June 11, 2025
Hi, my name is Nickolas Lopez, and I would like to share my experiences in 4-H with you. I am part of the Elk Mountain Outlaws, and I am a senior both as a student and a 4-Her this year. I have been in 4-H for over ten years; I joined as a small tumbleweed and have grown into a senior now approaching the end of my 4-H career. Throughout my time in 4-H, I have
gained valuable experiences such as raising
animals, developing my leadership skills, and
actively engaging in community service
projects. I am grateful for the memories and
friendships I have made along the way. I am also thankful to all the people who helped me.
I decided to join 4-H because my older sister was involved, and her influence on me was significant. Following in her footsteps was a natural choice for me when I reached the right age. Later down the road, my older sister was no longer in the program, but I continued to participate in 4-H. Although I may have never been on the same level as my sister with everything she did in 4-H, it was still a valuable experience that shaped my future. The skills I learned in 4-H, such as leadership, responsibility, and teamwork, have been helpful in both my personal and professional life.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Nick Lopez
June 4, 2025
Serenity’s story coming soon.
Hi, I am Emmit Gregory. I am 6 and a half years old. I like Tumbleweeds because I get to do lots of fun activities with my friends. I like to make and eat our snacks at the meetings. I really liked making the pumpkin muse because it was yummy to eat. I brought the recipe home and asked my Mom to help me make it again. I also made it for my Grandma. It made me really happy that I made something that everyone said was yummy. I really liked making hot cocoa mix. It was yummy to drink. It is my favorite hot cocoa mix. It is super delicious. I made friendship tea and gave it to my friend and grandma. I like to do nice thing for other people because it makes them happy. It also makes me happy. I really liked the scavenger hunt because it was fun to run and find treasures. There were lots of goodies to find. The dot painting of a 4-H clover was fun. I liked making the dots. It turned out AWSOME! Erin and Kristy help us do the activities. They are nice and it was fun to do all the activities with them.
I entered some projects for fair like my big brothers. I painted a big ceramic wolf. I painted it brown to look real. It turned out good. I got a green ribbon! I painted a pot like the rainbow and did most of the colors. I tried to paint all the colors like the rainbow but ran out of room. I tried to plant a flower seed two times but the marigold did not grow so then we had to buy a flower to plant in the pot. I learned that living things need water, sun, air, and food. I also learned that parts of a flower are roots, stem, leaf and flower bud. At fair, I showed my dog, Becca for pocket pets. I had Becca do a sit/stay and a roll over trick. I got to pick out a grand champion ribbon and 4-H water bottle. Wow! That made me feel proud!
I really liked going to 4-H Camp at Mallo because there were a lot of fun activities. I got to make bubble solution and giant and small bubbles with string and pipe cleaners. The giant bubbles were the best. I made trail mix with some of my favorite foods like chocolate chips and marshmallows, but no nuts. It was very yummy to eat! My favorite activity was when I made a tie dye towel of a grass block like Minecraft. It was fun to paint with spray bottles. It turned out pretty good, but I wanted to add grey so it was not quite how I wanted it to tun out. We made foam sail boats to race down the creek. I won a race! I got to fish at the pond with some friends. There were a lot of fish, but I did not catch any. It was still fun. It was a great day!
I want to keep doing 4-H like my brothers. There are lots of fun things to do in 4-H!
May 28, 2025
My name is Laramie Patton, I just finished my 3rd year in 4-H. I belong to the Elk Mountain Outlaws 4H club. I wanted to join 4-H because I love working with animals and I just love animals in general. I thought it would be super fun to work with them, take care of them, learn from them, and show them. I have shown pigs for three years and chickens for two.
This year, I purchased my pig in February from Max, Leslie and Julie Morris. Me and Wes Ertman keep our pigs at my barn because we want our pigs to have a friend to live with instead of being alone all the time when we are not there feeding or working with them. I chose my pig because I really liked her colors and when I went to look at them, she jumped on the fence and that was when I knew she was the one I wanted. I named her “Patches” because of her colorful patches. When we got our pigs home, we gave them a little dog igloo and put straw in there for them to help them keep warm. We also had quite a bit of straw in their pen. They slept in the igloo every night until they were too big. I learned right away that some pigs have very sensitive stomachs. When I switched Patches’ food without mixing it in portions with food she had been eating, she got diarrhea and bad gas. We gave her a shot of LA200 and she eventually got better. We walked them in the evening every day, but when it started getting hot, we had to get up really early and walk them so they did not get too hot since we know that they can’t sweat, and aren’t able to tolerate the heat. I have always had a fan in the barn, but this year one of our friends gave us a swamp cooler so they had a pretty comfortable home. When it got super-hot, we would go to the barn every two hours and spray them with the hose to cool them down even though they had a cooler and a fan. We also fed them popsicles which they thought was a great treat. Patches LOVED the cherry kind!
