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4-H youths close out a successful season

Ponoka’s West, Central and East 4-H clubs attended the annual awards night celebration at the Ponoka Legion.
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4-H members celebrated their annual 4-H awards banquet Sunday

Ponoka’s West, Central and East 4-H clubs attended the annual awards night celebration at the Ponoka Legion Sunday, June 14 with many youths receiving awards for their hard work to the program.

The awards night for the Ponoka 4-H Clubs is a time to celebrate members’ accomplishments over the year and bring recognition to those that helped make it happen.

Laverne Klimec, the outgoing secretary for the Ponoka 4-H Beef Club, says the awards night is a culmination of the whole year and members and sponsors are recognized.

“It’s an opportunity for those sponsors to come and meet the kids,” said Klimec.

She added the members receive recognition not only for their hard work raising steers and heifers, but also for record keeping, public speaking and other programs offered by the 4-H.

One of the big awards that night was the ATB 4-H Awards of Excellence, said Klimec. There are four stages in the award of excellence program that starts at bronze, three years; silver, four to five years; gold, six to seven years and then platinum, eight years or more.

There were members in each category, explained Klimec. Another fun aspect of the awards night is seeing the younger members receive awards for the first time.

“That’s pretty cool to see. It also gives a chance for the juniors to see what 4-H is going to give you,” she explained.

She feels they will have a similar number of members next year as some youths are aging out and young Cleavers — those entering the program too young to be a full 4-H member — will be coming in.

Klimec says there are many community efforts that the 4-H is involved with and she suggests these awards are a positive addition to a person’s resume.

Charity Steer

Each year all three clubs pitch in money and time to raise a 4-H charity steer with funds to benefit local programs if possible.

This year the club chose the Ponoka and District Health Foundation as the recipient, explained 4-H leader Joyce Winter.

“We like to keep the funds in the Ponoka area,” explained Winter.

She suggests people are willing to donate to the program when they see it brings benefits to local groups, and the she says the hospital is something that is used by everybody.

This year the club raised $7,290 for the foundation.

Awards of Excellence recipients:

• Dylan Giles, bronze

• Madison Fleck, bronze

• Tasha Kjenner, bronze

• Kelli-Rai Sieben, bronze

• Kristofer Malterer, silver

• Lisa Winter, silver

• Jesse Stretch, silver

• Emily Hagemann, silver

• Patrice Stalder, silver

• Helena Winter, gold

• Hannah Stretch, gold

• Tawni Kjenner, gold

• Simon Stalder, gold

• Matthew Klimec, gold

• Kaitlin Malterer, platinum

• Tyson Matejka, platinum