BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Shayna Durrance, Ansley Ward and Caleb Griffs were named Outstanding 4-H’ers of the Year at the annual Bradford County 4-H awards banquet, which was held May 31 at Starke’s Gov. Charley E. Johns Conference Center.
The night celebrated accomplishments and recognized the efforts of 4-H youth and leaders as well as the support of community members.
During her introduction, 4-H Youth Development Agent Bailea Scarbrough said,“We have amazing youth who have excelled beyond measure, dedicated volunteers who lead and guide our youth, and generous supporters who go above and beyond to help our youth be successful.”
Durrance, who is in her eight year in 4-H, was named Outstanding Senior 4-H’er of the Year. She was part of the livestock-judging team that competed at the national level and is president of her club, Green Acres.
“This year, Shayna participated in many 4-H events and activities in her club, county, district and beyond,” Scarbrough said. “These include several shows for her steer and heifer projects, eight livestock-judging contests, county and district events, and several community service projects.
“Shayna is a great role model to younger members, exemplifying what a well-rounded 4-H member should look like, consistently trying new things and learning from her experiences.”
Ward, who is in her sixth year in 4-H, was the Outstanding Intermediate 4-H’er of the Year. Like Durrance, she is also a member of the Green Acres Club, serving as its treasurer.
“Ansley is very passionate about her beef projects — which is why she is not here this evening — and has used her knowledge and skills to educate other 4-H members about the industry,” Scarbrough said. “This year, Ansley
went outside of her comfort zone and presented a speech at county and district events, earning a blue ribbon at both.”
Griffis, who is in his third year in 4-H, was the Outstanding Junior 4-H’er of the Year. Scarbrough said Griffis, who served as treasurer of the Show Stoppers Club, had “great accomplishments” with his swine project and was one of two junior members who participated in County Events Day, giving a presentation on “Steps for Preparing to Ride a Horse.”
“In addition to the competitive events and activities, he also took a lot of time to give back to his community through several service projects,” Scarbrough said. “Caleb reported that being involved in 4-H has taught him to be more responsible and to have more confidence in himself.”
Two “outstanding” awards were also presented to club leaders. The first went to Edrick Hamilton, who was named Rookie Leader of the Year for his involvement with the 12 Guys in Bowties and 12 Girls in Pearls Club.
“He is fairly new to 4-H and has done a great job learning what 4-H is about, always looking for opportunities to get his members engaged and encouraging them to try new things,” Scarbrough said. “This club does an incredible amount of community service, always finding ways to give back to Bradford County.”
Kelley Durrance, who leads the Green Acres Club, was named Leader of the Year. Scarbrough said this was Durrance’s first year leading a club, but noted that she has been involved as a 4-H parent for many years.
“Taking over as leader of a well-established club, she truly hit the ground running,” Scarbrough said. “Kelley’s goal was to have her members recognized for their hard work by qualifying for an Emerald Clover Club Award, which they achieved.
“She pushed her members to go outside of their comfort zone and participate in several events and activities outside of the club.”
All club leaders received gifts of appreciation, with Scarbrough saying, “These are the caring adults who impact youth across the county with the countless hours of volunteer work they put into their clubs.”
Leaders besides Durrance and Hamilton are Phillip Crawford (Crawford Swine Club), Hailey McElhenny (Blue Ribbon Swine Club), Dana McKenzie (Show Stoppers Club), Amy Polk (Homeschool Club), Kara Rhoden (Horsin’ Around Club) and Kaitlin VanHeusen (Fancy Feathers Club).
Also receiving gifts were assistant club leaders Lerissa Broome, Shnec Bullard, Roxanne Crawford, Allyson McElhenny, Payton McKenzie, Kandis Robinson, Heather Smith and Mary Thomas as well as the following volunteers who helped with special projects and teams: Liz Burris, Ella Dinkins, Kyle Dyksterhouse, Kyle Jerrels, Teresa Jerrels, Elizabeth Jones, Jessica Lee, Roxanne Rosier, Clay Whitehead and Carson Willis.
Scholarship winners
Kyle Jerrels presented Bradford County 4-H Association scholarships to graduating members Jordan Hamilton and Ryleigh Rhoden. Each scholarship is worth $1,500.
