Barton County was host to Heart of Kansas Regional 4-H Day at Great Bend High School. Regional 4-H Day participants are the top presentations selected at each of the six county 4-H Days. The counties represented in the Heart of Kansas 4-H Day Regional include Midway District (Ellsworth and Russell), Pawnee, Rice, Stafford and Barton.  
4-H Day gives 4-H members an opportunity to experience public presentations given in front of an audience and a judge. In addition to developing public presentation skills, members also learn to work with others from their club or county.
In the Public Speaking competition, Molly Kaiser, TLC Twisters 4-H Club received a blue rating. In Extemporaneous Speaking, BreAnn Anshutz, Busy Buzzers, received a blue rating and Heather Schneider, TLC Twisters, received a red rating. In this event the members draw a topic and are allowed ten minutes to prepare a speech.
In the project talk division, Parker Dicks, Busy Buzzers 4-H received a blue on his talk about beef and Shae Hoskins, Ellinwood Energizers, received a red rating on his talk about Taekwondo .
In Junior Demonstrations and Illustrated Talks, Emma Mayhill, TLC Twisters 4-H Club, placed with a top purple rating with her presentation. Tate Martin from Ellinwood Energizers received a blue rating. In the Senior Demonstration division, Dalton Dicks was the top ranked presentation with a purple ribbon. Payton Mauler, received a red rating.
In the music performance room, BrayLynn Anshutz, Busy Buzzers, received the top purple rating on her piano solo. Dalton Dicks, Busy Buzzers, received a blue placing on his instrumental solo.
In the talent division, Alaina Straub from the Ellinwood Energizers performed a dance and received a top purple ribbon. The South Bend Jolly Workers group received a first alternate blue on their dance. Kirk Reisner received top purple on his senior reading entry. Lily Hoskins, Ellinwood Energizers, received a blue in the junior reading division. The Hoisington Jets 4-H club placed with a first alternate blue on their skit presentation.      
Berny Unruh is the 4-H and Youth Development Extension Agent in Barton County. She is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune.  She can be reached at 620-793-1910 or at bunruh@.ksu.edu