Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, July 18, 2018
(LAWRENCE COUNTY) - Kaia Atkinson-Leaneagh is the Vice President of the Lawrence Junior Leaders program and is going into grade 9 this fall.
4-H members (4-Hers) in grades 7-12 may enroll in the Junior Leader program. The Junior Leaders program focuses on the development of leadership skills, service learning and fellowship according to the Purdue-Extension website.
"It means being responsible and having other 4-Hers look up to you," Kaia said.
Below: Kaia Atkinson-Leaneagh at the Lawrence County Fair Tuesday night.
"We do a lot of volunteer work, we do meetings in the office and outside the office... We work with Becky's Place, Life Food Pantry... We also clean up the fair grounds every year. We clean up the bushes, trim the trees, we weed," she added.
During the Lawrence County Fair you can find the Junior Leaders with their animals and projects or at the food stand where they successfully run all operations with little adult help.
Kaia is a home school student that describes herself as a 'super dedicated 4-H-er'. "I do cup cake decorating, I show chickens, ducks, goats. I do creative writing," Kaia said.
"I'm at everything."
Kaia recently won the position of Vice President in the Junior Leaders Election for Lawrence County.
"We do an election every year. There's a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary. We also serve on 4-H Council and Fair Board. We always have a health and safety officer, stuff like that."
The 4-Her has learned skills from the Junior Leaders program that she will take with her for the rest of her life.
"To be more responsible, leadership skills and being more social really. I was super introverted when I started. At first it was difficult because I didn't like to talk to people. So, slowly as I got more comfortable with the people I was with, then I spoke up more. Until finally I ran for offices," Kaia said.
And not only that, but she's made so many friends.
Right now, she has a big decision to make about where she wants to go to school in the fall. She could continue to learn from home schooling, go to public school or learn online.
She is thinking about going to public high school, but she realizes if she chose traditional high school, there would be less time for her passion: 4-H Junior Leaders.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.