations to Greg Coulter, 2017 Orchid Award Winner, for your many years of dedicated service as a 4-H Advisor. Greg truly demonstrates the community service ideals of Ken and Charlotte Kerr.

Congrats to Fairfield County 4-H Merit Award Winners!

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Merit Award Winners are recognized for Outstanding Achievement in a particular project area for members completing the Ohio 4-H Achievement Form (ages 14 and up as of 1/1/2017).  Up to three awards can be presented for each category each year depending on the quality of applicants. Winners are selected by the 4-H Advisory Committee and may only receive an award one time for each project category. Merit Award Certificates were presented at the 4-H Achievement Banquet held on April 4th, 2017 by Mike Throne from the Lancaster Eagle Gazette.

Stephanie Bowers – Food and Nutrition

Derek Burns – Sheep

Sarah Doner – Dairy Goat

Emma Farmer – Horse

Abigail Hall – Citizenship and Community Service; Leadership

Lillian Hyme – Poultry

Ethan Kaper – Mechanical Engineering

Augusta Kilbarger – Rabbits

Jeffrey King – Swine

Kathleen Latorre – Clothing and Textiles; Food and Nutrition

Maddie Logsdon –  Food and Nutrition

Connor Marteney – Citizenship and Community Service; Leadership; Shooting Sports

Jarod Marteney – Citizenship and Community Service; Environmental Science; Shooting Sports

Caroline Mason – Companion Animal

Tucker Meachem – Dairy

Jordyn Nevers – Veterinary Science

Macy Newell – Woodworking

Emily Praither – Health and Safety

Emma Preston – Clothing and Textiles; Sheep

Emma Reilly – Gardening

Alexa Romanowski – Food and Nutrition; Photography

Abby Skinner – Leadership

Corinne Somers – Citizenship and Community Service; Family Life; Leadership; Personal Development

Jon Stepp – Personal Development

Kamala Sweeney – Poultry

Sydney VerDow – Companion Animal

Evan Young – Citizenship and Community Service

Lauren Young – Clothing and Textiles; Rabbits

Congrats to all County Merit Award Winners! Participant Awards for the Ohio Achievement Form were given to Allison Flanagan, Triston Hill, Aiden Jackson, MaLynn Kilbarger, Cara Luallen, Megan Luallen, Alexandria Smith, Caden Sweeney, and Rachel Swick.

Congrats to all Achievement Award and Scholarship Award Winners!

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The Fairfield County 4-H Achievement Banquet was held on Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 at the Shalom United Methodist Church in Carroll. This banquet recognized 4-H youth ages 14 and older who completed the Ohio 4-H Achievement Form and/or Fairfield County 4-H Scholarship Application.

Thank you to our special guests, Fairfield County Commissioner, Dave Levacy; Ryan O’Connor from the Office of Congressman Steve Stivers; and Managing Editor for the Lancaster Eagle Gazette, Mike Throne. We would like to them for presenting recognition certificates from their respective offices to our 4-H members who were recognized. Additionally, we would like to thank State Senator Troy Balderson of the 20th District, State Representative Tim Schaffer of the 77th Ohio House District, and State Representative Ron Hood of the 78th Ohio House District who were not able to attend but sent certificates to be presented to our award winners.

We would also like to thank Christine Simmons and Fairfield Federal Savings and Loan Association as our sponsor of the 68th Achievement Award program. This was Fairfield Federal Savings and Loan Association’s 17th year of continued support and sponsorship of this banquet to honor 4-H members.

Thank you to 4-H members Tatum Campbell and Rachel Swick for leading the pledges and Caden Sweeney for leading our invocation. Thank you to Greg Coulter, 4-H Advisory Committee President, for serving as Emcee. We would also like to thank members of the Shalom United Methodist Church for preparing and serving our meal.

We will post pictures in separate blog posts of all award winners and sponsors.

Time to Enroll with 4-H Online!

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The Fairfield County enrollment deadline is fast approaching!  Current members should have their on-line enrollments completed as soon as possible, but no later than Sunday April 30th.  Advisors should have their entire club enrollment package into our office by Monday, May 1st at 4 pm.  The sooner you get your enrollment completed, the sooner the club advisor can provide the office with the correct enrollment report for us to verify.  Many clubs have requested earlier deadlines for their members, which is great for the office.

Are you a current member having problems logging into 4-H online?  Call Missy, Ellen or Sue at the office and we can get you started.  740-652-7260 is our main number.

You will need your family email used last year to access your account.  Once you have the family email, go to https://oh.4honline.com to start the enrollment process.  Select ‘I have a profile’, enter your email address and request a new password.  Your temporary password will be sent to the email in the system.  You will then log in with your temporary password, reset your password and then be good to go.  Is your email incorrect?  Call the office. We will get that changed, and then you will be able to complete your on-line enrollment.

Instructions and a training video are available on our website at https://go.osu.edu/Fairfield4HOnline.  

If you are a new member to Fairfield County 4-H, you will need to complete a paper form and the advisor will need to turn the form in with their club packet.

Thank you for your willingness to go on-line this year!  It should make future enrollments easier for everyone.

