BEDFORD – Two Lawrence County women were honored at the Indiana 4-H Leadership Summit Nora Howat and Keri Barker.
Nora Howat received the Award of Excellence in 4-H Club Programming Youth.
If Nora commits to doing something (which is a lot) you can guarantee she is going to follow through with it and likely do better than you expected. She is always looking for new opportunities to grow herself and the Junior Leader Club as well as the overall Lawrence County and Indiana 4-H programs.
Nora has made strides in increasing communications and encouraging participation in her Junior Leader Club. She has a positive attitude and goes out of her way to talk to new members and encourage their growth.
Nora is constantly looking at who might be a good fit as a future officer and talks to them about the opportunities. She is forward-thinking in her planning and always tries to find better and new ways to do things. This year Nora helped Lawrence County host the first leadership retreat for Junior Leaders officers and she regularly attends area and state leadership opportunities looking for programs and ideas which she brings back to Junior Leader meetings. She extended this to Lawrence County 4-H as a whole. For example, Nora is currently planning activities for the National 4-H Week to help promote Lawrence County’s program and get her peers involved in new ways.
Nora’s outstanding accomplishments in this category are all about her dependability and desire to bring program ideas to strengthen her club.
Keri Barker received the Award of Excellence in 4-H Club Programming Adult. She strives to grow the club. She was the first in Lawrence County to receive this award.
Keri Barker is a relatively new 4-H volunteer, but she has taken on many volunteer roles within the Lawrence County 4-H program. She is currently serving as the Rabbit Club Leader, Club Leader representative on the Lawrence County Council, and as a Food, Fun, and Distribution volunteer.
When the Lawrence County 4-H program has a need Keri is the first to step up and try to fulfill the need. This year she became a Club Leader Representative on the 4-H Council. She consistently uses her retail and marketing background to look at what they are doing and give created solutions to improve their recruiting, fundraising, and educational methods.
Keri has served as the Rabbit Club leader for the past three years. She strives to grow the club in unconventional ways and looks out for her members, not just rabbit owners but as young individuals. She is interested in what her club members can bring to the table and how she can help them excel in life and have fun.
Keri goes out of her way to have a well-balanced club meeting with educational information. She strives to ensure a year-round program. When you go to a rabbit club meeting led by Keri you will not only learn about rabbits, you may have a lesson on how to handle stress, do a community service project to help someone in need, or be encouraged to try something new like a public speaking contest. She has not only increased participation but has inspired other projects to adopt some of her methods.
