ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Nine Lehigh County 4-H youth joined nearly 600 other young people to descended on State College, Pa., during the first weekend of February. They were all in town for the Pennsylvania 4-H State Leadership Conference or Junior Leadership Conference. The weekend is an opportunity for 4-H’ers to come together for leadership training, networking and learning experiences. Andrew Bowman from Slatington was inducted as the Pennsylvania State Council President for 2019.
Bowman was joined at the event by fellow older teens including Aiden Bowman of Slatington, Danica Harf of Breingsville, Kerigrace Hertzog of Allentown, Trinity Packard of Slatington, Sophia Vargas of Germansville, Liana Panik of Emmaus and Carly Mikulski of Slatington.
The Junior Conference attendees included Brent Roeder, Lacey Roeder and Gregory Hausman all of Cooperburg, Alivia Remick of Quakertown, Allison and John Emanuel of Laurys Station, Samuel and Levi Lazarus of Schnecksville and Kaitlyn Dietrich of Kempton.
The weekend, themed “Leadership in Overtime,” kicked off with welcome addresses by the Director of Pennsylvania 4-H Dr. Joshua Rice and Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding who was joined by his wife, Nina. The Pennsylvania 4-H State Council — a premier group of young people selected from around the state to be the official spokespeople for the Pennsylvania 4-H program — in conjunction with the Pennsylvania 4-H State Office, coordinated the weekend event.
Saturday was a full day of leadership workshops for the 13-18-year-old attendees of the leadership conference. Those workshops included topics such as team building, stress management, understanding leadership styles, etiquette, interview preparation and many others.
While the older teens were attending these workshops, the Junior Conference convened for the 10-13-year old participants. This is a one-day version of the larger conference to give younger members a small glimpse into what they can expect to see when they are older. Workshop topics including communication and being a positive role model were presented to this very enthusiastic group of budding 4-H’ers.
One of the highlights of the Conference is always the keynote speakers.
The juniors enjoyed an entertaining talk by Katina Hunter, 4-H alum and current volunteer in Pennsylvania.
Friday keynote Clint Pulver entertained the older teens with his comedy and message about leaving a mark and making the best for the world instead of best in the world.
The event concluded on Sunday with an ode to 4-H service. State Council enthusiastically unveiled that the delegates had raised just over $200 towards the event’s service project, Penn State’s THON.
The last order of business was the retirement and installation ceremony for the Pennsylvania 4-H State Council. A special thank you to the retiring team for their term of service:
President — Andrea Repetz (Cumberland)
VP of Operations and Events — Julia Jumper (Westmoreland)
VP of Internal Affairs — Kayla Kimble (Clinton)
Secretary — Caroline Benfer (Union)
Reporter / Historian — Annah Burke (Forest)
The gavel was passed to a new team of leaders:
President — Andrew Bowman (Lehigh)
VP of Operations and Events — Kelsey Bish (Clarion / Venango)
VP of Internal Affairs — Addison Neff (Dauphin)
Secretary — Trisha Poorbaugh (Fayette)
Reporter / Historian — Molly Scheetz (Bucks)
— Penn State Extension, Lehigh County