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Laramie Patton
May 21, 2025
This year was my last year as a Tumbleweed. I have been a member of Weston County 4-H for two years and have learned so much! This year I learned how to make pumpkin cookies, sugar scrub, and snowman snowflakes using marshmallows.
I am usually a little bit shy and quiet around new friends, and Tumbleweeds has helped me to be a little bit more outgoing and talkative. I also have enjoyed being a Dewey Wranglers Club member. I am very excited to be a Junior next year, to make new friends, and start new projects. I am especially excited to spend a full day at Mallow Camp!
This year’s County fair was one of my favorite moments. I worked very hard painting a chicken ballet and a sunset. I really enjoy sharing my paintings with people in my community. Being a member of 4-H has also made me want to be a volunteer. This year I volunteered at the Corpus Christi annual Saint Patrick’s Day Dinner. I was able to help serve people in my community while also helping support my church. I had fun meeting new people and watching them smile when I would clear their place setting. It made me feel good when they said, “Good job!” or “Thank you!”. I love my community and 4H so much. I can’t wait to see what the next year will have in store!
My Name Henry Paulton. This 4H year I made a drawing and a lego project.
For my legos I made a beach. On the beach was a sand castle, a slide, and swimmer. It also had some boats, like a police boat, and a coast guard boat. It also had a road going by the beach. A construction site was by the road. It had shovels and a tractor with some workers. There was also a white car and red car. I got Judges Choice and a purple ribbon.
May 14, 2025
My Name is Lillian Lopez and I am a 6th year member of the Elk Mountain Outlaws 4-H club. I joined 4-H because I thought all the activities would be fun and I could learn new things. This year I did chickens, fash-
ion review, photography,
shooting sports, art
Shooting sports and art.
Doing fashion review is a lot of fun and makes your really look into what you are wearing and how to take care of your things. Fashion review has taught me more about different types of fabric, to stand up tall and to be confident in what you are wearing.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Lillian Lopez
May 7, 2025
My name is Ethan Parsons, and this is my sixth year in 4-H. Originally, I joined 4-H because my parents recommended it to me after the final year of rabbit judging. Wanting to still stay with rabbits, I started with just showmanship, for about three years, then wanted to expand into a meat pen. Throughout my entire 4-H career, I have always tried to be a role model and leader to those. around me. This year I feel like I have finally accomplished this.
My first year in 4-H, I just took rabbits, and had no clue what I was doing, until an FFA member came and helped me learn and talked me through my troubles. I ended up taking grand champion that year because of her help. What makes this story so much more rewarding is the fact that this year, there was a new FFA member, who I was able to help, and talk through just like what happened to me my first year. The FFA member I helped ended up taking grand in showmanship which is really rewarding to be able to pass on my knowledge to others especially when everything comes full circle. This year I was able to purchase a brand-new Mini Rex, of the broken variety, who I named Coco. She is now a proud mother of six black Mini Rexes.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Ethan Parsons
April 30, 2025
I’m Evelyn Rosse, and I had a good 4-H year. I have been in 4-H for three years and this year my projects were, two drawings, a painting, rabbit, and chicken showmanship and market. My goal this year was to place in state fair and county fair with my rabbit. I accomplished these goals by working hard. I placed 3rd in the county fair and 8th in state fair. This year I learned a lot because it is my first year in the intermediate age group. Next year, I want to show a pig and try to place when I show my chicken. I really liked this 4-H year because I got to try new things and had a lot of fun at fair. This year, I did showmanship and market in rabbit. I placed third in county fair. My rabbits won champion meat pen and best of show. My breed of rabbit is a Silver Fox. I went to state fair and placed 8th in showmanship, 6th in six class breeds, and 7th in market pen. I next year I want to improve my skill. I want to try some new things like showing a pig. I hope that next year is a successful year and that I have fun. To improve I think that I should practice more with my animals. I want to try to do better next year than I did this year.
