2023 Morgan County Annual 4-H Achievement Night

In October, we love to recognize the accomplishments of our 4-H members and leaders. It is also a great way to celebrate the end of one 4-H year and the beginning of another. On Oct. 16, we held our annual 4-H Achievement Night. During this celebration, we recognized the following people: 

• Horse Council Members

• Livestock Council Members

• The 4-H Extension Staff

• Teen and Junior Teen Council Officers

• TRY (Teens Reaching Youth) Team Members

• Livestock Ambassadors

• Horse Ambassadors

• 1st Year 4-Hers

• 10 Year 4-Hers

• 4-H Leader Years of Service Awards

• 4-H Volunteer Awards

All of these awards are a great honor, but the most prestigious awards of the whole night were our 4-H Volunteer Awards: Salute to 4-H Volunteers, Salute to 4-H Youth Volunteers, 4-H Mentor of the Year, Clover Key Award, Doorknob Award, and 4-H Family of the Year.  

The Salute to 4-H Volunteers Award recognizes a volunteer who has provided outstanding service to 4-H. This year’s award recipient was Mike & Keri Kinghorn. Mike & Keri have been involved in the 4-H Program for the past five years. Mike is one of our Sheep Superintendents and Keri is the Vice President of Operations on the Morgan County Junior Livestock Council. They are one of our local sheep producers and help to provide some of our youth with lambs for their 4-H and FFA projects every year. Mike and Keri have brought new perspectives to the council and have played a large role in helping us continue to grow our livestock program. They provide a lot of help and support to many families throughout the county. Thank you, Mike and Keri, for your service and dedication to our wonderful youth and their families. We appreciate all that you do for our 4-H program! 

The Salute to 4-H Youth Volunteers Award recognizes a 4-H’er who is enrolled in the 11th or 12th grade and who has provided outstanding leadership and service to 4-H. This year’s award recipient was Chloee Clark. Chloee has loved her 10-year involvement in 4-H and credits her leadership skills to all the opportunities that 4-H has provided her. She started out in 3rd grade, raising hogs and attending youth summer camps, where she learned to sew, cook, and how to live a healthy life. Jr. Teen Council and Teen Council gave her opportunities to compete in public speaking and talent contests and to participate in community service. She organized and ran the Farmer-For-A-Day 4-H camp for young 4-Hers for 4 years where she taught them about dairy farming and eating healthy. She also served as a Healthy Living TRY Team leader, a Region Ambassador, and then as a 4-H State Ambassador where she has taught workshops, organized statewide camps, attended a National 4-H Conference, and served as the Speaker of the House at Mock Legislature. The skills and talents she gained in 4-H will impact her for the rest of her life as she continues to strive to “Make the Best Better.”

The 4-H Mentor of the Year Award recognizes a volunteer who serves, either formally or informally, as a mentor to fellow 4-H club leaders and youth in the county, providing the support needed to motivate, encourage, educate, and/or recognize other youth and volunteers. This award recipient this year is Amy Johnston. Amy has been a 4-H leader for the past 14 years. In that course of time, she has had a significant impact on many youths’ lives. Amy has a great passion for helping our youth. Over the past 14 years, she has helped volunteer in several different areas of the 4-H Program. She has helped with livestock projects, entrepreneurs, summer camps, Teen Council and so much more. This year she stepped up to the plate and was the coach for our Healthy Habits TRY Team. Amy attended the two-day training with her team and then came back and helped them plan the Cooking Around the World Camp that they taught this past summer. She made sure the kids were ready with their presentations, she was a mentor to them and helped them make sure that the camp went smoothly. Amy provided a lot of behind-the-scenes support that this team needed while they were given hands-on leadership experience. Thank you, Amy, for your outstanding service to the youth in the Morgan County 4-H Program. 

The Clover Key Award: The KEY to 4-H growth lies in new, committed, and creative leaders. This award recognizes new leaders with service from 1 to 5 years who have provided outstanding service to 4-H. The award recipient this year is Cory Sanders. Cory has been a 4-H Leader for the past three years. During this time, he has been a horse leader and has served as the Morgan County 4-H Horse Council Vice President. He brings new perspectives and ideas that have helped us to grow our horse program here in Morgan County. Cory is dedicated to doing his research about potential judges and has done a great job of bringing in amazing judges for our shows and clinicians for our workshops. He is levelheaded and helps everyone see the big picture. Cory is always telling jokes and helping everyone around him feel at ease and welcome. If anything needs taken care of, he is one of the first to volunteer. Thank you, Cory, for your outstanding service to our 4-H program. 

The Doorknob Award recognizes a volunteer or business who has “opened the door” for the 4-H program through special outreach, marketing, or other efforts. This year’s award recipient was Lyletta Searle. Lyletta is our volunteer recruiter superstar! Every year she comes to our office in March wanting to know which counties we are going to be judging later in the year and how many judges are needed for each county. She starts to rally her troops and always has the minimum number of judges we need plus more. Lyletta and her friends look forward to judging at county fairs each year and we love having them go with us to judge. Lyletta’s passion for judging and encouraging youth with their 4-H projects is unmatchable!  Thank you, Lyletta, for recruiting our fair judges for so many years and for your outstanding service to our 4-H Program and our County!

The 4-H Family of the Year award recognizes a family who has demonstrated outstanding involvement in and service to 4-H. This year our 4-H Family of the Year was awarded to the Brittany & Colby Kuhn Family. The Kuhn family is a stellar example of what a service family should be. The entire family is highly involved in our community in several different ways. Both Brittany and Colby joined the Morgan County Junior Livestock Council three years ago as swine superintendents. They have been instrumental in helping make changes to our livestock program and helping with the continuous growth of this program. Brittany also helps judge over 200 4-H Portfolios each year.  Their boys also help a lot behind the scenes with the livestock program. The boys are active in 4-H, sports, and their church and are always serving others. They are always showing kindness and gratitude to those around them and offering to help when we need them. The Kuhns are a phenomenal family, and we are lucky to have families like them in our community and our program! We really appreciate all the hard work and dedication they have shown to help “Make the Best Better.”

An extra special award this year is the 10-year 4-H participant award. This is an award that is presented each year, but this year’s participants hold a special place in our 4-H Program Coordinator, Nicole Reed’s heart. The 4-Her’s that were recognized this year started their 4-Her career when Nicole first moved to Morgan County. She has worked with these youth from the very beginning of their 4-H career to the very end (3rd-12th grade) at the county level. Nicole has had the opportunity to watch these young men and women transform before her eyes. Reed said, “To have my first complete cycle of 4-Hers finish the program, is a huge milestone for me in my career. It has been an honor and pleasure to work with these phenomenal youth over the past 10 years.” 

For more information about enrolling in 4-H, joining a club, and programs offered, please contact the Morgan County Extension Office at 801-829-3472. Also, check us out on Facebook: USU Extension-Morgan County 4-H and our webpage: extension.usu.edu/morgan. λ