County 4-H competition held

By Staff
Melissa Cason
PHIL CAMPBELL – The Franklin County 4-H Program held their annual 4-H competition Friday at the Phil Campbell campus of Northwest Shoals Community College.
County Extension Agent Katernia Cole said the 4-H program has come a long way since she was a 4-Her allowing more creativity into the competition.
"When I was a student, we got the guidelines on the different projects, and when we came to the competition, we all had the same thing," Cole said.
"Now, the entries are as different as the students who make them."
This year's competition included the freestyle showcase, which features anything they collect; Project Green Thumb about farming, photography, Blocks Rocks, where everything is made from Lego blocks; and beef cook-off competition.
Freestyle showcase entries featured items from Nintendo to Barbie collections while two brothers competed in the Project Green Thumb competition.
Clay Hodge, a student from Tharptown, said he came up with the idea for his Nintendo submission because he likes playing video games.
"I really love playing my Wii so I decided to do something on video games," Hodge said.
Hodge's entry included the original Nintendo game console, and games. Other items included in the entry were books, new game accessories and magazines.
Green Thumb entrant Jacob Murray also entered the Block Rocks competition where he made a tractor out of Legos.
"I just really love farming," Murray said. "My mom helped me with my Green Thumb project."
Murray's project was "How to grow a vegetable garden." His brother, Tommy Murray entered his "This is Cotton Country" into the competition.
Cole said she was pleased with the projects for the competition, and they show that all it really takes is a few items they already have and imagination to go places in 4-H.
"4-H is for everybody no matter where you live and what you want to do," Cole said. "I've talked to former 4-H students who credit the skills they learned in 4-H for their success."
The winners of the local 4-H competition will advance to the regional competition in Hartselle this May.