4-H is more than livestock
Avni Patel, 11, of Hawthorn Woods (center) and Jamie Di Tommaso, 13, of Mundelein, both in the Busy Beavers 4H Club of Grayslake, show their 4H projects to Marilyn Hugh of Des Plaines at the Lake County Fair in Grayslake.
By BETH KRAMER ekramer@scn1.com
GRAYSLAKE — Members of the county’s 4-H clubs exhibited much more than livestock at this year’s Lake County Fair.
“People think when you say 4-H, you think only livestock. Now it’s taken an urban twist,” said Vickie Brown, 4-H youth educator.
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Avni Patel, 11, of Hawthorn Woods (center) and Jamie Di Tommaso, 13, of Mundelein, both in the Busy Beavers 4H Club of Grayslake, show their 4H projects to Marilyn Hugh of Des Plaines at the Lake County Fair in Grayslake.
(Michael Schmidt/News-Sun)
Members aged eight to 18 entered about 300 exhibits in a variety of categories, including photography, sewing and textiles, computers and woodworking.
Last year, all 4-H exhibits were housed in one building. This year, they were on display in the Event Center with all the other displays and vendors.
“Due to limited space, we had to take photos of some of the exhibits,” Brown said.
The visual arts was one of the biggest areas 4H-ers exhibited, she said. That category encompassed painting, watercolor and pen and pencil drawings.
Brown said the exhibit garnered “a lot of interest” from attendees.
“We’ll probably have all 471 (Lake County 4-H members), plus parents coming to the fair this week to show off their projects,” Brown said.
Anvi Patel, 11, entered a dairy project inspired by family members, won a Reserve Champion ribbon. Her dairy research found that children up to age 2 should drink whole milk, and older children and adults should drink reduced-fat milk.
“My cousins drink whole milk. I wanted to persuade them into drinking 2 percent milk. Now they do,” the Hawthorn Woods resident said.
She also entered three other projects in computer science, photography and consumer savvy.
“(Exhibiting) is really fun. People come in and see what I did. It makes me feel like a role model,” Patel said.
She, along with Jamie DiTommaso, 13, belong to the Busy Beavers 4-H Club of Grayslake.
DiTommaso of Mundelein won best of show and grand champion for her entrepreneur exhibit, in which she showcased her business plan to create a tutoring business.
She also did projects in rocketry, woodworking and poultry.
“I love being an example for the younger kids,” DiTommaso said.
There are 28 4-H clubs in Lake County. Four-H teaches students leadership, time management, organization and career focusing skills, Brown said.
Many students wind up pursuing careers in their project areas, Brown said. DiTommaso said she wants to be an aerospace engineer and has displayed her rockets in previous fairs.
Anita Dowd of Wildwood said she was amazed by the 4-H exhibits and called them “marvelous.”
“It gives me the goose pimples to see the kids who put on the exhibits,” Dowd said.
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