Leon County 4-H Makes History

Left to right: Leon County 4-H members and Adult leaders attending Texas 4-H Round Up. Lenora Oden, Tommy Neyland, Wendy Neyland, Andy Johnson, Ryan McCarty, James Knippa, Cayla Christianson, Maddox Johnson, Drew Mahaffey, Will Mahaffey, Blake McCarty, Kelcey Cockrell, Cody Oden, Reagan Robertson, Gatlynn Johnson, Lisa Noey, David Roach, Rachel Leathers, Ben Reese. AgriLife photo Leon County 4-H member Will Mahaffey retires his green blazer at the closing ceremony on Thursday night of The Texas 4-H Round Up. As the first Texas 4-H officer from Leon County this marks a milestone in the history books for the Leon County Program. This year the state council performed a ceremony where the state 4-H council members passed down their jackets to symbolize the Round Up theme “The Future of 4-H”. Texas 4-H Roundup is held annually in College Station on the campus of Texas A&M University. Texas 4-H Roundup is a qualifying event for youth between the ages of 14 and 18 that have successful placed in a qualifying spot at the district level. County and district Roundup's are open to all ages of 4-H members from 9 to 18. Texas 4-H Roundup includes approximately 40 different contest that test 4-H members on life skills in such attributes are decision making, public speaking, organization, and working with others. These contests include such things as Fashion Show, Food Show, an assortment of judging contests, and educational presentations. The 2009 Texas 4-H Roundup was a good experience for Leon County 4-H members. Leon County 4-H had representation in Method Demonstrations and Fashion Show. Regan Rob- ertson advanced to State from District and competed in the Buying Specialty category of the state Fashion Show. Participating from Leon County in Method Demonstration and Educational Presentation contests at State Round Up were Ryan McCarty in the Agronomy category with his presentation on Soil Forensics, James Knippa competed in the Computer Technology category with a presentation on Network Defense, Computer Hacking. Kelcey Cockrell and Regan Robertson presented in the Natural Resource category on Visually Aging Deer in the Field. In the Open category David Roach provided a presentation on Show Rabbits. All of these 4-H members did a very excellent job in their presentations and showed remarkable ability by competing at the state level. Leon County Adult leader Lenora Oden was recognized as well for her efforts with poultry project members with the Salute to Excellence Award. This award recognizes outstanding 4-H volunteers for their service to 4-H programs and the impact that they have had on the lives of young people. Each district selects two recipients who will be honored with this award. The awards are sponsored by the Texas 4-H and Youth Development Program.