Newton County 4-H members were honored at the Aug. 2 meeting of the Newton County Board of Commissioners just before the vote to approve the agreement for the Newton County agricultural center. Club members were able to watch local government in action and were excited to witness the vote as commissioners approved a facility they will be able to use for future 4-H activities.

The newest 4-H Project SAFE (Shooting Awareness, Fun and Education) team in the county was recognized along with coaches April and Steve Bell and volunteer Marcus Pollard. Hunter Little, Riley McSwain, Allen Miller and Jack Weesner qualified for state competition.

Avery Beam, Zeke Bell, Garrett Hensley, Ryan Hensley, Austin Kerbow, Kayla Stone and Kenzie Stone also competed at the area shotgun competition. Shotgun team members are required to pass hunter certification as well as attend regular practices in order to attend competitions.

The Project SAFE BB team was saluted for having every member make it to the state BB tournament.

Ty Adams, Scott Evritt, Mason Garrett, Briannah Lewallen, Garrett Rosser, Luke Rosser, Madison Thornton, Levi Troutman, Olivia Troutman, Nate Williamson, Lawson Witcher and Mitchell Witcher all qualified and shot at the state target challenge weekend. Tanner Putnam qualified but was unable to attend.

Coaches and volunteers Robert Witcher, Wendy Williamson, Johnny Adams, and Shannon Witcher accompanied the team. BB team members must each be accompanied by an adult at every practice and competition, and must pass a written safety exam at competitions.

The teams also thanked the City of Porterdale and the FFA-FCCLA Center for assisting with practice venues.

Finally, all district and state project achievement competitors were also recognized by the commissioners. In total, 637 Newton County youth presented demonstrations this year, with 64 moving on to district competitions. The first 4-H project competition in the entire southeastern US was held in the historic Newton County Courthouse in the same room where the commissioners meet today, with only one project area available: corn.

Today, 4-H’ers may compete in 56 project areas ranging from traditional agriculture and family and consumer sciences to performing arts and cutting-edge science. For Cloverleaf 4-H’ers in the fourth through sixth grades, county competition was held at Oak Hill Elementary with 89 youth, and 51 moved on to district competition hosted at Newton High.

Cloverleaf honorees included Anslee Allen, Diana Arvizu, Valery Ayala, Sarai Baker, Emma Barron, Aley Batson, Grace Bishop, Anslee Boss, Bennett Buckley, Eli Caid, Jasmine Character, Tayten Christensen, Amori DeRouen, Jasmine Dozier, Betty Eagan, Rhin Eubanks, and Alice Fowler. Mikiah Graves, Natalie Henderson, Noah Horne, Taylor Horton, Maynard Jackson, Emma Johnson, Morgan Johnson, Stephany Juarez, Jocelyn Kilgore, Victoria Kite, Derek LeBlanc, Miranda Leslie, Alasia Lewis, Evan Lin, Tripp Marks, Annie Mask, Priest McCoy, D'Morris Neblett and Charity Newman also competed.
Additional honorees were Syz'e Odum, Thurston Page, Jaimoni Parker, Rodgis Ponder, Ava Schluete, Andrea Silvera-Ortiz, Jayden Slaughter, Jared Smith, Nathaniel Stafford, Harley Tarpley, Cheyenne Taylor, Allison Trantham, Robin Underwood, Rai'Jene White and Slade Yale.

For the junior-senior level of competition, 4-H’ers honored were Hope Allen in health with a demonstration on her recent Crohn’s disease diagnosis, Jacob Dibble in history for his project on guitar history, and Matthew Dibble in physical, biological and earth science with a presentation on rocks.

Patrick Dibble competed in the workforce preparation and career development project while presenting on careers in the Catholic Church, Scott Evritt presented on Amiibos in the computer information and technology project, and CJ Harris discussed 3D printing in the science of engineering and mechanics project.

Mallori Johnson entered the communications project with a discussion of historical analysis of movies and television, Dylan Little competed in computer information and technology with a project on the Nintendo Lego game, and Jane O’Toole discussed Eastern tent caterpillars and fall webworms in the forestry and wood science category.

Cyann Owes presented on her favorite insect in the entomology project, Alyssa Pierce discussed poinsettia propagation in flowers, shrubs and lawns, and Mitchell Witcher presented on soil sampling in the plant and soil science project.

Lavendar Harris qualified for State 4-H Congress in the wildlife and marine sciences category and finished third.

Terri Fullerton is a County Extension Agent in 4-H Youth with University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.