By Kevin Tatum
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service
Each year, senior 4-H members (9th – 12th graders) have the opportunity to compete in District Project Achievement (DPA) around February. However, due to COVID-19 this year’s competition was held May 31 and June 1. Junior and Senior Project Achievement competition entails a 4-H member selecting a project, working on their project throughout the year, assembling a portfolio on their project work, leadership, citizenship, and other activities, 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 competitors 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.
Coffee County 4-H has six students advancing to State 4-H Congress this year (July 20-23). Ashton Ates won first place in the Food for Fitness project. Jeremiah Brantley competed in the Performing Arts-Drama project and won first place. Muskan Minhas won first place with her project in the Health project. Glenn O’Steen was the project winner in the Engineering and Mechanics project. Ishika Sadarangani won first place in the Food for Health and Sport project. Austin Strickland was the project winner in the Performing Arts-Other Instruments project.
The State Congress project competition for the Foods Labs and Performing Arts projects were held on June 25 at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center. Therefore, Jeremiah and Austin have already had their DPA project presentation for State Congress. However, all of the competitors go through an interview with two judges over information that is in their DPA Portfolio which was submitted back in January for the district contest. These interviews will take place in Atlanta during the State 4-H Congress event.
During a normal, non-COVID year, 4-H members usually take an educational tour with their project group on Thursday morning during State Congress. This year, they will just go on an outing to one of five tour destinations which include the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, Collegiate Football Hall of Fame, High Museum of Art, or Zoo Atlanta.
On Tuesday, State 4-H Collegiate Scholarship Recipients are recognized in an afternoon assembly. That evening is the annual 4-H Leadership Banquet. Summer 4-H camp leadership, Leadership in Action Award recipients, and State 4-H Board Members are recognized at this banquet. Coffee County 4-H’s Ashton Ates will be installed as a 2021-2022 State 4-H Board of Directors member as the Southeast Georgia Representative. We are so proud of Ashton and wish him the best of luck in his year on the state board.
On Thursday, there will be a huge banquet where all of the state winners from all state projects and competitions will be recognized. There are usually about 200 people recognized at this banquet. This includes state winners from judging competitions, target sports events, and every other competition in Georgia 4-H.
We want to wish Ashton, Jeremiah, Muskan, Glenn, Ishika, and Austin the best of luck as they compete for state honors this week.
4-H PANTRY PRIDE CONTEST
Coffee County 4-H members interested in a recipe contest are encouraged to enter the Georgia 4-H Pantry Pride Recipe Contest sponsored by the Georgia Food Bank Association and Arby’s Foundation. The recipes created will provide families across Georgia with a recipe bank for inexpensive nutritious meals. The basics of the contest are to create a recipe using items that can be found at a food bank. All recipes will be judged and prizes awarded. Senior 4-H recipes are pre-judged and selected entries will be given some money to purchase their supplies so that they may then prepare their recipe at the Georgia National Fair on Sunday, October 10, 2021. For specific details and rules, please contact Chalanda Woods, 4-H Program Assistant, at the Coffee County Extension office at (912) 384-1402.
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.