2020 Achievement Night Awards

Steuben County 4-H members and volunteers receive awards

2020 has been a big year for reimagining and creatively offering some long-standing traditional 4-H events. One example of that is the 4-H Achievement Night. While an in-person event was not possible this fall, staff worked hard to ensure local youth and volunteers received recognition for their 4-H project completions. 4-H members received their completion certificates along with their 4-H Yard signs in November. However, some of the most prestigious awards were recently distributed to the recipients. The year’s top awards were:

• Behind The Scenes Award- This award is presented to a 4-H member that has done a lot of work “Behind the Scenes” and may not have received recognition throughout the 4-H program year. Braxtyn Elliott is this year’s award recipient.
  
  “Braxtyn is very well deserving of this award, as she has helped tremendously throughout the year. Whether it’s a small task from the Livestock Advisory & Sale Committee that she is a part of or an even larger task such as organizing videos for a virtual livestock program. Braxtyn has without a doubt done a lot of work Behind the Scenes for various 4-H members & programs. Thank you for your very hard work, Braxtyn-it hasn’t gone unnoticed”

• Favorite Leader Award-This award is presented to a 4-H leader that has gone above and beyond for their 4-H club participants. Sabrina Elliott is this year’s award recipient.
  
  “From the start of her own son joining the Kickin Kountry Kids 4-H Club, Sabrina has been very supportive in every way. She goes above and beyond to help the 4-H kids & parents- from enrolling in 4-H to answering any questions that come to her. She is always looking for different projects for the kids to do at the meetings, so they have crafts that they can enter at the County Fair. She will often organize gift baskets to donate to our graduating seniors and even past members who might’ve had hardships come about, in other words Sabrina will help anyone that needs it! I know my family couldn’t have asked for a better leader for our son, she is simply a wonderful person in every way. Even with COVID, she has held Zoom Meetings just so the kids can still see each other and has been beyond excited to meet in person with the kids, when time has allowed”
• )Friend of 4-H Award-This award is presented to a Steuben County individual or business that has excelled in their dedication to the Steuben County 4-H Youth Development Program through the years. Jessica Flanagan is this year’s award recipient.
  
  Jessica has always been willing to help with any project for the Kickin Kountry Kids 4-H Club. She is always there to support, encourage & even help with the Dairy Parade Float for the past 5 years. She truly enjoys helping the kids draw & paint the designs they come up with for the float & greatly enjoys sharing her love of art with the kids and watch them enjoy it, just as much as she does. Jessica can be found walking in the Dairy Parade with the kids to help them with whatever they might need. She is an all-around great person & a very positive role model for anyone that gets to know her. Her and her husband, Rick can even be found coming to the 4-H Market Animal Sale to help support the 4-H kids even further.

• “I Dare You” Leadership Award- The “I Dare You” Leadership Award recognizes 4-Hers who, with little encouragement, are ready to see themselves as leaders. Madison Conrad is this year’s award recipient.
  
  Madison has been in 4-H for 10 years and has been a junior leader for 5 years. At first, she taught the cloverbuds with various projects and now teaches 5^th and 6^th graders. She is faithful about attending meetings and always calls when she has a sports conflict or can’t attend. She always exhibits many items at the Steuben County Fair and pushes herself to learn more things each and every year. Madison is always looking for the judges’ comments on her exhibits or from clothing revues & public presentations, so she can learn more and do better. She has taken on some leadership roles outside of the club by being on a planning committee for the 4-H STARR program! Madison is always willing to step up when asked and even volunteers, when not specifically asked. She always wants to experience as many things as she can! Additionally, Madison was just accepted to represent Steuben County as a part of the New York State Delegation attending the 2021 National 4-H Conference!

• Outstanding 4-H’er Award- This award is given to a 4-H’er that has embodied the 4-H motto, “To Make the Best Better” through clearer thinking, greater loyalty, larger service, and better living as they have grown in the 4-H Program. Olivia Lewis & Braxtyn Elliott are this year’s award recipients.
  
  Olivia Lewis has been a 4-H member for 11 years and a junior leader for 6 years. She has taught various food projects to younger members and has always been a leader the younger kids could look up to. She’s very reliable and always lets me know when she had a conflict and couldn’t attend a meeting. She can always handle any group of kids and never had to ask for help in controlling the group. She’s an outstanding saleswoman for the cheese sales, selling the most product in the county for a number of years. She’s given public presentations for both food & horse-related topics and has had horse projects every year. With Olivia being an outstanding leader in the club & committed to school, sports and work, she learned how to manage her time and excel at the things she undertook.

• Braxtyn Elliott has been in 4-H for 9 years and is always willing to help other 4-H members and has been part of the livestock advisory & livestock sale committees as a teen representative for multiple years. As a youth representative on these committees, she bring youth voice to the committee to reflect what other youth in the program are looking for. She has had some great ideas to help improve the county fair and events for the local 4-H’ers. She is always positive and willing to help the younger members and pass her knowledge down to them. This year, she rose to the challenge to recruit youth presenters for a New York State 4-H Virtual Livestock Clinic in addition to also presenting her own video. She is all around a great role model for the entire 4-H Community.

Last updated December 11, 2020