For members of the Erie County 4-H Youth Development Program were honored to have their Public Presentations selected to be reviewed by State 4-H Staff after great success at the county and district levels. Madison Kehr and Holly and Kelly Niefergold of Lawtons and Jack Niefergold of Springville submitted videos of their presentations for possible selection to the Northeast States Presentation Fest on Sept. 19. Madison and Jack are members of the Lawtons Progressors 4-H Club, while Holly and Kelly are Independent Members. All four youth are students at North Collins Central School.

The road to their high honor began in late February when 193 4-H members presented Illustrated Talks, Demonstrations, Recitations, Dramatic Interpretation and Speeches. The youngest members (5 – 7 years of age), known as Cloverbuds, also gave presentations appropriate for their skill level. Due to COVID-19 members gave virtual presentations via Zoom or by submitting videos, rather than in-person. A team of volunteers evaluated each Zoom presentation and video using rubrics with identified criteria developed at the state level. Based on rubric scores for members 8 years and older, 17 4-H youth were chosen to participate in the Western District Presentation event on April 17.

Western District Presentations brought 4-H’ers from Western NY to showcase their public presentations. Again, due to the pandemic this event was virtual. Participants were not only from Erie County, but also Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming and Chautauqua counties. Based on rubric scores, the top five scoring participants were selected to move onto the state review level. The fifth individual was Michellyn Schroeder of Chautauqua County.

At this time the 4-H youth are eagerly awaiting the results of the state review to hear if they will be one of the six NYS presentations selected for the Northeast States Presentation Fest.

If you would like more information about this topic, call Valerie Weisbeck at 716.652.5400 ext. 130 or email vw49@cornell.edu.