April 23, 2025
Being in 4-H has helped me grow as a person. One way it has helped me is by talking to different people. I usually don’t know many of the people I am around during events and so I have to push myself to go talk to them. I also get to talk to judges which helps me break out of my shell too. I went to 4-H camp this year at Mallo and I had to talk to people I didn’t know. I even danced with a complete stranger. It was fun though and I am sure I wouldn’t get to do all of these fun things if I wasn’t in 4-H.
One thing I could do differently next year is to try and start my projects sooner. It is hard to get it all done and stressful when I wait until the last second. I also want to try some new project areas. Maybe cake decorating or visual arts.
My last thing I want to write about is my favorite part of 4-H. I love getting to show off my masterpieces. It makes me so happy to get my projects done and I love showing everyone what I have been working on. I also enjoy seeing what everyone else has done.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Finnley Todd
April 16, 2025
This year, I faced some challenges. My two pigs got sick early in the summer and just about died. Thankfully, my parents and the Morris family were able to save them with a lot of medicine. They had to be shots and they did not like that at all. After we got them healed up, they were behind on gaining weight so we really had to push their feed a lot. We were pleasantly surprised when they made weight for fair. They did, however, need to weigh a little bit more in order to be finished correctly and that showed in my placing in the market class. However, my barrow pig placed second in the carcass contest, and my gilt pig would’ve won the carcass contest had she weighed more at the time of the contest. But she was disqualified because she was not heavy enough. I worked with my pigs a lot more this year walking them every day, which showed when it came time for showing at the fair compared to last year. My pigs behaved themselves much better. I also entered a few static exhibits in fair this year. I had five photography exhibits. All five of them went to state fair and received blue ribbons there. At county fair, I was grand champion in my age group and overall grand champion too. I also entered four paintings. One of them went to state. Then I entered a diorama that I had made for school of a buffalo jump and it also went to state fair and got a blue ribbon. This year I learned a lot about responsibility and how important it is to keep your animals on a schedule. I also learned more about taking pictures and using the right settings.
April 9, 2025
My name is Aidan Butler, I am a senior in 4-H and a senior in high school. This year 4-H was a year of first for my year in 4-H. I began with showing rabbits for the first time, then showing pigs and chickens. I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences this year, with winning showmanship in rabbits and poultry and placing third in my swine showmanship class. I also placed my wood working project into fair. It was a beautiful oak desk with handmade horseshoe handles, and it went to state. I also competed in the dog show with my dog Bandit. We won senior showmanship and the costume contest and competed well in all other classes including agility and rally. I was also voted as president of the 4-H club, The Elk Mountain Outlaws, for the fourth consecutive year.
April 2, 2025
I’m Clay Sweet, I’m 11 years old. I am in 5th grade, I love Rodeo, football, fishing and hunting. To me 4-H means spending time outdoors, shooting guns, spending time with family and friends as well as spending time with animals. I have been in 4-H for three years and I have shown sheep, done shooting sports, archery and the horse show. I have been successful at county shoot for shooting sports and that was a goal for me to improve this year. I just recently won the showmanship and high point junior at the horse show. I worked hard to get better each time. I won a buckle and I was very happy! When I went to 4-H camp even though I could not stay the night I had the time of my life and absolutely would love to go again. If I was asked by someone if they should join, I would say yes you will not regret it. Lastly, I have had a great time in 4-H and can’t wait for the years to come.
March 26, 2025
I did 4-H shooting this year. I competed at the county level in air rifle, air pistol, 22. Rifle, 22. Pistol, archery, muzzle loader, and shotgun. I did quite well in these at the county level, I achieved reserved champion. I then went to compete at state 4-h in Douglas where I compete in archery, air pistol, air rifle, and shot gun. In the shot gun event, I tied for first with a 49 out of 50 and was in a shoot off. The shoot off did not go in my favor so I got second place.
