It was an emotional weekend at Rock Eagle as 500 Junior and Senior 4-H’ers from across northwest Georgia came together to compete at District Project Achievement.

Concerns over budgets were put to the side Friday night as candidates for district office took to the stage to campaign for the honor to lead the district next year.

4-H’ers battled nerves as they practiced projects one last time, making final touches to the culmination of a year’s work in their project areas.

Saturday morning all 500 competitors headed to their projects, presenting 8-12 minute demonstrations or giving 4-minute performances on stage.

The relief was obvious as 4-H’ers emerged from competition rooms, ready to change into jeans and set about the business of meeting new friends for the rest of the weekend.

They played Wii Fit, slurped Icee’s in the canteen, played ball in Cloverleaf Circle, raised money for Haiti in a silent auction and enjoyed a beautiful day by the lake.

By that evening, though, as 4-H’ers filled up Talmadge Auditorium, you could again feel the tension as we awaited the results of Junior (7th-8th grade) competition.

Sarah Heft, 7th grader at Young American Christian Academy, earned 2nd place in the Dog Care and Training project for her demonstration on what she learned while volunteering at the Honey Creek Veterinary Hospital.

Veteran’s Memorial 7th grader Jamie Aevaliotis demonstrated how to pack a toddler go-bag, earning 3rd place in Human Development.

Sarah Wisneski, Antonio Alvarez, and Lizzy Simpson, all 8th graders at Cousins, competed in Performing Arts Instrumental. Wisneski placed 3rd.

Bradford Porter’s speech on how 4-H has impacted his life earned the Cousins 8th grader 2nd place in Public Speaking.

Saturday evening marked the end of a year of leading Northwest District by Junior Board of Directors member Michelle Lewis of Cousins, who also competed in the Veterinary Science project.

Her parents and sisters were on hand to escort her onto the stage for one last assembly.

While everyone celebrated with a dance that evening, you could see the suspense building among Senior 4-H’ers, those in 9th-12th grades.

The stakes are high for these 4-H’ers: Senior winners move on to State 4-H Congress at the Crown Plaza Ravinia each July for a 4-day event packed with competitions, interviews, donor tours, semi-formal and formal meals, and fun events.

State winners earn a trip to National 4-H Congress with 1,200 youth from the U.S. and Puerto Rico as well as Master 4-H status.

Last year, Ken Galloway, now a sophomore at Eastside, came within one-eighth of a percent from taking 1st in the Computer project.

This year, he clinched 1st with his demonstration about GIS mapping.

Eastside freshman Mary Lathem used her community theater experience to demonstrate how to host a community musical, earning her 1st place in General Recreation.

Sophomore Machonna Jones of Alcovy earned 3rd in the Photography project.

Cati Aevaliotis, a freshman at Alcovy, made spinach tartlets in the Festive Foods for Health project, and Alcovy senior Happy Outlaw discussed barrel racing in the Horse project.

Additionally, Newton 4-H’ers were honored for service and leadership work.

Mary Lathem, Ken Galloway, and Michelle Lewis earned 2nd place for community service for their recycling project at Relay for Life last year.

Jamie Aevaliotis won 2nd in publicity for her efforts to publicize 4-H at Veteran’s Memorial.

Mary Lathem’s performing arts project club that meets each Friday at the Washington Street Community Center was named the 3rd place project club in the district.

There were tears of joy and tears of frustration, but at the end of the day each and every 4-H’er had learned something.

They each conquered nerves to stand in front of their peers and present a demonstration or performance.

The 4-H’ers supported each other through wins and losses.

And for those of us who worked with each of them, we saw just how much they’d each learned and grown, academically and emotionally, over the last year.

For anyone who thinks 4-H is just for farm kids, I know better.

For anyone who thinks 4-H isn’t relevant in today’s world, I wish they’d seen just one demonstration this weekend.

Call the 4-H office if your group would like to see Mary or Ken practice their state-bound
demonstrations.