Five receive 4-H Danforth Award
Posted 11/20/02

The Danforth "I Dare You" Award was presented at the Mille Lacs County 4-H annual Achievement Day awards ceremony Saturday, Nov. 2 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Milaca.

ïEach year this award is presented to young people who dare to achieve their highest potential and influence others through lives of service. This very prestigious and hard to earn award went to: Pete Beckstrom, Jeremy Hible, Tim Braun, Kristin Reiman, Coral Wallace, Greenbush Go-Fors.

ïPete Beckstrom has been a Mille Lacs County 4-H member for 12 years and is a member of the Brookside Buccaneers 4-H Club. Pete has been actively involved as a camp counselor and youth leader club. Some of his projects include beef, swine, self determined, and leadership. Pete graduated from high school this past spring and was active in school sports. He is the son of Kurt Beckstrom of Bock and Rhonda Beckstrom of Princeton.

ïJeremy Hible has been an active 4-H member of the Mille Lacs County Busy Bees 4-H Club for the past 13 years. He has developed his leadership skills through involvement with in his local 4-H club as well as through involvement on county committees and boards. He has also been active with the county 4-H youth leader club and took part in the youth exchange with Prairie County, Montana 4-Hers the past two years. He is the son of Terry and Judy Hible of Princeton.

ïTim Braun joined the Greenbush Go-Fors 4-H Club 8 years ago. Since then he has been active in many projects including small grains, self determined, small engines, electric, poultry, dairy, beef, and youth leadership. He has also been involved in several leadership roles on county 4-H committees and the youth leadership club. Tim also took part in the youth exchange with Montana. He is the son of Tom and Pat Braun of Princeton.

ïKristin Reiman of the Greenbush Go-Fors 4-H Club has been in Mille Lacs County 4-H for the past 12 years and probably some before that, tagging along with her older brothers. She has been quite active in several 4-H activities including being a camp counselor, youth leader club, and serving as President of the Mille Lacs County 4-H Federation. Her most recent accomplishment is that of being selected to serve as a Minnesota State 4-H Ambassador for 2001-02. Kristin is also active in her school and community. She is the daughter of Richard and Margaret Reiman of Princeton.

ïCoral Wallace has been a Mille Lacs County 4-H member for just 5 years. Prior to that, she was a 4-Her in Roseau County. During her time in Mille Lacs County she has been very active with involvement in the youth leader club and the 4-H Federation. Some of her project activities include rabbit, poultry, self-determined, beef, and veterinary science. Coral was also selected to serve as a State 4-H Ambassador during 2001-02. She is the daughter of Kevin and Rena Schreur of Milaca.

The "I Dare You" Award is made possible by the American Youth Foundation in cooperation with principals, headmasters and 4-H Extension Educators across the country. This award was first offered in 1941 by William Danforth, founder of the Ralston Purina Company, who dared young people to achieve their highest potential and to influence others through lives of service. The award takes its name from the book I Dare You!, written by Mr. Danforth in which he describes living a balanced life as the backbone of good leadership.

Friends of 4-H

Each year a few individuals, groups, or businesses are recognized for their outstanding support of 4-H. This year Mille Lacs County is honoring the following "Friends of 4-H" for their generous and steadfast backing of the 4-H program. Recipients for this year: Keystone Construction Services of Milaca, Tana Haugen-Brown, and Weisbrodís Bakery of Princeton.

ïKeystone Construction Service of Milaca was selected for their support during the recent building of the 4-H Pavilion Building project. They were instrumental in the planning process and gave many hours of volunteer labor to the project, including all of the water lines for the building.

ïTana Haugen-Brown has served as the Mille Lacs County 4-H Extension Educator for the past 14 years. She has helped to start the Arts-In program, 4-H Livestock Auction and 4-H Intern program. She is active with the camping program, small animal projects, and many other county 4-H programs.

ïWeisbrodís Bakery of Princeton is another key 4-H supporter. For many years they have been supportive of the 4-H Foodstand and this past year they were especially helpful and supportive of the 100th Birthday Celebration of 4-H.

