-Supplement to Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 5,1985
186
Editor’s Note: The week of Oct. 7 to 13 has been designated
National 4-H Week and Lancaster Farming takes this op
portunity to recognize some of this organization’s outstanding
members and leaders.
Through talking with 4-H'ers from across the state, Lancaster
Farming correspondents Sally Bair, Joyce Bupp, Sally Dunmire,
Donna McConaughey and Beth Nesbit have found that the 4-H
program goes far beyond project opportunities.
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
MYERSTOWN
definitely more self-confident
now,” Ann Grumbine, 17, says as
she reflects on some of the ways 4-
H has helped her. “I’ve gained a lot
of new experiences and a lot of new
friends.”
Ann, a Lebanon County 4-H’er
for seven years, is this year’s state
horticultural winner, a reflection
of the hard work she has put into
her many projects. When asked
why she joined 4-H as a youngster,
she answers simply, “Because my
parents were in it.”
Ann’s parents are Ray and
Martha Grumbine, who operate a
greenhouse near Myerstown. They
have worked with the 4-H judging
teams m the county, and are now
leaders as well. Martha was an
outstanding 4-H’er in Adams
County, so knows well what
challenges there are for interested
4-H’ers.
Taking full advantage of the
opportunity to travel to state
events, Ann has been a state
winner with a demonstration and
this year was on the state winning
flower judging team. Her winning
demonstration was on how to make
a “tuzzy muzzy,” and she won a
medal at the Junior Horticultural
Association meeting in Tulsa
Oklahoma in 1983.
This year she will travel with the
judging team to Kentucky, where
members will give ex
temporaneous speeches. She says,
“I really enjoy giving speeches. I
love to stand in front of pepple and
have their attention.” Part of her
confidence in this area comes from
participating in the storytelling
segment of Leadership Congress at
Penn State, something that helps
her tell the 4-H story.
She is also part of Lebanon
County’s 4-H Ambassador
program, which enables 4-H’ers to
speak to civic organizations
about the benefits of 4-H. This year
the Ambassadors hope to speak to
elementary school children to
recruit members.
Ann thinks that getting 4-H’ers
interested in state events is one
way to keep them involved. “If you
get them to one state event, they
will love it and stay in 4-H.” Ann
has traveled to Penn State for
Leadership Congress and State
Days for three years. She also
attended Citizenship Washington
Focus.
She said, “You must give
children an incentive to be in. You
must show them that it’s fun, and
not all work. The primary part is
fun, and secondary is learning
something.” For older 4-H’ers,
Ann recommends pointing out
career opportunities as well as
other learning experiences.
It was 4-H that really focused
Ann’s career plans, although she
was already interested in hor
ticulture because of her family’s
business. Her plans are to attend
Penn State and major in hor
ticulture, with an eye to going into
research. She says she’d like to
work with developing new hybrids
and growing plants without
gravity.
Her judging team experience
meant a lot to Ann, who is
especially pleased that she placed
second in the state as an in
dividual. “We worked so hard for
State Horticulture winner gains confidence ,
two years,” she recalls. In addition
to learning sportmanship as a
member of the judging team, Ann
says, “I learned to know all the
flowers and gained a lot of in
formation about gardening that I
might not otherwise have lear
ned.”
“I’m
Ann believes the competition in
4-H is beneficial because “people
strive to do a better” in a com
petitive situation.
A member of the Avon-East
Lebanon 4-H Club and the Glorious
Gardeners as well as being a teen
leader for the Country Lads and
Lassies, Ann has taken a wide
variety of projects. In addition to
outdoor flower and vegetable
gardening, she has taken indoor
gardening, corsages, houseplants
and dish gardens, plus macrame,
crocheting, cooking and preser
ving.
With two more years to go, and
already a state winner, are there
still goals for Ann? Yes, she admits
that she would really like to be
chosen as one of the several
Outstanding 4-H’ers from the state
to go to the National 4-H Con
ference in Washington, D.C. And
she would like to be the one
designated as the state am
bassador. A smaller goal is at
tending state Capitol Days.
Ann would also like to encourage
people to give more demon
strations, and has developed her
own demonstration to give advice
to those who need it.
She is the first to admit that
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
STRASBURG - When Michelle
Dean was younger she could
hardly wait to join 4-H. Now that
she is 19 and in her 11th year, she
still feels the same interest, and is
definitely glad she had the op
portunity to be a member. She
says, “It was worth it.”
In her family, 4-H was a family
tradition with both mother and
father as leaders and her older
brother an active member. She is
the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
William Dean, R 1 Strasburg. Her
brother is Gary, currently a beef
club leader, and member of the
Extension Board.
