Barton County 4-H members were honored for their accomplishments at the 80th annual 4-H Achievement Celebration. The theme was “Jazz it up with 4-H”. Mikey Hughes, 4-H Council President and Morgan Kaiser, 4-H Council Vice-President served as the emcees. Heather Schneider, Council Treasurer led the members in the Flag Salute and 4-H Pledge.
Sarah Niederee, Council Secretary introduced the special guests
The Kansas 4-H Key Award is the most prestigious award that a 4-H member can earn. Candidates must have exhibited outstanding contributions in leadership, citizenship, community service. The recipients of the 2014 Key Awards were Hannah Mauler and Cody Wondra. The awards were presented by Dana Long, who represented American AgCredit.
All 4-H clubs earned their purple seal status. The 4-H clubs in Barton County are the Barton County Horse Club (BCHC), Busy Buzzers (BB), Ellinwood Energizers (EE), Eureka Homesteaders (EH), Great Bend City Slickers (GBCS), Hoisington Jets (HJ), The Sharpshooters (SS), South Bend Jolly Workers (SBJW), and TLC Twisters.
Cloverbud 4-H members receiving participation certificates were Rynn Harmon (BCHC), Kylee Miessler (BB), Cayman Rowan (EE), Nicole Rziha, and Analeah Ochs, (GBSC), Parker Lewis and Isaiah Mayers (HJ), Anakyn Davis and Chase Ellis (SBJW). Cloverbud members are 5 and 6 year olds by Jan. 1, and are eligible for 4-H membership when they are seven years old by Jan. 1, of the current 4-H year.
All 4-H members have the opportunity each year to work towards earning an achievement pin. The series of nine achievement pins increases in difficulty each year. Those receiving first year membership pins were: Parker Dicks and Kylie McCormick (BB), Erin Hammeke (EE), Alivia Bautista and Jayla Wyant (EH), Alyssa Habash (GBCS), Landon Woydziak (HJ), Cheyenne, Sage and Shaelee Martinz (TLC).
Bronze Pin recipients: Haley McCormick (BB), Augustus and Woodson Corbett, Caylee and Cadin Rowan (EE), Isaac Burgess, Mathew MacMahon, Aiden Noblitt and Gabrielle Reif (HJ).
Alaina Straub (EE), Hailey Hicks (GBCS) and Mallory Reif (HJ) were Clover Pin winners.
Those earning Emerald Pins included Sarah Hammeke, Ryan Niles and Bryce Oliphant (EE); Kyle Rziha (GBCS), AJ Moshier (HJ), Paige Koehn (SS).
Winners of Silver Pins were: Dalton Dicks (BB), Mikey Hughes and Alexa Straub (EE), Nicolas Long and Michael MacMahon (HJ), Mathew Hicks (SBJW), Molly and Morgan Kaiser (TLC).
Accomplishing a Silver Guard pin were BrayLynn Anshutz (BB) and Luke Wondra (EE).
Leadership Pin receivers were BreAnn Anshutz (BB) and Katherine Hicks (SBJW).
Heather Schneider (TLC) was a Gold Pin winner.
Attaining Gold Guard pins were Betsy Snell (EE), Kayleigh Bitter and Brinttain Noah (HJ).  
Those applying for and receiving yearly membership pins included: Johnelle Moshier, Desmond Noah and Kirk Reisner all from Hoisington Jets 4-H Club.
Barton County Project Award Winners are determined by their work in a given project. Youth report their goals and their work accomplished in project, leadership and citizenship work on the Kansas Award Portfolio application. The Barton County Award project junior winner in Beef was Luke Wondra (EE) and Dalton Dicks, Busy Buzzers was alternate.
In Clothing and Textiles the senior project winner was Kayleigh Bitter with Heather Schneider as alternate. In the junior division, Haley McCormick won the top award and BrayLynn Anshutz was alternate and both are from the Busy Buzzers 4-H Club.
The Dog Care and Training senior project winner was Kayleigh Bitter, Hoisington Jets. Junior award winners were Bryce Oliphant and Augustus Corbett, both from the Ellinwood Energizers club. Dairy Goat project winner was Katherine Hicks from the South Bend Jolly Workers club.
