AMBOY – Awards were given to Lee County 4-H members during the annual Achievement Day on Nov. 13 in Amboy.
The Top Senior 4-H Member of the Year was Jonathon Voss of Ashton, with the Golden Aces 4-H Club. Voss also received a Tenured 4-H’er Award, and was a Senior County Outstanding Award winner.
The awards were presented by Diane Baker, University of Illinois youth development educator.
Honorable mention winners for Member of the Year were Paw Paw Wyoming Indians 4-H Club member Aaron Wetzel of Franklin Grove and Golden Ace 4-H Club member Ashley Case of Ashton. Wetzel also received the I Dare You Award and Curriculum Awards for achievement and animal science, and a Senior County Outstanding award. Case also was a Junior County Outstanding winner, and received a Howard Greenfield Memorial Scholarship and a scholarship from the Lee County Extension Foundation.
Amboy Young Seekers 4-H Club member Laura Child received a Howard Greenfield Memorial Scholarship, a Lee County Extension Foundation Scholarship and won Curriculum Awards for achievement, animal science and dairy, and was a Senior County Outstanding Award winner.
The Jane Gratettinger Memorial Award for Top Junior 4-H Member of the Year went to Madeline Prestegaard of Amboy, also a member of the Golden Aces. Prestegaard also was named a Junior County Outstanding winner, and received a Curriculum Award for animal science. The honorable mention winner for Top Junior 4-H Member was Addison Wetzel of Ashton, with the Golden Aces.
Club Excellence Awards went to Dixon Wonder Workers, Ashton Golden Aces, Amboy Green River Rockets, Maytown Comets, Dixon Palmyra Hillbillies, Sublette Sub-let Indians, Wyoming Indians and the Young Seekers. The Wyoming Indians club also won the club, group award for Home and Family, and won one of the club, group awards for community involvement and global understanding. The Lee City Slickers of Lee and the Soaring Eagles of Paw Paw also won club, group awards for community involvement and global understanding.
First- through third-place winners of the 4-H Week Window Display Contest were the Golden Aces, Wonder Workers and the Wyoming Indians.
Other winners of Curriculum Awards for Achievement were Kye Witek of Steward with the Wyoming Indians and Aaron Wetzel; and Shelley Child of Amboy and the Young Seekers. Witek also received a Curriculum Award for food, nutrition and health, and was a Senior County Outstanding winner.
Curriculum Awards for animal science also were awarded to Annalise Ankney of Dixon and the Palmyra Hillbillies; Shane McCannon and Morgan McCannon, both of Earlville, and with the Wyoming Indians; Shelley Child and Allison Prestegaard. Prestegaard also received a Curriculum Award for home and family, and was a Senior County Outstanding winner.
Curriculum Award winners for engineering and technology were Nathaniel Voss of Ashton, with the Golden Aces; and Morgan McCannon.
Sam Klein of West Brooklyn, with the Maytown Comets, received the 4-H Electricity Award.
The Top Secretary’s Book Award went to Annalise Ankney. Ankney, with fellow Palmyra Hillbillies members Katie Cover and Alexandria Ankney, both of Dixon, won the Scrapbook Award. Anthony Zeman of Paw Paw, with the Wyoming Indians, received the Top Treasurer’s Book Award.
Other Tenured 4-H’er Award winners included Logan Meurer of Ashton, and Alex Borell of Franklin Grove, both with the Golden Aces; Kayla Hussey of Franklin Grove, with the Grove Go-Getters; Brent Ewald of Amboy and Riley Klein of Sublette, both with the Maytown Comets; Cody Hill of Dixon, with the Palmyra Hillbillies; Amber King of West Brooklyn, with the Soaring Eagles; Rebecca Vaessen of Sublette, with the Sub-let Indians; Megan Shaddick of Paw Paw, and Andrea Bialas and Joel Svendsen, both of West Brooklyn, all with the Wyoming Indians; and Billie Cardot of Amboy, with the Young Seekers.
Five-year 4-H leaders included Martha Dailey of Franklin Grove and Kathy Prestegaard of Amboy, both with the Golden Aces.
Leaders recognized for 10 years were Billie Child of Amboy, with the Young Seekers, and Jeff Svendsen of West Brooklyn, with the Wyoming Indians.
