4-H’ers qualify for state event

Sixteen local 4-H members received excellent marks at the 2015 4-H County Public Presentations hosted by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development Program of Monmouth County at the county’s agricultural building in Freehold Township in May.

“These students have worked very hard on their presentations, and it is great to see so many qualify to move on to the state competition,” Monmouth County Freeholder Lillian G. Burry said. “Students in grades eight to 13 who received an ‘excellent’ designation can move on to compete at the state level in June at Rutgers.”

The students who qualified to move on to the state competition are Alexis Richardson and Mari Timney of Tinton Falls; Nicole Marinaro of Oceanport; Rebecca Carmeli-Peslak of Millstone Township; Owen Conway of Ocean Township; Shauna DiRenizo, McKayla Tyrrell, Hannah Valdes, Kymora Clarke, Jill Ruggiero and Collin Roach of Freehold; Alicia Muench, Brooke Levens and Jillian Haliskoe of Middletown; Gabrielle Kozlowski of Neptune; and Faith Bates of Howell, according to a press release from the county.

Thirty-five 4-H members representing more than 12 clubs participated in the county competition, giving oral presentations about a variety of subject areas from “National Hockey League: The Rivalry Between the N.Y. Rangers and the N.J. Devils” to “What You Need To Know To Go Backpacking.”

To qualify for the county presentations, each participant had to be a registered 4-H member in grades K through 13 (first year out of high school) and have done a presentation at the club level.

The following 4-H members gave outstanding presentations and were recognized for their accomplishments: Sean Levens and Tyler Levens of Belford; Cole Luterek, Amelia Guinee, Zahra Clarke, Shawn Hill and Alyssa Marks of Freehold; Gianna Tanzi, Jacqueline Tanzi, Giana Rivera, Kayla O’Donnell and Nick Nichols of Howell; Carla Rios of Port Monmouth; Erica Todd and Joshua Todd of Jackson; and Ashlyn Farkes and Jordon Paolello of Edison.

4-H Alumni credit these presentations and their club work for allowing them to take away strong public speaking skills, which continue to benefit them throughout their lives.

“I have seen the positive impact these presentations have had on my two children. They gained strong self-confidence and the ability to speak comfortably with individuals and large groups,” volunteer judge Gladys Rios .

The volunteer judges were Regina Baireddy, John Connors, Sue Fertig, Joan Lynch, Bob Nicholas, Navya Ravi, Kathy Richardson, Gladys Rios, Sarah Sakowski and Ellen Simonetti.

The event provides an opportunity for 4- H’ers to compete on the county level with other members from a variety of clubs. The presentations were judged by teams of 4-H volunteers, alumni, educators and Master Gardeners, as audience members watched. Each participant received an excellent, very good, good or Cloverbud ribbon, according to the press release.