During her seven years in 4-H, Hamilton has been involved through her steer project, livestock judging and serving as a Green Acres Club officer. The recent Bradford High School graduate plans to attend Santa Fe College to earn a degree in Health Sciences. Hamilton hopes to be accepted into the Diagnostic Sonography program after attaining her Associate in Science degree and pursue a career in a hospital or private practice.
Rhoden, who was in 4-H for 12 years, served as officer of the Horsin’ Around Club and experienced success with her goat, horse and swine projects and participated in many activities beyond the club level, including area, state and regional horse shows, Camp Cherry Lake, Day at the Capitol, 4-H Legislature and UF Horse Camp. The recent Union County High School graduate plans to attend Santa Fe and earn an Associate of Arts degree. Rhoden would eventually like to pursue a degree in the agriculture field and fulfill her dream of owning a horse-training facility.
Contests and events
Participants in various contests and events were recognized, beginning with the five members who competed at the National 4-H Livestock-Judging Contest in Louisville, Kentucky, in November: Tanner Connell, Shayna Durrance, Bailey Jones, Bailey Varnes and Macie Wilson.
Cayman Brown and Ansley Ward were participated in livestock judging.
At the national event, Bradford placed 14th in Reasons in the Sheep Division and was 20th overall out of 32 teams and only 150 points shy of the championship team.
Bradford Extension Livestock and Natural Resources Agent Lizzie Whitehead said, “To maintain the team’s competitiveness while preparing for the national contest, I established the Livestock Judging Champion of Champions Award. This involved tracking participants’ placings in both practice sessions and competitions throughout the past summer and fall seasons.”
Whitehead said it was a tight competition, with Durrance earning the award with a total of 1,312 points.
The livestock-judging team had the following accomplishments this past spring: second-place 4-H team at the Alachua County Fair and third-place senior team at both the Bradford Agricultural and Union County Livestock Association fairs. Durrance was first-place high-point senior at the Bradford Agricultural Fair, fifth-place high-point senior in Sheep and Goats at The Southeastern Three in Perry, Georgia, and 13th-place high-point individual at the Florida State Fair.
Scarbrough recognized Lilly Woodrum and Avery Wulff-Vanderpuije for participating in the 4-H State Insectathon art contest. Wulff-Vanderpuije placed first in the junior division.
“The 4-H State Insectathon provides youth with opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge of the entomology world,” Scarbrough said. “The event consists of an insect-collection contest, insect art contest and entomology ID and skillathon contests.”
Woodrum was also recognized for her participation in the 4-H Day at the Capitol program, which also included Bradford 4-H members Sterlin Alexander, Caden Eison and Shayla Hardee.
Scarbrough said the capitol event provides youth with an opportunity to learn about state government.
“We got to visit the governor’s mansion, the house and senate chambers and learned about some Florida history at the Historic Capitol Museum,” Scarbrough said.
Eight 4-H members participated in county events: Beau Davis, Shayna Durrance, Caleb Griffis, Jack Jackson, Kaitlyn McKenzie, Kierstyn McKenzie, Adaleigh Wainwright and Ansley Ward.
“Our county events competition is designed to give youth an opportunity to exhibit their knowledge and public-speaking skills by giving a demonstration, illustrated talk or speech on a topic related to their 4-H project,” Scarbrough said.
All eight participants qualified for the district-level competition, which was held in May in Alachua County. Four chose to attend, with the following earning blue ribbons: Davis in the junior division for his demonstration, “In the Duck Blind,” Ward in the intermediate division for a speech on her brahman-cattle project and Durrance in the senior division for her speech, “Journey of Livestock Judging.” Wainwright received a red ribbon for her a speech on her brahman-cattle project.
Durrance qualified to compete at the state-level public-speaking contest in July and got in some practice by presenting her speech at the awards banquet.
Five were recognized for participating in the Area North 4-H Horse Show, which consists of youth from 35 counties. Lacey Johns, Kylie Odom, Ryleigh Rhoden, Saylor Rhoden and Mason Stone all qualified for the State 4-H Horse Show in June, with Saylor Rhoden earning the Reserve Versatility Championship at the area show.