March 19, 2025
Hi, my name is Hunter Finley, and I have been doing 4H for the past four years. I am part of the Elk Mountain Outlaws. My favorite parts of 4-H were shooting shotguns, muzzleloaders, and archery, as well as attending the State Shoot and competing against my friends. This year I participated in highway clean up as part of my community service project. I was also able to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and the 4H Pledge at one of the club meetings. My favorite activity at the club meeting was pumpkin carving, but I hope this year we do more activities outdoors. I would like to go on a hike and maybe hydro dip something again.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Hunter Finley
March 12, 2025
I participated in five projects: Breeding Beef, Market Beef, Foods and Nutrition, Fabric and Fashion, Photography, and Visual Arts. The year started out great. It began with celebrating National 4-H week. I made and decorated 4–H emblem cookies. I put them in the teacher’s lounge at school to thank the teachers for all they do for their students and to share why and what 4-H is all about. Many of the staff members thanked me and said the cookies were delicious. October was also the month that I started working with my steer, “Socks” and “Ruby, ” my heifer. The first task was halter breaking. What a job! Ruby was relatively easy but Socks was another story. He was a bit frisky. Next was the challenge of gaining weight. Daily feeding and working the hair taught me responsibility.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Alora Zimiga
My name is Wes Ertman, and I am 12 years old and have been in 4-H for three years. I joined 4-H to learn about taking care of animals and to help raise money to go to college. This year I took a market swine and a pen of three market chickens to the fair. I am a member of the Elk Mountain Outlaws 4-H club. I was also involved in shooting sports and did archery.
This year I helped to set up the fairgrounds for fair week. I really enjoy getting to know other 4-H members and learning about their projects and helping them during the week of fair. I have learned many lessons from my years of 4 H but most important is the ability to care for and attach myself to animals that I know will help feed people. The night of the sale is hard because of the bond that has been made with my animals but producing high-quality meat and knowing that I gave my animals the best possible life is reassuring.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Wes Ertman
February 26, 2025
I like 4-H because I get to fun stuff like.. Shooting a 22. Long rifle. Learned how to shoot a compound Bow and now I have my own. I got to meet new people when I joined robotics it was cool to build my own robot with the help of Myles and it was awesome to go to Laramie for a showdown. I liked that I got to build legos for state and to bake cookies. I would like to try something new next season.
February 19, 2025
My name is Annaliese and this is my 4th year in 4H. I am an Elk Mountain Outlaw and really like my group. We do a lot of things as a club and this year we made a big sign that we each got to design a square on. We made blankets for the dog pound and did highway clean up. This year I showed a pig and a chicken for the first time. I also showed rabbits for the second year. I watched the dog show and did static exhibits which I did great on but none of mine went to state this year. I sold my rabbits and pig a the fair. My pig got 4th my classes. Rabbits didn’t place in but learned a lot about showmanship and chickens there were so many in my class it was astonishing the judge couldn’t decide so we all got purple. For next year I want to do rabbits again with my new Flemish giant and pigs again. We are working on getting a quail cage set up so that I can show quail. I have my rabbit for next years showmanship, she’s a Flemish giant her name is Rocky I have already started working with her so she is easier to show. I’ve been working with her so that I can flip her over really easily. We are going to get new pigs and I want to try to walk mine more so that she’s easy to control in the ring. I am excited to do 4H again next year!
February 12, 2025
I am Millie Paulton and this is my fourth year in 4H and I am 12. This year in 2024 I show four animals! I showed a horse, dog, goat, and steer! I also did some static projects. The steer was new for me this year and I loved it! I joined 4H because my cousins were showing horses in 4H. I started with horses and dogs and it grew from there! I have many goals in 4H. One goal is to do the best I can when I am showing my animals. I also have main goal of having fun!
The new thing I showed this year was a 4H market steer. I brought two steers to the county fair. My calm steer for showmanship, and my more-nicer-looking one for the market class. My calm one was named Beef, and my more-nicer-looking one was named Junior. Junior was the one that was crazier. He just would sometimes try to run you over. He never did though, he just would look that way sometimes. I had to use a cable halter with Junior!
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Millie Paulton
February 5, 2025
I started my 4-H shooting in January. While I was in 4-H shooting I did shotgun, archery, .22 pistol, .22 rifle, air rifle, air pistol, and muzzleloader.