She says, “I couldn’t wait to get
my first steer. My family dragged
me along to all the shows.”
A member of the Red Rose Baby
Beef Club, Michelle also joined the
Solanco Community Club to show
pigs and the Lampeter Strasburg
4-H Guys and Gals for cooking and
sewing. She has served as a teen
leader in that club for four years.
Michelle has had many suc
cesses with her steers, most
recently winning grand champion
4-H steer at the Lampeter Fair,
and reserve champion overall.
Neverthless she says, “I think it
should be stressed that 4-H’ers
shouldn’t concentrate on winning.
There is not enough stress on what
you are learning and what fun you
can have.”
For first and second year
members, Michelle says the most
important thing to do is to make
friends, something she found
difficult when she first joined.
While winning isn’t everything,
knowledge through 4-H
projects sometimes get
discouraging. She says, “About the
end of July I will feel discouraged
and say, ‘Do I want to work this
hard?” She says she sometimes
has to wait until after round-up to
realize that it was worth all her
effort.
Good record-keeping is a must
for anyone interested in competing
on a state and national level. Ann
admits that she began keeping
“good records" in 1981, and that it
was a struggle to remember what
she had done before that. “It was
hard to dig out," she adds.
Asked what she would be doing if
she weren’t in 4-H, Ann says, “I’d
probably be in Girl Scouts.”
She enjoys crocheting, riding
bike and visiting with friends in
her spare time. A senior at Eastern
Lebanpn County High School, Ann
plays in the band, is on the senior
class council, the newspaper, and
is alternate representative for
home room. She manages the
flower chart at her church, and
spends a lot of time working in her
parent’s flower shop.
Although she has achieved the
ultimate in 4-H, a trip to National 4-
H Club Congress in Chicago, Ann
will remain an active 4-H’er set
ting more goals and helping others
gain skills and confidence as she
has done.
As she says in the 4-H story that
accompanied her form for national
competition, “I have learned more
about what is important in life.”
Miehelle Dean gains new skills through 4-H
it is nice when the opportunity
arises. Michelle was a member of
the first-place state 4-H judging
team last year, and as such
traveled to five contests in the fall.
The team eventually placed «iTt.h
in the national contest at
Louisville, and Michelle was ninth
high individual.
Four years of her 4-H career
were spent preparing for judging
teams. She was on the junior
livestock team for two years, the
meats team for one year and the
senior team which took first place.
About judging she says, “I gained
enthusiasm for the program remains high
Through their project work and leadership positions held
within their clubs, these 4-H’ers have developed their
leadership and communication skills. They say their in
volvement in 4-H has taught them about responsibility and
sportsmanship, and has helped them feel more self-confident in
every facet of their busy lives.
The stories in this special section are devoted to only some of
Pennsylvania's outstanding 4-H members who represent a host
of others who have benefitted from this program.
Lebanon County 4-H'er Ann Grumbine reviews one of her
project books.
a lot more confidence in myself as
I had to give reasons.” In fact, she
says the whole judging experience
was one of her most worthwhile
challenges as a 4-H’er.
Michelle also participated in two
exchange trips, one to North
Carolina and one to
Massachusetts, and went to
Harrisburg as a part of Capitol
Days.
A member of the County Council,
she also served in all offices with
her clubs over the years. She was
awarded a scholarship by the
Lancaster County Bankers
Association, and also by the Farm
and Home Foundation.
In reward for her hard work, she
was recognized as the Outstanding
Lancaster County 4-H girl in 1982-
83, and was named to the 4-H honor
roll that same year.
A member of the Future Far
mers of America at Lampeter
Strasburg High School where she
graduated in May, Michelle also
earned her Keystone degree, and
served as vice-president and
secretary of the Garden Spot
chapter.
She credits her FFA and 4-H
work with helping her decide to
pursue a career in agriculture. She
is now a freshman at the York
Campus of Penn State and will
transfer to the main campus next
year to study animal production.
She would like to enter some sort of
service field in agriculture, like
extension work, so that she can
help people.
As a senior in high school, she
was a peer counselor, something
she enjoyed because of the help it
provided. She was also active in
the Future Homemakers of
America.
Asked if there are projects she
hasn’t taken that she wishes she
had, Michelle replied, “Cake
decorating and sheep.”
And she admits that showing the
grand champion steer at the state
Farm Show would be like “a
dream come true.” She says, “It is
something everybody would like to
do. I admire the people who win it.
It is a neat accomplishment.”
As she approaches the final show
and sale of her 4-H career in
(Turn to Page 6)