—Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Chris Anderson Past 4-H members look over the projects current Hamilton County 4-H’ers made for the 100th anniversary of the fair on Saturday afternoon. Former members made it back to the fairgrounds to look back on the fair’s extensive history with 4-H as well as present awards to key 4-H individuals.

In celebration of 100 years of ISU extension and outreach in Hamilton County, Hamilton County 4-H held a celebration and reunion to look back on the 100 years of impact 4-H and ISU Extension has had on Hamilton County.

The reunion, which took place Saturday afternoon at the Hamilton County fairgrounds, was a place for former and current 4-Hers to gather and not only look back on the past of 4-H but look at what current 4-H members are doing and to look forward.

Leah Feltz, County Youth Coordinator since March, helped organize the reunion and shared how she viewed 4-H impacting the community.

“4-H has traditionally been very strong in agriculture and that’s what most people associate it with,” Feltz said, “Something I’ve learned in my position is that we are actually very strong in other areas as well,”

Feltz shared that 4-H is working to educate young people on STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) type subjects, becoming more involved in their community, and fun projects like “Lego League”.

Going forward Feltz says she would like to see 4-H in Hamilton County become more involved in STEM fields.

In her view, Feltz feels the main strength of 4-H are the 4 H’s, head, heart, hands and health.

“All of those things we have should go towards a better club, a better community, a better world,” Feltz said.

One local 4-H member, McKenna Mitchell, has used 4-H to make herself a more well-rounded individual and as a way to get more involved in her community. Mitchell originally got involved in 4-H after watching her brother do it but grew to love the program herself.

“It helped me a lot, I’ve gone on to be on state positions and get state recognition,” Mitchell said, “It’s a really nice experience for me to learn about speaking skills and spread out to see what I enjoy.”

Mitchell was just one of many current and former 4-H members present at the reunion.

The reunion kicked off with a plaque being awarded to the Hamilton County 4-H from ISU Extension in recognition of 100 years. Former and current 4-H members spoke and shared their stories of 4-H and how it impacted their lives.

Ending the reunion was an award recognizing Cheryll Entriken for her nearly 25 years as County Youth Coordinator in Hamilton County. Entriken has been involved in 4-H her entire life going back to her childhood involvement in the program in the 50s and 60s. She applied for the position 24 years ago when she noticed it was open and got the job.

“Part of it was I had experience with children, I was working in the church and working with different age groups,” Entriken said, “My husband was also a club leader and was working with our children in 4-H,”

Entriken feels that students that go through 4-H become model citizens and help make the community a better place. However, she feels the biggest problem going forward is some young people don’t have as much free time to get involved as they used to. She still feels strongly that young people should consider getting involved in 4-H

“It’s more of a struggle to keep our young people in the program because of so many other entities, their lifestyle tends to be more demanding then when I first started in the program,” Entriken said, “It’s quite an accomplishment for them(to complete the 4-H program) because they’ve had to juggle a lot of things,”

One overlooked part of 4-H Entriken feels strongly about is volunteers. She feels they are necessary for 4-H to remain a relevant part of the community.

“The program doesn’t go without volunteers. Volunteers are the ones that helps it run strong,” Entriken said.