In those activities I placed first in shotgun, first in muzzleloader, first in .22 pistol, first in 3D shoot archery. Second place in air pistol, fourth in air rifle. What I learned from those activities were leaning into the weapon and holding it tight into you.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Ryder Hamilton
January 29, 2025
The year of 2024 I participated in four projects. I did Swine, Poultry, cat, and horse. In swine the pig was bought for me to pay back later. When I got the pig me and my sister both had our pigs named set. I picked out the one with the most colors and his name was going to be Simba whole my sister named hers nala. Simba was a great pig he was very kind he loved going outside to be worked. He loved to be cuddled and to have his belly rubbed. Every day Durning the summer we would cool down all of our pigs Simba was always excited to play in the water. He loved to dink out of the hose and loved popsicles. I was very fun, and I looked forward to showing swine next year. In cat showman ship I worked hard on making sure he was all pretty for the show. I used my cat O’mally we rescued him for an abounded building. And after the many years we owned him is a very big cat with lots of fat on him, but he is so happy and loves to be outside and catch mice and birds. This year of poultry I could have worked harder on and tamed my chicken a little more. Horse, I loved to do I love my horses and have worked hard with them were had a lady come out to the house to help us me and my sister. The nice before we washed our horses and they looked incredible My horse could have used more pep, but I think she liked doing it she was just kind of nervous because it was our first year showing and the rodeo was really fun. I won grand champion in cat got my first buckle, but I would love to get a horse showmanship buckle. Next year I know I have to practice my horses, Chickens, pig, cat, and rabbits every day I want a higher check and would like to be noticed more. Overall, my first year of 4-H was pretty good and ended being very proud of what I got and earned from it.
January 22, 2025
My name is Heidi Sanford, and I have been in 4-H for eight years. I was really young when I joined 4-H and I didn’t really understand what it was but, I knew that my dad did it when he was a kid and now, I wanted to be in 4-H just like him. When I finally was able to start putting projects in the county fair, then show pigs, and finally show chickens, I realized what 4- H was. 4-H is not just for showing animals, it is about learning how to become a leader and learning activities and skills that can apply to the rest of your life.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Heidi Sanford
January 15, 2025
Hello everybody, my name is Emeree Tavegie. This was my last year in 4-H sadly, but I will continue in fair while I am in FFA, just the same as my three brothers. My whole family has always done 4-H so when the time came for me to be in it, I immediately took the opportunity. I was super excited for my sewing and my market steer. Having my entire family be in 4-H sometime through their life, all of them always had a market steer. My first year was a real rollercoaster all the way from getting stepped on in the showring, to getting $6.50 for my steer. My mom though, was one person who really influenced me to sew in my 4-H career. I did it every year but once and loved it every single time. This was the only year I didn’t do it, but it was only because I was lucky enough to go to Nationals for Pole bending and Breakaway and had a lot on my plate.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Emeree Tavegie
January 9, 2025
December 18, 2024
My 4-H Story Hi, my name is Josie Dean. I’m 12 years old and the daughter of Jesse and Nastel Dean. We live on a ranch near Upton. I am a member of Prairie and Pines 4-H club. I’ve been in 4-H for four years and I have enjoyed every minute of it. This was my first year as an Intermediate and I think I did pretty good. This year for community service we walked around Upton and planted flowers in the town planters and we also baked Valentine cookies for the Senior Center. For my shooting sports project this year I got 6th place in 3D archery and in target archery. I placed 5th in air pistol and this was my very first year shooting pistol. I placed 3rd in .22 rifle. The 3D archery is my favorite of all the shooting sports. Now that school sports are starting for me, I think archery is the only one I will due next year. Horse show did not so well because my rodeo horse was being naughty, but I gave it a whirl. I think I will use a different horse next year, something that hasn’t been run a lot. My market beef went great and I loved taking care of my steer, Irish Cream. He was a big Charolais cross and I cried like a baby when I sold him. I miss him so, so much. He was the best steer every. I learned a lot and kept a few notes for things to do better next year. Specifically, fitting and finishing out.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Josie Dean
December 11, 2024
You all probably know me, but for those of you that don’t, my name is Samantha Finley. This is my fourth year in 4H and I am an activity member of the Elk Mountain Outlaws. I am currently the photographer for the club. I have learned that it is difficult to get pictures of all the activities. For example, I was one of the first people to tie-dye my shirt and by the time I was done, most of the club had already done theirs too so I only got a few pictures. I have learned it is hard to be a leader and get everything accomplished.
To read the entire Your 4-H Story: Samantha Finley
