4-H

Local Teens Receive State 4-H Awards

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The 2025 Ohio 4-H Achievement Awards were presented earlier this month at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus.

Local 4-H members received the following awards.

Henry Keller from Alexandria was selected to serve as an Ohio delegate at the 2025 National 4-H Dairy Conference. Keller, 17, has been a member of 4-H in Licking County for nine years. He enjoys showing dairy feeders, steers, and hogs, and he likes participating in the Steer Pool at the Hartford Fair. Keller has also volunteered as a camp counselor for three years. He is a junior at C-TEC in the electrical trades and is the son of Joe and Jennifer Osterholt.

Alexis Reimer from Newark won the Family Life and Child Development Achievement Award. Reimer, 16, has been a 4-Ever Friends 4-H Club member for nine years. She is on the Licking County Food and Fashion Board, is the president of her club, and was chosen to participate in the Ohio 4-H State Leadership Camp. Reimer is a junior at Newark High School and plans to attend college for accounting. She is the daughter of Andy and Bettrina Reimer.

Autumn Wampler from Marengo won the Goats Achievement Award. Wampler, 18, has been a 4-H member for 10 years and has taken a variety of projects including goats, lambs, cattle, rabbits, poultry, and self-determined projects. She is also a four-year member of the Hartford Independent Fair Board and is currently serving as a Junior Advisor. Wampler is a graduated, homeschooled student and is the daughter of Adam and Jennifer Wampler.

Ohio 4-H Achievement Awards are presented annually to individuals for outstanding work in their project area. Youth recipients will also have the opportunity to travel to Atlanta in November to represent Ohio at National 4-H Congress. The evening was hosted by the Ohio 4-H Foundation, with 32 youth receiving 2025 honors

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 2024, over 154,000 Ohio youth participated in clubs, groups, and special interest programs.

LAST CHANCE: 2025 Animal Adventures Program

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Animal Adventures is part of a statewide, 4-H initiative to connect young people with disabilities, who also have a love for animals, with opportunities to get involved with local 4-H programs. Through Animal Adventures, participants with disabilities will be paired with 4 H and FFA mentors to learn about an animal of their choice. After a meet and greet, they will work together to exhibit or “show” the animal at the 2025 Hartford Independent Fair. The show will be held at 6:30 p m on Sunday, August 3rd at the B Carr Pavillion on the Hartford Fairgrounds. Animal Adventures welcomes youth between the ages of 8 and 19. Participants do not have to be supported by the Licking County Board of Developmental Disabilities, but must reside within the Hartford Fair District: Licking County, Knox County (Hilliar, Milford, Miller Townships), or Delaware County (Berkshire, Harlem, Porter, Trenton Townships).

EXHIBITOR (youth ages 8-19)
•Complete registration by June 20th at https://go.osu.edu/AdventureExhibitor

MENTOR (Junior Fair Exhibitor Dairy Feeder / Dairy Heifer / Goat / Poultry / Rabbit / Sheep
•Complete registration by June 20th at https://go.osu.edu/AdventureMentor

ADULT VOLUNTEER
•Email Lisa McCutcheon (mccutcheon.46@osu.edu) to be placed on a contact list!

Volunteers Needed For Ohio State Fair Skillathons

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Volunteers are still needed to serve as Ohio State Fair Skillathon facilitators! You will work with youth to facilitate a skillathon station. Entry passes, snacks, and meal tickets will be provided for anyone who volunteers. Please visit the link to register: https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8uCgoIHKovT0NOm

REMINDER: FairEntry Help Sessions

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We will be offering three help sessions for those who may want/need help with making entries. Two help sessions will be held at the Hartford Fairgrounds in the Junior Fair Board Office and one will be held at the Licking County Extension Office in Newark. If you plan to come to one of the help sessions, please be prepared with list of items on the flyer HERE or listed below.

REMINDER: 2025 Hartford Fair Entry Information

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All Hartford Fair entries must be completed through the FairEntry portal again this year. The portal will open on Sunday, May 25, 2025. Please follow the Hartford Fair Entry Instructions when making your entries. Entry deadline is Friday, June 27, 2025.

