Weld County 4-H Leaders

Each year the Weld County 4-H Foundation recognizes leaders that have given so much of their time to the youth. Below are the leaders that were recognized at the 2016 Weld County 4-H Foundation Annual Banquet.

Rita is a 15-year leader with the Grover Guys & Gals 4-H club. She is a project leader for a variety of projects, and has helped at the county level with Self-Development Night, Style Review, and Interview Judging. Her husband, Donald Johnston, is also a 15-year leader with the Grover Guys & Gals 4-H. Donald is a leader for Goats, Sheep, and Gardening. He served for eight years on the Weld County Fair Board, and for 13 years as superintendent of the Goat show.

Rita says it’s a wonderful thing to watch 4-H members grow into confident leaders in their club, school, and community, and to feel that she helped them in that process in a small way. Her hobbies include traveling, singing with the Prairie Songbirds choir, showing goats, and various crafts. Rita has been employed in the information technology industry for 33 years. Presently she is a self-employed software application developer and consultant, while also serving as the Secretary of the Weld County Meat Goat Breeders.

Donald says 4-H is all about the kids to him, and he wants to help every kid have the very best 4-H experience possible. He includes showing Boer goats and helping with 4-H and FFA activities as his hobbies. He has been the Director of Maintenance and Transportation at Pawnee High School for the past seven years. Donald is one of the organizers of the Briggsdale Classic Livestock Show, a member of the American Boer Goat Association, and President of the Weld County Meat Goat Breeders since 2010. He and Rita operate a ranch, raising cattle & goats, south of Grover.

Claudia Marvin started working with the Cloverbuds in her club, and after several months of helping out, it was suggested she become a leader. Since then, she has also served as project leader for Goats, Market Beef, Child Development, and Leadership projects. A 15-year leader with Keene 4-H Boosters, Claudia says it’s easy to stay motivated as a 4-H leader because of the enthusiasm of the youth when they start a new project, and when sharing with them the endless opportunities they can explore during their 4-H career.

Aside from 4-H, Claudia has served as a youth group leader in her church, volunteered for various FFA events, and actively participates in school events. In her free time, she works with their goat herd (which started as her kids 4-H project!), and refinishes and re-purposes antiques. Claudia has worked for the school district for 14 years, and is currently the office Secretary at Hudson Academy. She and her husband, Dave, live east of Ft. Lupton.

Jennifer is a 15-year leader who became involved when her children started 4-H. She’s a Horse and Goat project leader with Crow Creek 4-H. She has coached Horse Judging teams with both 4-H and FFA, and has assisted with 4-H Horse Bowl and Hippology. For Jennifer and her family, 4-H is not just about helping kids, it’s about helping families.

Jennifer is a member of the Weld County Fair Board, 4-H Horse Council, Weld County Meat Goat Breeders, and the American Quarter Horse and American Boer Goat associations. For pleasure, she likes scrapbooking, reading, and antiquing. Jennifer is a housewife and substitute teacher, and lives east of Briggsdale with her husband, Tim.

Bryan is a 15-year leader with Galeton 4-H, who got his start when former 4-H Agent, Mark Cronquist, tapped into his hobby of fishing and asked him to be a key leader for the new Sports Fishing project. His wife, Amy Hogsett was already an active volunteer, and is herself a 20-year leader. Amy wanted to continue to help members learn about Cake Decorating, and former 4-H Agent, Carol Schneider, told her the best way to do that was to become a leader.

Bryan has served as a Police Officer for 13 years, and is a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Hunter Education instructor and member of the University of Northern Colorado Color Guard. Amy has worked for Eaton school district as a teacher for 18 years. She is a youth leader and Sunday School teacher at their church, and sponsor for the Eaton Middle School’s Chess and Maker clubs.

Bryan and Amy say that the enjoyment they get out of helping kids learn new things, and seeing how 4-H can help them become more than they had ever expected, provides the inspiration that keeps them going as 4-H leaders. They live east of Eaton and enjoy hunting, fishing, camping, and spending time with their family.

Jerry got his start as a 20-year leader by serving as a coach for the Hudson Shamrock 4-H club’s basketball team. He went on to be the club’s organizational leader as well as project leader for shooting sports, goat, and beef projects. Jerry says that 4-H has given him great opportunities to meet and work with many great kids. He has also enjoyed getting to know, and work with, other 4-H volunteers.

Jerry lists raising Boer goats and gardening among his special interests. He is a member of the South East Weld County Fair Board, spends time with both the Weld Central School and Weld Central FFA booster clubs, and is involved in several other community projects. Jerry has worked on telephone systems for the State of Colorado for 38 years. He and his wife, Sherry, live south of Hudson.

Kim is a 25-year leader - first with the Keene 4-H Boosters and currently with the Tailtwisters 4-H club. She began volunteering when her son started as a Cloverbud member, and has gone on to become a certified shooting sports instructor for Archery, and has helped with the Ceramic, Poultry, and Rabbit projects. For the past five years she has served as the Poultry Superintendent at the Weld County Fair.

Kim enjoys working with the 4-H kids and watching them grow through their 4-H involvement. She enjoys raising poultry and going to poultry shows, camping, and four-wheeling with her family. Besides 4-H, she has also served as a Cub Scout and Girl Scout leader. Kim and her family live in Hudson.

Dorothy has volunteered and served the 4-H community for 35 years. She became a project leader when her daughter, Julie, started 4-H. In addition to helping members with their projects, Dorothy notes she too gained knowledge and improved her skills by attending 4-H workshops and trainings. Dorothy has served in numerous leadership roles including organizational leader; Leader’s Council; Fair superintendent; and County resource leader for the Foods project.

Dorothy is involved with the local Family & Community Education (FCE) Club, serving as Secretary. This club does several community service projects including giving books to newborns at North Colorado Medical Center; and donating supplies to support A Woman’s Place in Greeley. She is also the program coordinator for the State FCE Board, and a liaison for FCE on the Colorado Extension Advisory Council. Further, she is Secretary for the Colorado Master Farm Homemakers Guild, and Vice-President and International Chairperson for the National Master Farm Homemakers Guild.

Dorothy is retired from Aims Community College, were she worked in the Human Resources Office for 20 years. She lives with her husband, Dave, near Kersey.

The rewards of being a 4-H volunteer, says Dorothy, comes with sharing in the joy when a young member completes a project and feels pride in their accomplishments; and in seeing their enthusiasm to advance and continue to expand their knowledge in a project area