The 2014 Indiana 4‑H Foundation Leadership Congress was held on Saturday, October 4 in the Farm Bureau Building at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The luncheon, the signature event of the 4‑H Foundation, featured keynote speaker Katie Stam-Irk, Miss America 2009 and former 4‑H member from Jackson County. Keeping with the theme of the event, “Live to Learn and Lead,” Katie talked about her leadership role models, and implored the youth in attendance to seek their own role models, become leaders and in the words of Erma Bombeck “give everything so that at the end, there is nothing left to give.”
Representatives from sponsorship corporations also had an opportunity to address the group and express why supporting Indiana 4‑H is so important to them. Guests included Bruce Kettler from Beck’s Hybrids, Belinda Puetz from CountryMark, Jeff Troike from Ceres Solutions, Gerald Powell from Dow AgroSciences and Melissa Rekeweg from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.
Indiana 4‑H Foundation President, Tom McKinney was the Master of Ceremonies and knew perhaps everyone in the room.
Katie Stam-Irk and Tom McKinney
Concluding the event each of 34 Indiana 4‑H Accomplishment Scholarship recipients and their scholarship sponsor walked across the stage and were presented with their scholarship certificate by Indiana 4‑H Foundation Board Members Gerald Powell of Dow AgroSciences and Jill Bode of The PR Chick. This impressive group of Indiana 4‑H youth were from all corners of our great state and had combined leadership and citizenship skills that are unrivaled by other youth development organizations.
Thank you to all who attended our event — youth scholarship recipients, their parents and friends, corporate sponsors, and Indiana 4‑H Foundation donors. Your continued support makes all of our 4‑H programs possible each year.
2014 Accomplishment Scholarship Recipients