Please note:

  • The Hartford Fair Entry Portal can be found by visiting: http://hartfordfair.fairentry.com
  • Please be sure to review the Hartford Fair Premium Book to ensure you know which Classes and Lots you will be making entries for before you start that process.
  • All 4-H families must use their 4-HOnline Credentials (email and password) to log into FairEntry. If a member creates a new account in FairEntry, they will be unable to make entries in Junior Fair Departments as those departments require them to be enrolled in the appropriate 4-H project in order to make entries.
  • All FFA members making entries in livestock departments will submit their own entries. Those entering projects in the FFA Building will do so through their advisor.
  • Please make sure that you add all entries to each exhibitor in your family before you submit the entries and continue to the payment portal.
  • REMINDER: All youth planning to participate in Showmanship MUST make an entry for their Showmanship class. Even if a member isn’t sure about whether they want to do Showmanship or not, they should go ahead and make an entry for it.

Photo IDs

NEW THIS YEAR: Members will upload their photo for their Fair ID as part of their entry process in FairEntry. There will be a question early in the process that will ask you to upload a photo. PLEASE NOTE: the system does NOT require you to upload the photo (which means you can accidentally skip this step). We had to make it optional, otherwise it would require it for everyone making entries, including those making just Open Department entries who don’t receive Fair IDs. If you skip this step and do not upload a photo, you will not have a Fair ID. Also, photos for IDs must be uploaded into FairEntry by the deadline of June 27th. All photos will be pulled from the entries at this point and sent for printing so that we have the IDs back to us in time to pass them out in the days leading up to fair. Late photos will not be accepted.

Your photo for your Fair ID must be either a jpeg or png file. The photo should be of the member’s head and shoulders with a light colored, neutral background. Exhibitors should not be wearing hats, sunglasses or bandanas in their photo. Please see examples of photos that don’t meet the criteria and one that does:

Glitches and Issues

As we’ve discovered recently, FairEntry does occasionally have glitches that can occur. If you run into issues please reach out to Adrienne at anderson.1410@osu.edu. Sending screenshots of the error you are receiving can be very helpful in figuring out what is going wrong. Please do NOT wait until the last minute to complete your entries as that gives us less time to help you solve the issue. PLEASE NOTE: Lisa and Adrienne will be at 4-H Camp June 17-21 at 4-H Camp Ohio. Please realize that we have limited access to emails during this time and will not be able to respond quickly in most cases.

FairEntry Help Sessions

We will be offering three help sessions for those who may want/need help with making entries. Two help sessions will be held at the Hartford Fairgrounds in the Junior Fair Board Office and one will be held at the Licking County Extension Office in Newark. If you plan to come to one of the help sessions, please be prepared with list of items on the flyer HERE or listed below.

REMINDER: 2025 Rabbit and Poultry Fun Show

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The Licking County 4-H Rabbit and Poultry Clinic and Fun Show will take place on Saturday, June 14, 2025 at the Hartford Fairgrounds. The clinic and show will take place in B. Carr Pavilion, with registration running from 8:30-9:30am, clinic starting at 9:00am and the show beginning at 10:30am. Cost is $1.00 for each animal. Find out all of the details HERE!

REMINDER: 2025 Beeson Award Nominations Due

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The Beeson Award for “Outstanding 4-H Horse Project Member” is due by Friday, June 13, 2025 to the Licking County Extension Office. A 4-H Horse Project member may nominate him/herself, be nominated by an Advisor, or by another 4-H member. Please consider who you might want to nominate for this honor. To view the full list of guidelines and the application, please click HERE.

 

REMINDER: 4-H Project Judging Workshop

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The Licking County 4-H Food and Fashion Board will be hosting at 4-H Project Judging Workshop on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 6:30pm at the Licking County Extension Office. This workshop is designed to help members taking still projects (clothing, food, and/or special interest) know what they need to bring to project judging, what to expect when they arrive to judging, and give tips on making judging a positive experience. There will be sample projects available to view, and we will answer all of your questions. This workshop would be very beneficial to members who are new to taking still projects.

Please RSVP by Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at http://go.osu.edu/4HProjectWorkshop. This will allow us to know how many participants to expect for the program.

REMINDER: 2025 4-H STEM Camp Registrations Due

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Youth in grades 5, 6, & 7 are invited to join Canter’s Cave 4-H Camp in Jackson, Ohio this summer at 4-H STEM Camp!

Register by June 15th at go.osu.edu/4HSTEMCamp

4-H STEM Camp focuses on the topics of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in ways that are unique and fun. Youth explore the outdoors and learn about the science of the world around them through interactive sessions. Campers enjoy traditional camp activities with a STEM spin, such as campfire, with a fire science or chemistry focus.

For registration information, visit 4hcanterscave.osu.edu.