W.I.D. Award

The W.I.D. Award, or "What I Did" Award, started in 1995 to recognize 4-H youth who take part in a variety of club, county, state and civic activities. Winners are:

Jennifer Hible, Jeremy Hible, Jessica Hible, Jessica Jones, and Kelvin Jones of Busy Bees; Anna Davison, Emily Davison, Amanda Lupke and Travis Lupke of Foreston Forgers; Andrew Nystrom, and Kathy Nystrom of Milo Lamplighters; Amanda Hammarstedt, Krystal Hammarstedt, Jenna Peterson, Leah Peterson, and Sarah Virnig of Onamia Kids; Tracy DeVries, Dallas Gunnink, Patrick Gunnink, Sarah Gunnink, Brian Hoeck, Matthew Hoeck, Jenniifer Rouse, Heidi Schroeder, and Elizabeth Wilkins of OíNeil Eagles;

Kassandra Halverson, Kyra Halverson, Katie Loberg, Danielle Nelson, Shannon Nelson, Christina Potburg, Emily Rothstein, Kevin Smith, Brandi Szenay, Louie Szenay, and Rose Szenay of Silver Lakers; Daniel Ablard, Michael Ablard, Lauren Harting, Amber Lee, Heather Lee, Jason Lee, Jake Moscho, and Joe Moscho of Tibbets Brook Flyers.

Officer Recognition

Club Officer Recognition acknowledges the extra time and work it takes to do the duties of a club officer. Even though these kids will have a jump on the job market with the marketable skills they learn as officers, they deserve some recognition now, so the following were honored:

President

Bryony Fraser, Busy Bees; Travis Lupke, Foreston Forgers; Matt Hoeck, OíNeil Eagles; Rose Szenay, Silver Lakers.

Vice President

Jessica Hible, Busy Bees.

Secretary

Amanda Drewelow, Busy Bees; Shawna Jensen, Silver Lakers.

Treasurer

Kelvin Jones, Busy Bees;

Danforth/continued on page

Kassandra Halverson, Silver Lakers.

Communications Officer

Jessica Jones, Busy Bees.

Outstanding Volunteer

of the Year

While anyone who volunteers is outstanding, in 1995 an award was created to honor the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year. For 2002, we honored Sharon DeVries, Alvin and Marilyn Gunnink, and Richard Awards/continued on page 7 thy Hoeck, all of OíNeil Eagles 4-H Club.

ïSharon DeVries has been a 4-H volunteer for the past seven years. Some of her leadership involvement has included Key Leader for the OíNeil Eagles 4-H Club, serving on the Executive Board of the 4-H Federation, Chair of the Round Robin event at county fair and organizer of the Fashion Revue and Clothing judging. One person writes, "Sharon is most deserving of this award and is a good role model for other leaders by just digging in and getting the job done."

ïRichard and Kathy Hoeck have been involved in 4-H for the past 16 years. They have supported their children and many other 4-H members over the years through their involvement on the Foodstand Committee, and Key Leaders, club softball team, the 4-H Federation, county fair project superintendents and much more. One person writes, "They enjoy spending much of their time and talents to help others and their community."

ïAlvin and Marilyn Gunnink are practically lifetime members of 4-H with 59 years of service between them. They have been involved in county project committees, club softball team, County 4-H Federation Board, Arts-In, club activities, and much, much more. 4-H Key Award

The prestigious and hard to achieve 4-H Key Award goes to youth who show substantial leadership ability at the club and county level, including training, project meetings, one-on-one work, committee work, and community service. They must be at least 16 years old, have been in 4-H for five years, and complete three years as a 4-H Youth Leader. Receiving this high honor for 2002 is Tracy DeVries, OíNeil Eagles.

Tracy has been a Mille Lacs County 4-H member for 10 years. She does an outstanding job as a youth leader through her ability to share and lead other teens and younger children. She has served on the Federation, Officer Training Committee, Chair of the Animal Science Project Development Committee, Sheep Project Leader, Youth Leader Club member, Cloverbud Project leader, community service project for her club, Dairy Bowl Team and 4-H promotion.

For information on getting started with 4-H, call the Extension Office at 320 983-8317 or toll free, 888-680-8317.