Cothern and Woodward win state at 4-H Congress
Kevin Tatum
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service
Congratulations to two of Georgia’s newest Master 4-H’ers. Savannah Cothern and Evie Woodward were announced state winners in their project at State 4-H Congress in Atlanta during the week of July 23-26. Savannah won in the Dairy Foods project and Evie took first in the Performing Arts-Vocal project.
This all came about because each year in February senior 4-H members (9th – 12th graders) have the opportunity to compete in District Project Achievement (DPA). This competition entails a 4-H member selecting a project, working on this project throughout the year, assembling a portfolio on their project work, leadership, citizenship, other activities, and researching their project in order to put together a demonstration on this topic. They will then present their demonstration at DPA at Rock Eagle. If a 4-H member wins first place or earns a sweepstakes trip in their project, they will advance to State 4-H Congress in July. A sweepstakes trip is awarded to the second place winner if there are 8 or more in a project. For each additional 8 in the project, another student advances to State 4-H Congress. So, State 4-H Congress is an event for the district winners from each of the four Extension districts for Senior DPA competitors. So most projects will have at least four students competing at State 4-H Congress. There are currently 50 projects for senior 4-H members.
This year, Coffee County 4-H had four students advance to State 4-H Congress. Savannah Cothern won first place in the Dairy Foods project at DPA. Evie Woodward won second place at DPA and earned a sweepstakes trip in the Performing Arts-Vocal project. These two students had to complete in their demonstration on June 21. The cooking projects and performing arts project all do their demonstrations at Rock Eagle before State 4-H Council meeting each year due to having kitchen space and stage space.
Also during the district’s DPA competition, Jackson Cowart competed in the Computer Information Technology project and won first place and Muskan Minhas competed in the International project and won first place. Both of these students presented their demonstration at State 4-H Congress during the week of July 23-26.
While at State Congress, all four students had to go through an interview about their 4-H portfolio. Judges asked them anything about their project work listed in their DPA portfolio. They also went on an educational tour with their project group. This year, the Dairy Foods project participants toured the Georgia Tech Food Labs, and the Performing Arts-Vocal project toured the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, the Computer Information Technology project toured the Federal Reserve Bank, and The International project toured the Atlanta International School.
On Thursday, there was a huge banquet where all of the state winners from all state projects and competitions were recognized. There were about 200 people recognized at this banquet. This included state winners from judging competitions, target sports events, and every other competition in Georgia 4-H.
We want to congratulate all of our participants for representing Coffee County and Southeast District with distinction. Savannah, Jackson, Muskan, and Evie, you all did a great job and we are proud of each and every one of you for your accomplishments this year.
If you have questions about the Coffee County 4-H Club program, or questions around the farm or home, please feel free to contact the Coffee County Extension office at (912) 384-1402. Remember, we are YOUR local connection to the University of Georgia.