Cecelia Dittrich – My most significant 4-H project is dairy. My dairy experience is a project that continues throughout my enrollment as a 4-H member. Since I started, I have expanded my knowledge and begun to pick out my own animal on the farm. In high school, I started to focus on teaching and encouraging more kids to start their own 4-H dairy projects. I assisted in putting on a showmanship clinic for youth at our farm in 2023. Here we discussed what it takes to prepare your animals before the show. The included washing and clipping along with animal health and care. We also worked on proper showing techniques. How you hole the halter properly and groom and prepare your animal in the ring.

Miriam Sandberg – I have taken great interest in learning to understand food insecurity in my community, and have consequently learned a lot about hunger and its effects on children’s brains and bodies. With my newfound knowledge about food insecurity and how hunger affects students, I decided I wanted to be more involved in the issue. I know that my community has a high poverty rate. However, I don’t think Mondovi’s middle and high school students have an easy opportunity to receive assistance for food. My mom has been thinking about starting a food pantry for Mondovi’s middle and high school students, and together we decided that now was the perfect time. We are working on placing our first order, readying the space, gathering volunteers, creating procedures, and having our grand opening on November 21st. I know that food insecurity affects many families in my community. Because of this. I am now working to create Buffy’s Market, a food pantry that will benefit middle school and high school students. Not only is establishing this program meaningful to me, but it will also provide resources to struggling high school students.

Finley Noll – The dairy project is one of the most important because I can constantly work on making my animals better and learning new strategies to show. I want to be a leader to younger 4-H members. I will do this by doing exactly what my mentors did for me. I will help others get their animals ready and make sure they are prepared for when they are talking to judges. I have grown extremely as a result of this project. This has taught me multiple life lessons. It has raised me to understand hard work and determination. I also better understand the importance of time management and how to prioritize and plan ahead.

Alison George – One outstanding 4-H leadership experience for me was when I had the opportunity of being chosen as one of four 4-H members throughout Wisconsin to travel to Washington D.C. in March 2023 to be part of a beef ambassador team for a program called 4-H Ignite. The beef ambassador team also helped inspire ideas for the annual showmanship clinic I have held at my family’s farm before the fair to teach other youth who are passionate about beef and other livestock species the things I have learned about showmanship. I love to share my passion with others. The 4-H Ignite experience also led to meeting many lifelong 4-H friends and connections throughout the nation. I was honored to be recognized as a leader for this national program.