Fashion & Nutrition Board Promote Nutrition at Pickerington Library’s Family Fun Night!

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The Fairfield County 4-H Fashion & Nutrition Board participated in the Family Fun Night at Pickerington Library on Tuesday, April 11th, 2017. They promoted nutrition (fruits and vegetables) and ran the blender bike to power the smoothies. It was a a great time! Pictures of this event are posted on our Facebook Page.

Attention Teens! Join the Junior Leaders!

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Attention Fairfield County 4-H members ages 13 and older! You are invited to attend the next meeting of the Junior Leaders! Their next meeting is Wednesday, April 19th, 2017 from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at the Fairfield County Ag Center (Extension Office) – 831 College Avenue, Lancaster.

This group is for older 4-H youth who participate in community service projects, recruit new 4-H members through school awareness events at the beginning of the year, and help with 4-H day, summer judging, and the county fair in Fairfield County.

Please join us!

New Release – Young Engineers in Solar Energy

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The Young Engineers in Solar Energy project book has finally been released!  To make Young Engineers in Solar Energy available as soon as possible, we’re posting it online as a downloadable PDF on the Ohio 4-H website.

For 2017, instead of completing all nine activities, members enrolled in the project can complete five activities of their choosing. They will be asked to provide feedback about the experience via a survey afterwards.

Here is the link to the web page for Young Engineers in Solar Energy. Members already enrolled in the project will receive an email with the link via 4-H Online by the end of the day on Monday.

Just a reminder, this project is NOT eligible for state fair as indicated in the Family Guide. It may be in the future, but definitely not for 2017.

If you have problems printing the PDF, let Missy (koenig.398@osu.edu or 740-652-7264) know and she can print one off for you at the office.  The cost for a print version will be $6.00.

Dress a Girl Around the World Event – A HUGE Success! THANK YOU!

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The Fashion and Nutrition Board would like to thank all members, volunteers, and those donated items for making this event a huge success! On March 25th, 2017, 30 people made 30 dresses and 50 kits. Soon another 30 kits will be prepped and ready for 4-Hers to take home and sew and return.

Roger Ruble Honored at the Ohio 4-H Conference for 55 Years of Service as a 4-H Volunteer

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Roger Ruble of Millersport and Nancy Craig of Cortland were recently honored for their 55 years of volunteer service to the Ohio 4-H Youth Development program. This occurred during the Bob Evans Farms 4-H Volunteer Recognition Luncheon and Years of Service Reception held Saturday, March 11th, 2017 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. This luncheon and reception were part of an all-day 4-H volunteer education conference. Ohio 4-H is the youth development program of Ohio State University Extension, the outreach arm of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. In 2016, 444,900 individual youth participated in traditional 4-H clubs, camps and school enrichment programs,and other group educational activities. Ohio has more than 22,000 active 4-H volunteers.

A.J Zanyk Photography

Pictured from left: Dr. Roger Rennekamp, Director of Ohio State University Extension, Professorand Associate Dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; RogerRuble; Nancy Craig; and Dr. Tom Archer, State 4-H Leader, Assistant Director, Ohio StateUniversity Extension

Natalyn Landis and Emma Newell Inducted into the 1st Class of the Ohio 4-H Teen Hall of Fame

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At the 2017 Ohio 4-H Conference that was held on March 11th at the Columbus Convention Center, two Fairfield County youth were inducted into the first class of inductees of the Ohio 4-H Teen Hall of Fame. These highly active 4-H youth from Fairfield County are Natalyn Landis and Emma Newell.

“Natalyn truly embodies the 4-H pledge.  She clears her head to clearer thinking when being the youth spokesperson for the Ohio 4-H program while representing the program in a positive light.  She puts her heart into all she does, whether she is leading the Teen Leadership Council meeting or serving on a committee.  Her hands have conducted thousands of hours of community service, in addition to helping others realize their potential for success.  She is also an advocate for healthy living, and has coordinating a 5K walk/run for pediatric cancer, serves on the Race Planning committee on the Teen Leadership Council, and has completed a host of health related projects.  Natalyn is one of those teens who you hope others aspire to be like; her enthusiasm for the 4-H program is contagious, she believes in herself and others, and truly makes an impact in the club, community, country, and world.”

“Emma is the epitome of what a 4-H member should strive to be.  Even her email address has “4-H Girl” in it!  From the beginning of her 4-H career, she has sought out new experiences to better herself and others. She has tirelessly promoted 4-H to youth throughout the county, state, nation, and even world.  Her promotion is done largely in part by training dogs and other animals to serve others.  Emma’s heart of service not only impacts the 4-H world; she has taken her love of dogs and service into the school system, nursing homes, and college campuses.  Having a servant’s heart enables her to truly impact her club, community, country, and world.”

Natalyn Landis, Fairfield County
Emma Newell, Fairfield County

Induction into the Teen Hall of Fame is meant to be thought as a very high honor for youth who are selected. It is meant to honor those who have dedicated it all to “make the best better” in their club, community, country, and world. Nominee must be between the ages of 15 and 18 as of January 1st of the year they are nominated. 2017 Awards were sponsored by the Ohio 4-H Foundation.Applications for the 2018 inductees will be due December 1st, 2017.