-Supplement to Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 5,1985
190
State archery winner sharpens
mental skills with shooting sports
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
LEWISBERRY - Tom Itle was
right on target when he joined 4-H
at age eight.
And, this Redland High School
senior is still hitting the mark
through 4-H. Less than a year after
he released the first arrow from
his Jennings compound bow, Tom
Itle was declared the state’s 4-H
archery winner.
It all began when his parents,
Tom and Nancy Itle, moved their
family to the Lewisberry area ten
years ago. Seeing a need for a
localized 4-H group and having an
interest in project work, they
organized the Redland 4-H Com
munity Club.
“Since they were involved, the
whole family attended meetings,”
remembers this outgoing and
enthusiastic young man. “The kids
accepted me right away, even
though I was only seven then.”
In his first year as an “official”
club member, Itle signed up for
geology, bicycle and a baking
project. Later, his interests would
broaden into leathercraft,
vegetables, strawberries and
leadership areas.
But it has been in the field of
archery that Itle is hitting it big.
York County’s shooting sports 4-H
club was a new one this year, at
tracting widespread enrollment.
Itle signed up for the archery area,
boosted with encouragement from
an uncle who has competitively
shot for a number of years and who
holds state archery honors.
In addition to the ten-week
course with the club, and leaders,
who “really gave me a lot of help,”
Itle determinedly practiced on his
own time. The outdoor range
where his uncle shoots is nearby in
Harrisburg. Itle figures he spent
an average of three sessions a
week there, perfecting his
techniques and aim. Also, he’s
quick to credit his parents' sup
port.
“They let me go practice as often
as I needed and never complained.
I still tried to get my chores donetit
home, though,” he hastily adds.
In addition, there was more
practice in the family’s back yard,
where Itle and his dad have built a
target range for his archery in
terest.
Archery, this young expert
figures, is a “head” sport,
demanding intense mental con
centration. But Itle says he enjoys
such challenges and believes the
sport is helping him learn con
centration and discipline.
He hopes that these qualities will
carry over in his pursuit of his
career goals. Planning a major in
economics with a minor in ac
counting, Itle hopes to become a
corporate lawyer. For right now,
he expresses an interest in finding
a college where he can combine
studies with his sharpening
shooting skills, perhaps with a
scholarship arrangement.
“I like business, and I like
people,” says the Redlandteen. “4-
H has helped me develop mentally,
taught me responsibility, and
helped me with leadership skills,
like getting up in front of people.”
Among his leadership activities
are serving as county council
treasurer, local club president for
three years, participating in State
Days and Leaderslup Congress,
and representing the county at
Capitol Days in meetings with
local legislators.
The 4-H program has also put
cash in his bank account, as his
initial hundred-plant strawberry
project blossomed into a part-time
business. Itle now has an eleven
row planting, with more than 800
plants, and banks his berry profits
toward college. Part of those
earnings this year went toward a
typewriter.
and leathercraft, to design this delicately crafted quiver for
his shooting arrows. It won him a blue ribbon at county
roundup and the York Fair.
Although there is no national
recognition of 4-H archery as a
project awards area, Itle has
spoken with a few people about the
future possibilities. He plans to
continue working with the sport,
perhaps as a leader, since he has
progressed to the limit in 4-H
project work as an archer.
Itle constantly stresses the
safety angle that the 4-H archery
skills teach, noting that members
first and foremost are taught that
BY BETH NESBIT
Staff Correspondent
INDIANA - By speaking with
the following final-year 4-H
members from Indiana County, it
is plain to see how much the 4-H
program has helped them
establish themselves in a world of
uncertainty.
Jody Nesbit, the daughter ot
Jerry and Karen Nesbit of Mar
chland, is a ten-year member ot
the Northern Indiana County Dairj
Club. She has earned a wide
variety of dairj projects
throughout the past ten years,
including breeding several
champion registered Holstems.
She is currently an important part
of the Nesbit dairy operation.
Missie Mallino, the daughter ol
John Mallino, Marion Center, has
taken projects in home and family
management, home environment,
photography and cooking. She has
ds at the halter of Corals Mindy while
displaying the plaque she received as Premier Showman at
the Indiana County Fair.
they are handling a deadly weapon
and must exercise extreme care in
shooting.
Then, too, there is one sideline
that he mentions, almost as an
afterthought. Archery season for
whitetail deer opens in just a few
weeks. It mil be his first. And
already he can see the exact spot
where he will be his first morning
out, a 4-H’er putting his skills
hopefully-to use in a secluded spot
in the northern York County hills.
Indiana County teens say 4-H
helped shape their futures
participated in the National 4-11
Conference in Washington, If I
and National 4-H Congress in
Chicago. She was also Indiana
County's 1984 4-H queen Missie is
currently a freshman at Indiana
University of f ennsylvania where
she is majoring in business ad
ministration.
Suzie Ruffnei. the daughtei ot
Barbara Huff net. Indiana, has
been a member ot the Sleep)
Hollow 4-H Horse club tor ten
\ears. The joungest of five, Suzie
has had two brothers' and two
sisters to follow in the 4-H horse
program.
Her family has owned horses loi
a quarter of a centurj and Suzie
has owned Registered Quartet
Horses for the past six years. She
is presently employed by the
Savings and Trust Company in
Indiana.
l*on Blankenship, the daughtei
(Contmued from Page 3) Keystone Farmer degree in 1985.
Don stresses that getting to know
fidence he has learned through his people is one of the benefits he has
4-H experiences will help him do enjoyed in 4-H. “You help them out
well no matter what his job is. and they help you out. I think I
A member of the Garden Spot learned leadership by helping
Chapter of the Future Fanners of other 4-H’ers do things.”
America, Don has carried com, For Don, being a 4-H’er has
dairy and tobacco projects. He won helped him grow in many ways,
a first in the state tobacco and will prove a firm foundation
proficiency contest, with his six for him as he begins working
acres of tobacco. He earned his toward a career in the dairy field.
Michelle Dean
(Continued from Page 2)
January, she says candidly, “I am rewarding 4-H career, with many
going to cry when I sell my steer. I ribbons, trophies and awards to
always get so attached to them. It * ler cre dit- But it is the intangible
has been a part of me for 11 rewards that will remain with
vears ” Michelle the longest.
However, she says, “I realize Having the steers has taught
that it is time to go on to something me responsibility, and learning
e f se ” new skills has helped keep my
And so, she will conclude a interest. I am definitely glad I
joined,” Michelle concludes.
first place in the Pennsylvania Junior Holstein production
contest.
ot Richard and Klizabeth
Blankenship, Clarksburg, is a ten
) ear member of the Bits and Spurs
4-H Club. Her horse projects in
clude Arcadian Kabien. an
Arabian horse she competed toi
and won from the F ennsylvania
Arabian Horse Association.
■li
Missie Mallino seriously studies while wearing the clown
outfit she wore many times to present her winning 4-H
demonstration.
Don Welk
In between showing horses, I,on
attended the National 4-H Horse
Roundup in Harrisburg and was a
member of the State Horse Bowl
team. Lori is currently a freshman
at Indiana University of Penn-
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