On Saturday, September 29, nearly 20 4-H’ers took part in a day of service and leadership. In the morning, eleven youth and adult leaders participated in the annual Rivers Alive river clean-up. The group traveled to four clean-up sites, including boat ramps on Highway 136 and 156 and two recreation areas in Calhoun. The group picked up about 15 bags of trash and found a variety of items including the most common, cigarette butts at a count of 127, 48 plastic beverage bottles and 27 plastic bottle camps, 33 aluminum cans, 2 half trashcans, and multiple pieces of clothing and paper trash. The 4-H’ers even found a recent 4-H News section of the Calhoun Times on a trail in the woods! Youth participating were Hannah Jones, Hunter Moore, David Niles, Hunter Petty, Henry Sandridge, Marilyn Sandridge, and Bryson Smith.
Following lunch, seven Gordon County 4-H’ers were joined by 5 youth from Whitfield County and participated in a multi-county certified teen leader training workshop. The workshop was co-taught by Allie Griner and Kandi Edwards, 4-H County Extension Agents from Gordon and Whitfield Counties. The youth learned about leading by example, using their personality and communication styles to work with others, and handling conflict and difficult situations by role-playing numerous scenarios to gain leadership expertise. Teen leaders participating in this training are now certified to provide leadership at county and state 4-H events. Gordon County 4-H’ers certified as teen leaders were Brent McDaniel, Rebekah McElrath, Madison McMorris, Abigail Montgomery, Olivia Montgomery, Hunter Petty, and David Weber.
Pictures can be found on the Gordon County 4-H Facebook page.
