Local Youth Attend Annual Tennessee 4-H Roundup

For the 92nd year, 4-H members from across Tennessee gathered at the University of Tennessee for State 4-H Roundup and All-Star Conference. The annual event, which took place July 20-24, 2015, recognized the outstanding project work and leadership accomplishments of senior high 4-H members.

Approximately 300 high school age 4-H’ers from across Tennessee met for several days on the UT Knoxville campus. 4-H’ers competed in projects such as communication and public speaking, livestock, computers and technology and photography for college scholarship money and trips to National 4-H Congress in Atlanta. The theme for this meeting and for all 4-H programs in 2015 was “Tennessee 4-H: Building Foundations for the Future.”

“Teens from all over Tennessee came together, competed in their project areas, learned like skills such as leadership and citizenship, made lifelong friends and had a great time,” said Glenn K Turner, Sevier County 4-H Agent. “Roundup is one of the highlights for our 4-H program. Delegates who attend have spent years of work in their respective project areas.”

In addition to competition, delegates participated in a number of other activities including the 4-H All Star Conference, Vol State Ceremony, the election of the 2016 State Council officers and a service learning project.

Sevier County delegates to State 4-H Roundup from left Christy Newsom, Pigeon Forge High School; Victoria Clements, Sevier County High School and Kestrel Troutman, Gatlinburg Pittman High School.

Three 4-H members represented Sevier County this year. Delegates included: Victoria Clements, Sevier County High School State Finalist Level II in the Food Science Project; Christy Newsom, Pigeon Forge High School State Finalist Level I in the Photography Project and Kestrel Troutman, Gatlinburg Pittman High School State Finalist Level I in the Line and Design Project. Mrs. Sandy Clements from Sevierville served as adult volunteer leader with the group.

Victoria Clements was named the State Winner in the Level II Food Science Project. As a Level II State Winner Victoria received a Silver Bowl, a trip to National 4-H Congress and a $1200 college scholarship. Kestrel Troutman was named the State Winner in the Level I Line and Design Project. Level I State winners receive the Horizon Award and a $500 college scholarship to the University of Tennessee. Additionally Angel Chaffin, Gatlinburg Pittman High School, was also recognized as the recipient of the $250 W.B. & Imogene Kyker Agricultural Scholarship and the $1,000 James Robinson Agricultural Scholarship. All totaled Sevier County 4-H members received $2950.00 in college scholarships in 2015.win

Delegates to the 2015 Tennessee 4-H Roundup and All-Star Conference were asked to collect classroom supplies such as glue sticks, markers, hand sanitizers and headphones for Pond Gap Elementary School in Knoxville. Additionally, several 4-H Roundup delegates spent Tuesday morning volunteering at various organizations in the Knoxville area. “Service-learning opportunities are a very important component of the 4-H Program,” said Richard Clark, Assistant Dean and Department Head for Tennessee 4-H Youth Development. “Each year, 4-H’ers statewide perform tens of thousands of hours of service at an estimated value of over $1 million. Through the service-learning projects, our 4-H’ers learn that they can really make a difference in their communities.”

4-H is the Youth Development program for the University of Tennessee Extension. 4-H teaches leadership, citizenship and service learning to more than 168,000 youth in the fourth through twelfth grades. 4-H also has more than 6,000 adult volunteers. UT Extension is one of four units in the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.