By Caroline Crooke
25 September 2024
YORK York County 4-H held a banquet Saturday, August 29 celebrating the 4-H’ers’ achievements in the past year and welcoming the upcoming year.
The new 2025 York County Teen Council President Alan Dover was announced.
Around 140 people were present at this year’s banquet. Local youth received 177 awards across the five 4-H program areas, which include STEM, Agriculture, Healthy Lifestyles, Civic Engagement and Natural Resources.
Guest speaker McKenna Johnson, a York County 4-H Alumna, delivered a speech about her time in 4-H and the few years that have followed. She is currently working towards her bachelor’s degree in Animal and Veterinary Sciences with a minor in Business Administration at Clemson University. Using the skills she has developed through 4-H, she has become captain of the Clemson University Western Equestrian Team and is a member of the Carolina Farm Bureau and Clemson Collegiate Farm Bureau.
2023-2024 Teen Council President Gavin Lewis officially closed the 4-H year.
“One of the biggest things I’m looking forward to for the 4-H generation is the new Ag Facility… I hope they get a lot of resources that I didn’t, and I hope they grow and flourish like I did,” Lewis said.
2024-2025 York County 4-H Teen Council President Alan Dover welcomed in the new year.
“I plan on doing a lot more with Teen Council in terms of community service and community outreach and really making Teen Council a bridge between the 4-H world and the York County community as a whole,” Dover said.
4-H encourages students’ passion for community service and civic engagement and teaches them communication and leadership skills.
“So for me [participating in 4-H] has made me a lot more extroverted cause I have been really shy… and so it has made me a lot more comfortable with talking to other people,” says Delaney McCanless, a student who participates in 4-H horse judging and showing.
York County 4-H’er Lily Moss, who was recently elected 2024-25 South Carolina 4-H State Secretary, agrees.
“I believe that 4-H is beneficial because it impacts the minds of young kids in a lot of different ways. It teaches them to be more outgoing and not so introverted. It teaches them responsibility and leadership skills that they’ll need later in life. I know that me joining so much later in life has definitely helped me out a lot. Before I joined 4-H I wasn’t very good at interviews or public speaking, but since then it has completely changed my communication skills and networking.”
The York County Current 
Leave a comment