4-H members honored at banquet

Bandera County 4-H rolled out the green carpet at Ridin’ the River Cowboy Fellowship Hall on August 10 for the annual awards banquet honoring members’ projects and accomplishments from the past year.

At the end of each year, 4-H members turn in a record of the various projects they were involved in with either a project form or a record book.

Those who submitted Project Forms this year were Shye Havelka (Rabbits, Fashion & Interior Design, Leadership, & Photography), Dylan Spangler (Beef and Food and Nutrition), Logan Spangler (Beef) and Coleton Trenklebach (Shotgun, Rabbits).

Those who submitted a Record Book this year were Cooper Dorries (placed fifth at district in Swine), Kylee Henderson (placed fourth at district in Sheep), Reese Mazurek (placed fifth in STEM at district) and Rien Mazurek (placed sixth at district in Agricultural Sciences).

Bandera County 4-H also recognized the youth who competed at all the district contests this past year. They were:

Food Show: Jessi Battle, Lake Battle, Dylan Spangler, and Kinley Lake

Food Challenge team: Kinley Lake, Merry Robinson, and Kienna Cielencki

• Small Bore Rifle contest: Garrett Cielencki, Jacob Haas, Hudson Jackson, Ethan Marks, William Pankratz, Maddy Simon and Ethan Zobrist

• Livestock Judging Contest: Kytlin Peterson, Davis Peterson, Rien Mazurek, Reese Mazurek, Kylee Henderson, Mary Freeman, and Bailey Barth.

• Wool Judging: Addie Derry, Will Derry, Kylee Henderson, Hallie Kunz, Cydney Newsom, Davis Peterson, and Kytlin Peterson.

• Photography: Shye Havelka and Megan Mize

• Fashion Show: Shye Havelka

This year at the State Qualifying Contest, Shye Havelka Participated in Fashion Show, where she placed first in the category of Refashion!

Shye also participated at the State Level in the Photography Contest and Story Board Contest.

At State 4-H Roundup, Bandera County was represented in the Livestock Judging Invitational Contest. Those who competed were Cooper Dorries, Kylee Henderson, Reese Mazurek and Rien Mazurek.

The youth who participated and won the State Shotgun Shoot were Kayli Beckham, Riley Beckham, Malcolm Black, William Browning, Brody Culak, Cooper Dorries, Presley Dorries, Hayden Drefke, Colby Gonzales, Lukas Jackson, Tanner Kaples, Clayton Lewis, Wyatt Lewis, Garrett Meier, Lauren Meier, Brody Moore, Cody Osborn, Thomas Reyna, Ross Reynolds, Mack Robinson, Ashton Robinson, Jag Smith, Garrison Thomas, Coleton Trenkelbach, and Elle Vander Zee.

On behalf of Senator Dawn Buckingham, a congratulations to Bandera County 4-H’er Garrett Meier along with his team for winning the National 4-H Shooting Sports Shoot in Nebraska placing first in all three events: sporting clays, skeet, and trap!

Scholarship winners for the Bandera County 4-H Scholarship were Garrett Meier and Lucas Jackson in the amount of $1,000.00 each.

The Bandera Cowgirl 4-H Scholarship was given to Garrett Meier in the amount of $500.00.

State 4-H Scholarship recipients were Garrett Meier (Texas Farm Bureau Scholarship in the amount of $5,000.00) and Joseph Rodriguez scholarship from Texas Association of Extension 4-H Agents for $3,000.00).

The Top Hand Award goes to individuals who demonstrate exceptional leadership, provide outstanding support to the program and are always dependable. This year’s awards went to Honorable Jack Moseley, Kathleen Cielencki, Elyse Hernandez, Ben Garcia and Jim Mangold.

Our Outstanding Adult Leader is nominated by our 4-H members, volunteers and clubs by submitting letters of nomination for the adult leaders who have had a substantial impact on their 4-H experience. This year’s award was given to Julie Meier.

Nominations for the Friend of 4-H Business award are submitted by 4-H members, volunteers and clubs. These community members support 4-H in many capacities, and it is our pleasure to recognize and thank them for their commitment to our program. This year’s Friend of 4-H Business Award goes to The Cowboy Store.

The Friend of 4-H Individual award recipient is a longtime supporter of 4-H, programs, and the values those programs teach. The recipient is a role model and lives out what is believed to be the essence of 4-H. This year’s Friend of 4-H Individual goes to Ms. Laura Cameron.

The Superior of Excellence Award goes to a volunteer that is dedicated, provides leadership, and support for not only our program but most importantly the youth. The Superior of Excellence award goes to Jeff Jackson.

Rookie of the Year Award to a first-year individual who has excelled in their involvement with the 4-H program. This year this award goes to Thomas Reyna.

Outstanding 4-H Member Award to and individual who has excelled in their involvement with the 4-H program. The Outstanding 4-H member for 2020-2021 is Shye Havelka.

The “I Dare You Award” is presented to two Senior 4-H’ers to “dare” young people to achieve their highest potential and to influence others through lives of leadership and service. Recipients this year were Cooper Dorries and Kylee Henderson.

The Gold Star Award is the highest award that a 4-H member can receive at the State Level. It is given only one time to a 4-H’er during his or her 4-H Career. The purpose of the achievement is to recognize outstanding leadership and contribution to the county 4-H program. Our Gold Star Recipients this year are Cooper Dorries and Reese Mazurek.

This banquet could not have been done without the help of our sponsors:

Rocking S Ranch

Hill Country Veterinary Hospital

Edward Jones Investments - Anthony Ferragamo CFP® Financial Advisor

Texas Hill Country Bank

Waterboyz, LLC

D’Spain Sales

Josh Pick State Farm Insurance

Mini-Mart

HEB

Mayan Dude Ranch

Texas Farm Credit

Hondo National Bank, Bandera Banking Center

Buddy’s Septic and Water Well

HYO Silver

Ike and Amy Craddock

Stockade Ranch

Medina Ace Hardware

Bandera Electric Cooperative

China Bowl

Bandera Bulletin

Thank you to all our volunteers who helped make this banquet a success!

Jessica Faubion is a Family & Community Health County Extension Agent for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.