Local 4-H’ers Attend National 4-H Congress | State | fairfieldsuntimes.com – Fairfield Sun Times
On the morning of Thanksgiving, November 25, Justin Forseth and Maggie Toeckes boarded a plane to Atlanta, Georgia for National 4-H Congress. Both had won the opportunity at 4-H Congress in Bozeman back in July. Justin earned the trip by winning in the videography contest with a video about his family’s farm and Maggie won the Textile contest with a jacket and dress she had sewn. They joined 12 other students who were representing Montana.
After arriving in Atlanta, they stayed at the Hyatt Regency hotel where the event would take place. On Friday, November 26, the Montana delegation enjoyed a relaxed morning while other states arrived. Half of the delegation went to the Georgia Aquarium while the other half toured Atlanta’s Olympic Centennial Park. After the morning of sightseeing, the group ate their state lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe followed by getting their state picture taken back at the Hyatt.
The main event began that night with an assembly to welcome all 37 states and 1 territory in attendance and all 850 delegates from around the United States to Atlanta. The delegates learned some success strategies in reaching goals from John Beede followed by some icebreakers. Finally, the first night of this fun filled event concluded with state meetings as it would every night to come.
Saturday began with an opening assembly and the day was filled with 4 mega workshops with a break for lunch in between. Each workshop had about 200 delegates participating and included Speed Meeting, Expanding Horizons through Group Involvement, Service through Be the Change, and Home Baking. These inspiring mega workshops ended with an International Dinner and dance. The international dinner featured buffets from all over the world including China, Mexico, Italy, Egypt, England, Russia, and the United States to name a few. Each country had a staged set representing their culture while serving authentic cuisine. A dance followed the dinner and the Montana delegates were surprised and intrigued to see the different ways states swing danced and line danced. The multicultural and fun filled night ended with a state meeting.
Sunday opened with a flag ceremony introducing each state in the order they were added to the union. This was followed by a presentation from Manny Ohonme, the starter of Barefoot Legacies, who talked about his goal to put shoes on every child’s feet around the world. The afternoon was filled with some smaller and shorter workshops than Saturday’s mega workshops. There were 12 workshops to choose from and varied greatly in topics from yoga to science. One of the workshops Justin went to was UAS- RU READY where delegates learned about drones and Maggie went to Dancing with the Stars where she learned …….