X-treme Youth Celebration

WOW! That is all I can say about Friday night. It was our annual Robeson County 4-H Youth Achievement Night and all I can say was what a celebration! What accomplishments! What incredible youth we have in Robeson County.
We started our event in a beautifully decorated auditorium thanks to our Youth Achievement Volunteer Committee made up of Missy McLean, Libby Burney, Jane Hurst, and Lillian McNeill. they not only decorated but put together the program and planned the entire event.
After the introduction of our Master of Ceremonies, 4-H Alumni Quincy Dinnerson introduced Renee Blue the Past President of the Robeson County Volunteer Leaders Association who welcomed all of our guests. Christopher Bullard and Yazmin Washington lead our pledges and County Extension Director, Everett Davis recognized special guests. We were very pleased to have Tanya Underwood and Jane Hurst who are members of the Robeson County 4-H Specialized Advisory Committee on hand to help us with the night, as well as Mark Moses, Joyce Peay and Robert Wilkes who are members of The Robeson County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Advisory Committee on hand. Also State Senator Michael Walters, County Commissioner Hubert Sealey and Assistant County manager Rod Jenkins were on hand to help support our youth on this fantastic night.
Of course we had to have a special cake to help celebrate the North Carolina 4-H Centennial. To cut the cake while the group of more than 150 sang Happy Birthday, were: Shea Ann DeJarnette, 4-H Extension Agent; Aggie Rogers, 4-H Program Associate; County Commissioner Hubert Sealey; State Senator Michael Walters; and of course Everett Davis, our Robeson County Extension Director. After two rounds of singing (because it is after all an important Birthday) Bobby Rogers delivered the invocation and we all dug into an incredible dinner.
After dinner Xtreme Strength performed. The gentlemen not only showed powerful skills by lifting concrete balls that weigh more than 250 pounds, breaking concrete blocks with their bare hands, and laying on a bed of nails, they shared the secret to that power with our audience. They let he youth know that they need to stay focused, set goals, and achieve those goals. Don't let unimportant things detract from the positive things you want from life. If you you stay in 4-H and surround yourself with people who will support you, the sky is the limit, there is no obstacle too big or heavy to get in your way.
We followed that incredible presentation with awards. Tanya Underwood presented the "I Dare You" Leadership award to Yazmin Washington. This award is presented to an outstanding teen who has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills during the year. Along with the national award and an opportunity to apply for a scholarship the youth also receive a book by the Raulstin Purina founder who started this award and a check.
Shea Ann DeJarnette then presented to Special Youth Leader Awards to Christopher Bullard and Tierra Troy for their willingness to volunteer to help with events and all of their special efforts during the Summer Fun program and fair. They each received a special certificate.
Allen Faircloth, Vice President for the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair, presented our Junior Fair Board members with their certificates. One hand to accept this special award for their hard work helping to plan youth events at the fair were, Yazmin Washington, Korina Pittman, James Hurst, Aljaquan Nixon, and Kristen Sealey. Each received a special framed certificate for their efforts.
One of the biggest awards of the night was presented by our Robeson County Extension Director Everett Davis. He had the opportunity to present the 4-H Club of the year award that went to the St. Paul's Pony Club. This is a new club this year that meets weekly. Mrs. Burney, the organizational club leader thanked her mother for getting her involved in 4-H when she was younger and allowing her to develop a love for everything 4-H.
After the club of the year was a very special presentation. Everett Davis called Robert Wilkes and his wife Gayle up to the stage to announce a new 4-H Endowment, the Robert Wilkes 4-H Entrepreneurial Endowment fund. This fund will allow clubs and members to apply for funds dealing with entrepreneurial subjects. The funds can be used to help start youth businesses, as seed money for club fundraisers, or to support other youth leadership activities. It is named after Robert Wilkes, the owner and operator of TLC Catering because of his entrepreneurial vision as well as never ending support of 4-H. We are proud to have the endowment and the support of Robert and his family as they continue to enhance our program.
After that Aggie introduced the 2010 County Council Officers and we sat back and watched the 2009 slide show. That was all a prelude to the ultimate event of the evening, honoring each of our youth. Aggie read off the names and all of their accomplishments. Many of our youth ended up with multiple certificates for all they have accomplished during the year. Our favorite comment came from Dakota Strickland, a cloverbud with the Horsin' Around Horse Club who said, "that it was an awful lot of hard work but boy was it fun!"
After honoring our youth we gave our thanks to our volunteers who organized the event and our MC Quincy who did a spectacular job. It was a fantastic night honoring all of their accomplishments and I just can't say how proud we are of all of them.
If you would like more information on 4-H please give us a call at (910) 671-3276, we would love to hear from you!