Rowan 4-H August Newsletter

From the 4-H Agent,

Laura Allen:

I hope that you all had a wonderful summer and are getting back in the routine of school. I apologize in the delay of this newsletter; I'm not normally this late in getting it out, but work and life has been busy!

This newsletter includes 4-H opportunities, save the dates, and upcoming deadlines, including (but not limited to):

-Reminders about how to access our new office.

-Animal related (horse, dairy, livestock, poultry) judging & quiz bowl practice & contest info.

-Rowan County Fair entry registration is OPEN for arts & crafts, vegetables, flowers, baked goods, etc! Due by September 2.

-4-H Embryology for the 25-26 school year (NEW: we will have one Fall cycle and one Spring cycle)

-NC 4-H State Fair arts & crafts competition info.

-Holiday parade interest meeting.

-Shout outs to LOTS of 4-H'ers who have had big achievements!

-2025 Rowan 4-H Save the Dates

-Save the Dates for 2025 4-H Volunteer Trainings

-Discover Dairy: Adopt a Cow opportunity for classrooms.

***Find all details about the above items & more in THIS NEWSLETTER!

Make sure to click "view entire message" at the end because there's more opportunities to see!

Click here for Rowan 4-H page on Facebook

Click here for Rowan 4-H page on Instagram

Making the Best Better,
Laura

Accessing our NEW office:

Below is a picture showing our main building entrance to access our office. Once inside the interior of the Rowan Community Center (they are calling the interior the "concourse"), then you'll go straight, then take a right, and our ag. suite is on the left. Once inside the ag. suite lobby, we are the first door on the right.

Contact info: 704-216-8970 (same number; it didn't change)

Rowan County Cooperative Extension
1959 Jake Alexander Blvd. West
Suite 1400
Salisbury, NC 28147

Upcoming Meetings

County Council: for youth ages 12-18 years old as of January 1

**If your child is 12-18 as of Jan 1 and they are interested in County Council, please email Laura to get on the County Council email list for all reminders and updates for this group!

-Next County Council meetings:
-We will NOT meet in August.
-Next meeting will be September 23, 6-7:30 PM.

PALS: These meetings are for any parent, alumni, leader or supporter of Rowan County
4-H. If you are interested in 4-H or new to 4-H, you are invited to attend these meetings as well! Please come share your ideas for 4-H and help us find ways to support Rowan County 4-H.

Next meetings:
-August 19 at 6:15 pm (will be an in-person meal & training for ALL official 4-H volunteers). Must RSVP to attend.

HORSE: If you want to stay up-to-date on all things related to the NC 4-H Horse Program, click here to sign up to receive their newsletter. Click here to access the main page for the NC 4-H Horse Program to learn more.

If interested in participation in 4-H Horse Bowl, Hippology, or Horse Judging, please look into joining the Happy Trails 4-H Club led by 4-H volunteer club leader, Maggie Boreman.

LIVESTOCK: Rowan County 4-H will begin practicing in early 2026 for next years' contests, which are held in in late July/early August. This opportunity is led by 4-H volunteer Eric Deal. Contact Mrs. Laura if interested.

DAIRY CATTLE: 4-H Dairy Quizbowl is normally held in March annually & Dairy Judging contest is usually held in April annually. If interested in participating in 2026, contact the 4-H Agent.

POULTRY: The 4-H Poultry Judging contest is held annually in July. This is led by the Rowan 4-H Agent & Rowan Livestock Agent. Contact Mrs. Laura if interested.

If you are interested in participating in or learning more about ANY of these opportunities, please contact the Rowan County 4-H Agent at laura_allen@ncsu.edu.

Do you have artwork, crafts, photography, eggs, fruits & vegetables, flowers or other items that you want to enter in the Rowan County Fair?

If so, register your entries NOW to compete in the Rowan County Fair!

Registration opened on June 30, 2025 at http://rowancounty.fairentry.com. The deadline to enter will be September 2, 2025.

All registered entries must be brought to the fairgrounds on Sunday, September 14 from 2-4 pm. Exhibits MUST be tagged and in place by 4 pm.

All exhibits must be picked up on Sunday, September 21 from 2-4 pm.

**Please note that you MUST receive a confirmation of your entry submissions or you are not actually entered. No tags will be handmade at the door this year, so please ensure your that you have your confirmation!

The Rowan County Fair will be held September 15-20, 2025.

NC 4-H Arts & Crafts competition at the NC State Fair

-Rowan 4-H'ers are invited to participate in this 4-H specific competition.

-CHANGE FOR THIS YEAR: Mrs. Laura is NOT able to take your entries to and from the NC State Fair this year. If you participate, YOU will be responsible for getting your entries to and from Raleigh.

-Entries must be pre-registered online by September 15.

-You must take entries to the NC State Fair on Oct. 11-12 from 8 am to 6 pm or October 13 from 8 am to 12 pm.

-You must pick up entries at the NC State Fair on Monday, October 27 from 8 am to 6 pm.

CLICK HERE for all details.
CLICK HERE when you are ready to register.

4-H Shout Outs

Congratulations to 4-H'ers Ava Heilig & Kyann Race who competed in the NC 4-H State Horse Show. Highlights includeded:

-Ava for being the Reserve Champion in the Junior Ranch Division. Ava qualified for the upcoming Southern Regional 4-H Horse Championships in Perry, Georgia.
-Kyann for being 1st place in halter class and 10th overall in ranch. She also received her bronze award in the NC 4-H Horse Program Achievement Award.

