Recognition night honors this year's achievements in 4-H

A large crowd gathered Saturday night to celebrate a changing of the guard as new Vernon County 4-H officers were sworn in, and to honor 4-H members with outstanding achievement throughout the year.

Following a short prayer and both the Pledge of Allegiance and the 4-H Pledge State, 4-H Council President Mark Godfrey challenged the younger 4-H members to stay with the program and utilize the benefits it had to offer, like running for state 4-H leadership.

"It's hard to name something that you can't do in 4-H. The possibilities are literally endless. But you got to stay in the program," said Godfrey.

Next the out-going Vernon County 4-H Council stepped down and new youth took their place. The incoming 2003-2004 Vernon County 4-H officers are: President Jared Liles; Vice-president Clayton Clark; Secretary Caressa Blankenship; Assistant Secretary Jordan Scotten, Treasurer Daniel Amick; Assistant Treasurer Alyssa Byers; Reporters Katlyn Logan, Robert Clark and Elise Sommer; Recreation Blake Gazaway, J.R. Amick, Kelsey Hancock and Ashley Leininger.

However, Saturday's recognition night was not just for children -- adult leaders were also recognized. First year leaders are Ron Amick, Malinda Ast, Darren Bachand, Michell Barker, Travis Best, Amy Bradley, Greg Carroll, Ron Chadd, Charles Claflin, Michelle Claflin, Roger Conner, Martha Cubbage, Kent Culbertson, Chad Duncan, Debbie Eads, Amy Frerking, Kim Greer, Cheryl Haner, Chris Holcomb, Denise Horacek, Tony Hoselton, Brad Hurst, Greg Jacks, Mark Lee, Theresa Lee, Shane Longstreth, Julie Mader, Lennie McCay, Dan Mosher, Rebecca Overton, Ron Peckman, Shirley Peckman, Cherie Roberts, Robert Thompson, Denver Westerhold and Emily Yoder.

Many adult leaders have put quite a few years into the 4-H program and were honored for their tenure. Leaders having served 5 years this year were Roger Beach, Daniel Bruce, Dana Cavener, George Garton, Becky Hoselton, Tracy Harms, Cindy Irwin, Ellen Kendrick, Scott Kennedy and Kelly LaPreze. Those honored with a 10-year pen were Kathy Claflin, Kathy Greer, Renee Hampton, Joy Hawks, Wilber Price and Charles Thompson. The award for having been a leader for 15 years went to Joe Habjan, Bill Hedges, Terry Logan and Annette Pettibon. This year, one pin was awarded for 20 years of service, to Harva Miller.

After the leadership had been recognized awards were given to individual 4-H members who excelled with their Missouri report forms. In the 8-year-old division Natalie Wolf took first place, Jarrek Rankin won second place and Olivia Culbertson placed third. For the 9-year-olds Michelle Westerhold won first place, Kathryn Cavener took second, Kelci Cliffman was third while Blake Hoselton and Teryn Greer won fourth place.

In the 10-year-old division Jeremy Satterfield took first place, Spencer Scotten was second; Elizabeth Osman, third; Mary Jo Osman, fourth; Devin Ogle and Katlyn Douglas tied for fifth; Rachel Kennedy took sixth place.

In the 11-year-old division Lindsey Lechman took first place, Audrey Daniels was second and Katherine Kerbs won third place. Outstanding achievement for 12-13-year-olds went for Kelsey Hancock for first place, Bethany Balk in second; Katlyn Logan, third; Megan Westerhold, fourth; Erik Sommer, fifth; and Reba Hurst won sixth place. For the 14-15-year-olds Alyssa Byers won first place, Matthew Kennedy took second, Jennifer Hancock third, and Caressa Blankenship took fourth place. Finally, in the 16 and over division Justin Hancock took first place; Emily Scarborough, second; and Rachel Prewitt, third.

As the evening wound down it was time to hand out some special awards.

Rookies of the year awards went to Paige Greer and Devin Ogle. The Valerie Sprenkle went to Michelle Westerhold and Alexa Cubbage took home the Linda Gast Coleman award.

Leonard Ernsbarger was on hand to give out the Leonard Ernsbarger Award for community service to Clayton Clark. Justin Hancock won the David Mosher Leadership Award and Debra Agee, J.R. Amick and Kyle Cushard were honored with the I Dare You award.

The final award of the night was the Vernon County 4-H Scholarship, which went to Justin Hancock and Debra Agee.