The Foods and Nutrition project winner was Kayleigh Bitter (HJ) and alternate was Betsy Snell, Ellinwood Energizers. Junior division winners were Ryan Niles, Ellinwood Energizers and BrayLynn Anshutz, Busy Buzzers. The Horse project winner was Bryce Oliphant from Ellinwood Energizers.
Leadership project award was given to Kayleigh Bitter, and alternate was Heather Schneider, TLC. In Performing Arts, Kayleigh Bitter was named champion. Gabrielle Reif, Hoisington Jets, was named the winner in the Pets project.         
Photography project champion was Kayleigh Bitter and alternate was BreAnn Anshutz (BB). In Plant Science, Kayleigh Bitter was named champion and BreAnn Anshutz was alternate. Rabbit project senior award winner was Katherine Hicks, with junior awards given to Mathew Hicks of South Bend Jolly Workers and Alaina Straub from Ellinwood Energizers named as alternate.        
In the Reading project, Kayleigh Bitter was named champion and Dalton Dicks was junior champion. Dalton Dicks was also named Self-determined and Shooting Sports project winner. Woodson Corbett earned the junior alternate award in Shooting Sports. Dalton Dicks was named award winner in the Space Tech project with Kyle Rziha (GBCS) named an alternate.
The Swine Project winner in the senior division was Cody Wondra (EE) with Hannah Mauler (BB) as alternate.  Luke Wondra was named junior champion with Bryce Oliphant as alternate.  
Visual Arts senior project winner was Kayleigh Bitter. Dalton Dicks was named junior champion and Alexa Straub was alternate in the visual arts project.
Wildlife project champion was Ryan Niles. Wood Science project winner was Woodson Corbett and Augustus Corbett was named junior alternate. Kayleigh Bitter had the top secretary book and Kirk Reisner had the top treasurer book.
Farm Bureau supports leadership activities for young people and this year they provided recognition for those who served as 2014 4-H camp counselors at Rock Springs Ranch. Fourth year counselors honored were Caleb Maneth and Alexis McPherson. Second year counselors were Kayleigh Bitter, Mikey Hughes, Desmond Noah, Heather Schneider and Betsy Snell. First year counselors were Adam Bailey and Brinttain Noah.
The judging teams who represented Barton County at the State level were also recognized that evening. Senior photography team members were Anna Frizell, Kayleigh Bitter, Thomas Harmon and Brinttain Noah, while Rebekah Harmon, Molly Kaiser, Liberty Marsh and Katherine Snapp were members of the intermediate photo judging team.
Heather Schneider, Katherine Hicks and Mikey Hughes made up the Poultry judging team and Livestock judging/Skillathon team members were Shiani and Mikey Hughes, Caleb Maneth and Cody Wondra.
The top Family and Consumer Science members were unable to compete in a state contest. The top four judging scores were Kayleigh Bitter, Heather Schneider, BreAnn and BrayLynn Anshutz.
4-H Council perfect attendance awards were presented to: Dalton Dicks from the Busy Buzzers; Tiffany Schneider, Carrie Bitter and Karla Reisner from Hoisington Jets; Luke Wondra and Mikey Hughes from Ellinwood Energizers; Paige and Melissa Koehn from Sharpshooters.
The I Dare You award was presented to Mikey Hughes from the Ellinwood Energizers. The “Friend of 4-H” award winners, chosen by members of Barton County 4-H Council, were recognized and they are Wayne and Terri DeWerff along with Bill and Robin Niederee.
All 4-H families and 4-H alumni were asked to participate in “Giving Tuesday” by donating to the Golden Belt Community Foundation on Tuesday, December 2nd and ask that the funds be used to benefit the Barton County 4-H Council Endowment fund. All checks must be written to “Golden Belt Community Foundation” and must be given in person on Dec. 2nd. The minimum donation to be eligible to be matched is $25 and the maximum donation to qualify for a match per donor/per fund is $1,000. All donors are invited to the Barton County Extension Office on Tuesday, Dec. 2, from 7 to 9 a.m. for “Pancakes for Partners”. All donations received at Pancakes for Partners will be delivered to GBCF and the funds will qualify for possible matching funds for Barton County 4-H Endowment Fund.
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