What Does 4-H Mean to Me?

            When I was 6 years old, I had the opportunity to compete at the Kentucky State Fair for the title of Little Miss Kentucky County Fair. As a 6-year-old, I didn’t really know what was going on other than I was there to get in a pretty dress and walk on stage. One day while my mom and I were there we had some down. My mom said she had cousins at the fair with cows and asked if I would like to go see them. Being a curious child, I was all for it. Once we walked into the West Wing of the fairgrounds I was mesmerized. Cows, upon cows, upon cows, all lined up in rows, and thirty times the size of myself. I was in awe. I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but I knew I loved it.

            That day my cousins allowed me to cuddle with their cows, walk with them to the wash rack and best of all – they let me show a calf named Cinderella in novice dairy showmanship on Friday night. I still have my participation ribbon that I received that night, 15 years later. Fast-forward to 10-year-old- I’m at the Kentucky State Fair once again but this time competing in the country ham speech contest. To be totally honest, I could have cared less about my speech. I was ready to get back to the barn with the cows. My cousins saw how interested I was in their animals and they offered to let me spend the night with them in the barn next year at state fair. Well, I did and the obsession with dairy cattle grew. So, at 12 years old my cousins offered me the chance to actually show cattle with them through the 4-H Dairy Lease Program and the rest is history.

            Everything I am today, I owe to 4-H. This program put me on the path to my studies in college, my future job, and has given me so many friends and industry connections all over the country. Along with all of those wonderful things, 4-H has also given me a second family. My 4-H agent, has always been like a second mom to me. I know if I ever need anything, she will do everything that she can to help. That goes for all of the staff at our county extension office. 4-H taught me a lot of self-discipline, I learned early that if I wanted to succeed at my contests, I had to put the work in. It also taught me how to put others before myself and that there are a lot of ways I can be a leader in my community. I love encouraging younger kids to participate in 4-H events in hope that it will change their life just like it did mine. 4-H means the world to me.