Judy Truckenbrod of West Brooklyn, with the Soaring Eagles, was recognized as a 25-year leader, and Mary Lou Gorman of Steward, with the Wyoming Indians, received the 35-year 4-H Leader Award.
Other winners of the Junior County Outstanding Awards included:
■ Dixon Dominators: Madalynn Wolfley of Dixon.
■ Dixon Wonder Workers: Trevor White, Jarod White, Barry Vaughan, Chelsea Glenn, Cherith Buffer, Timothy Buffer and Jacob Lowry, all of Dixon.
■ Golden Aces: Amie Case, Sammy Smith, Aaron Case and Claire Coffman, all of Ashton; Jayne Prestegaard of Amboy; Callie Shrimplin and Emily Shrimplin, both of West Brooklyn; and Christian Dailey of Franklin Grove.
■ Green River Rockets: Hope Sachs, Mackinzie Hamlink, Maddie Foster and Jacob Grossman, all of Amboy.
■ Grove Go-Getters: Jonah Hilliker, Jacob Hilliker, Laci Meurer, Lexi Meurer, Levi Meurer, Mackenzie Wolf, Graylyn Bennett, Emmelyn Bartlett and Anna Marie Bartlett, all of Franklin Grove; and Cassidy Koning of Amboy.
■ Lee City Slickers: Melody Griffith and Brandon Griffith, both of Lee.
■ Maytown Comets: Claretta Kern-Lyons and Calista Kern-Lyons, both of Amboy; and Chole Klein of Oregon.
■ Palmyra Hillbillies: Faith Snyder, Clinton Schielein, Tara Schielein, Molly Biggs, Elijah Ankney and Alyssa Morley, all of Dixon.
■ Soaring Eagles: Kaleb Ackland and Kortney Ackland, both of West Brooklyn.
■ Sub-let Indians Kaylee Althaus, Ashley Althaus, Renee Vaessen and Margaret Vaessen, all of Sublette, and Vivian O’Laughlin of Amboy.
■ Wyoming Indians: Wyatt Varo of Earlville; Naomi DeTemple, Ethan Mathias and Nathan Shaddick, all of Paw Paw; Walter Barnickel, Cassandra Balt and Marie Barnickel, all of Compton; Brandon Heiman of Lee; Zack Witek, Alyssa McCormick and Kayla McCormick, all of Steward; and Addison Wetzel of Franklin Grove.
■ Young Seekers Autumn Welch, Anna Boppart, Luke Boppart, Delaney Powers, Cain Powers, Alyssa Gascoigne, Jillian Barnes and Johannes Boppart, all of Amboy.
Other Senior County Outstanding Award winners included:
■ Dixon Dominators: Cameron Hicks of Harmon.
■ Dixon Wonder Workers: Josie Willett of Dixon.
■ Golden Aces: Ashley Case, Renee Henert, Matthew Heng and Katelynn Heng, all of Ashton, and Joe Dailey of Franklin Grove.
■ Green River Rockets: Danny Lohse of Franklin Grove.
■ Grove Go-Getters: Lea Koning of Amboy and Adam Mairs and Kimberlee Mairs, both of Ashton.
■ Lee City Slickers: Alex Cultra and Gabbie Cultra, both of Steward; and Megan Flewellyn, Madline Gonchiek and Shelby Kroeschel, all of Lee.
■ Maytown Comets: Madalyn Klein and Sydney Klein, both of Oregon, and Sam Klein of West Brooklyn.
■ Palmyra Hillbillies: Alex Ankney, Annalise Ankney, Amanda Bally, Christy Casey, Katie Cover, Brian Mezo, Joelle Schielein, Catherine Weinzierl, Justin Wilson and Kayla Wilson, all of Dixon.
■ Soaring Eagles: Kyler Ackland of West Brooklyn.
■ Sub-let Indians: Derek Henkel, Austin Henkel and Kyle Kemmerer, all of Sublette.
■ Wyoming Indians: Zachary Balt of Compton; Heather Cleary, Doug Cleary, Nathan DeTemple, Megan Shaddick and Anthony Zeman, all of Paw Paw; Gabriel Hilleson of Lee; Shane McCannon and Morgan McCannon, both of Earlville; and James McCormick of Steward.
■ Young Seekers: Heather Brownlee, Stephanie Brownlee, Shelley Child, Paige Gascoigne and Brittany Gascoigne, all of Amboy.