Congratulations to Rowan County 4-H'er and Happy Trails 4-H Club member, Kyann Race. She recently competed nationally with NC 4-H in the horse judging competition held in Oklahoma City during the AQHYA world show. She came back a NATIONAL WINNER as she was the high scoring individual in the Limited Division.

Congratulations to 4-H'er Ava Heilig who competed in the Southern Regionals 4-H Horse Show in Georgia. She placed:
2nd in Ranch Roping out of 27
7th in Working Cowhorse out of 40
9th in Ranchmanship out of 67
3rd in Ranch Reining out of 45

Rowan 4-H'ers also participated in the NC 4-H Horse Artistic Expression competition in July. The following 4-H’ers submitted their horse related artistic creations as part of this contest:
Kyann Race, Sarah Tucker, John Tucker.

The Rowan County 4-H Poultry Judging team competed in the NC 4-H Poultry Judging competition held in Raleigh on July 9. The junior team consisted of Jace Hastings, Baylee Householder, MaryLynn Overcash and Aislinn Watts. This team was 4th overall, with MaryLynn placing 6th individually. We had two seniors who competed as individuals: Aiden Best and Audrey Faggart. Congratulations to Audrey who was 4th individually in the senior division. These teams were coached by the 4-H Agent and Livestock Agent.

Rowan County had 6 youth delegates and 2 4-H volunteers attend the 78th annual NC 4-H Electric Congress, held at UNC-Wilmington in mid-July. Delegates included: David Croyle, Nathan Croyle, Carson Halpin, Sam Nguyen, Henry Waller, and Lucas Weeder. 4-H Volunteer attendees were Crystal Croyle and Drew Waller. These youth participants qualified based on their work with electric projects and their completion of a 4-H Project Record Book or 4-H Portfolio outlining their 4-H electric project participation. This was a FREE reward trip for them, which was full of learning and fun!

On July 20-25, four Rowan 4-H’ers participated in the Fur, Fish & Game Rendezvous at Millstone 4-H Camp. This camping week was focused on hunting, fishing, forestry, and being outdoors. Participants included Laylah Hamrick, Anna Parker, Caleb Parker, and Jacob Parker.

North Carolina 4-H Congress was held in Raleigh on July 21-25. The Rowan County 4-H delegation participated in the election process for the new State 4-H Council Officers, attended various workshops, participated in tour sites, participated in community service projects at various project sites in Raleigh, and interacted with 4-H members from all across the state. The following 4-H'ers represented Rowan County 4-H at NC 4-H Congress: David Croyle, Nathan Croyle, Lucas Douthit, Isabella Weeder, Lucas Weeder, Abigail Wood.

Achievements at 4-H Congress included:

Nathan Croyle: was tapped into the NC 4-H Honor Club (the highest honor to be bestowed upon a 4-H member in NC), participated in the AIRE (Application, Interview, Resume, Essay) process and was announced as an AIRE winner which awards him a trip to the National 4-H Conference in April 2026, helped lead 4-H Congress as he finished out his year of service as the 2024-25 North Carolina 4-H State Council President.

David Croyle was selected to perform at the NC 4-H Entertains Talent Show on Wednesday during 4-H Congress. He performed his rendition of the parody Microwave Popcorn, originally performed by Bo Burnham. His performance was a hit among the 4-H Congress participants and had the crowd engaged and excited.

We also had four 4-H'ers qualify to present 4-H presentations at the State Presentation Finals, held in Raleigh during 4-H Congress on July 21. All Rowan participants received Gold (1st place). They will also receive a monetary award for their Gold placings. Our Gold award winners include:

-Entomology, 8-10 year olds, Ada Waller
-Horticulture Science, 8-10 year olds: Luke Allen
-Ag Safety & Health, 11-13 year olds: John Tucker
-Electric, 14-18 year olds: Nathan Croyle

10 Rowan 4-H'ers participated in the NC 4-H Livestock Judging and Quizbowl contests held July 31-August 2 Raleigh.

Jr. Division:
-Maggie Deal, 1st place individual
-AnnaMarie Overcash, 3rd place individual
(There were a total of 15 individuals who participated.)

Intermediate Division (13 teams and 50 individuals competed):
-Rowan team of Nora Brown, Colt Safrit, Guy Deal, Annalise Watts placed 2nd in the state!
-Rowan team of MaryLynn Overcash, Lily Lanning, Olivia Bittle placed 3rd in the state!
-Individually, they placed Annalise (2nd), Guy (5th), MaryLynn (6th), Colt (16th), Olivia (17th), Nora (34th), Lily (36th).

Senior Division:
-Audrey Faggart, 10th place individual
(There were 43 individuals in this contest).

Rowan 4-H Volunteer Reporting for 2025

If you are registered as a 4-H Volunteer in 4-HOnline it is super important that you report your hours and contacts! This greatly assists Laura with her Extension reports every year, since your hours and contacts must be reported!

Please go to go.ncsu.edu/2025rowan4hvolunteercontacts and complete your reports. Reports are due 10 days after the end of each month (January contacts due by Feb. 10). Email reminders will be sent to those who should be completing reports. It should only take about 5 minutes!