“The purpose of a 4-H horse project is to provide young people an opportunity to improve sportsmanship, horsemanship, character, competitive spirit, discipline and responsibility, while creating an atmosphere for learning,” Scarbrough said. “Our Bradford 4-H members have proven the success of this project through their achievements this year.”
Record-book and performance awards
Those who completed record books during the year were recognized, with Scarbrough saying, “The 4-H program prides itself on developing life skills in youth, and the process of completing a quality record book supports skills such as planning, goal setting, decision making, problem solving, communication, leadership, citizenship and, of course, record keeping.”
Beef record books were completed by Regan Broome, Shayna Durrance, Chayten Elixson, Jake Markham, Adaleigh Wainwright, Ansley Ward, Nicholas Ward and Shawn Ward.
Cooper Cox, Lucas Grider, Caleb Griffis and Jackson Jackson completed swine record books, while Joshua Griffis completed a community service record book.
Horse record books were completed by Lacey Johns, Kylie Odom, Saylor Rhoden, Ryleigh Rhoden and Mason Stone.
Bronze, Silver and Gold Performance awards were presented to 4-H members who completed at least one project, participated in 4-H events and activities at the county level and beyond and took time to give back to their community.
“To qualify for these awards, members must have submitted an award application, summarizing their accomplishments,” Scarbrough said.
Senior Performance Award winners were Shayna Durrance (gold), Regan Broome (silver) and Jack Jackson (bronze).
In the intermediate division, Adaleigh Wainwright, Ansley Ward and Nicholas Ward received gold awards, while Ryder Detweiler and Caden Eison received silver awards. Jaden Hendrieth earned a bonze award.
The junior division had eight Performance Award recipients: Caleb Griffis and Shawn Ward earned gold, Joshua Griffis, Lilly Woodrum and Avery Wulff-Vanderpuije earned silver and Cooper Cox, Shayla Hardee and Zion Tyson earned bronze.
Three clubs applied for the Club Performance Award, with the Homeschool Club receiving a Silver Award and the Green Acres and 12 Guys in Bowties and 12 Girls in Pearls clubs receiving Emerald awards.
Graduating seniors and cloverbuds
Eight graduating seniors received alumni pins: Teagan Bradley, Tanner Connell, Anna Conner, Kiran Crawford, Jordan Hamilton, Cason Pilcher, Kennedy Polk and Ryleigh Rhoden.
“As these members move on to bigger and better things in life, I hope they are able to look back at their time in 4-H and feel proud to be a part of such a great organization,” Scarbrough said.
The 4-H program’s 12 cloverbud members received gifts: Kessler Bradley, Adeline DeKorver, Emilia Franzluebbers, Kathryn Hardee, Ethan Jerrels, Dakota Johnson, Parker Johnson, Paisley Leese, Noah Morris, James Orton, Callie Smith and Emrie Sweat.
Cloverbuds are ages 5-7.
“These members are discovering what 4-H is all about in a learning environment that is fun and non-competitive,” Scarbrough said.
Community support
Four Community Supporter awards were presented, with Scarbrough saying that “while there are many dedicated individuals who support our 4-H program throughout the year, we are proud to highlight those who have gone the extra mile.”
Mark Crawford and Cliff Smelley, both of the Bradford County Telegraph, received the first two awards.
“The staff from the Telegraph have consistently shown unwavering support for our 4-H and Extension programs,” Scarbrough said. “Their responsiveness, eagerness and ongoing dedication to showcasing our initiatives in the community exemplify the true spirit of collaboration. We are grateful to be a part of a community where our local newspaper is willing to support our youth programming and highlight it to its full extent.”
Whitehead presented Community Supporter awards to Kyle Dyksterhouse and Carson Willis, who served as assistant coaches for the livestock-judging team during the 2022-23 season.
“Throughout the year, they devoted countless hours to attending weekly practices, where they imparted knowledge on oral reasons and coached the youth in livestock-judging skills,” Whitehead said, adding that Dyksterhouse and Willis also accompanied the five team members to the national contest in Louisville, Kentucky.
“Carson and Kyle, your commitment, financial support and expertise have greatly impacted our youth,” Whitehead said.
