On Saturday, May 4th, thirteen Ventura County 4-H'ers participated in Southern Area 4-H Field Day which takes place at Mount San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) in Walnut, California each year.
Not everyone gets to present at Southern Area 4-H Field Day. In order to give a presentation at this event, you had to win a Gold Medal at your county presentation event first. However, you do not have to win Gold at county presentation day to compete in the Interview Contest at Southern Area Field Day. Since not everyone gets the opportunity to compete at this event for various reasons, all of the 4-H members present at the event were very honored and eager to compete.
This was a very long day for everyone competing. Check-in started at 7:45 in the morning. After check-in concluded, the members went on with their days, going to the rooms they were assigned to for their 4-H presentations and interviews. Members from Ventura County 4-H participated in the following categories: Illustrated Talk, Interpretive Reading, State Format Impromptu Speech, Area Impromptu Speech, Extemporaneous Speech, Educational Display Talk, Science or Engineering Presentation, Cultural Arts, and the Interview Contest.
In addition to all of the other 4-H presentations and the 4-H Interview Contest, there were several fun walk-in stations at the event happening as well to keep the members busy in between events. Perhaps the most popular station was the Entomology Contest Station. At this walk-in event, members would sit down and take a knowledge test for their age division about insects. Depending on how they did against other kids in their age division, they were awarded Gold Medals, Blue Seals, Red Seals, or White Seals at the end of the day. The Entomology Contest was run by a leader and three members from Ventura County 4-H. The adult leader in charge was Edith Sorensen from Conejo/Simi Valley 4-H Club, and the three youth volunteers helping to run the station were Anna Sorensen from Conejo/Simi Valley 4-H, Adler Striegel from Loma Vista 4-H, and Ashley Pyler from Loma Vista 4-H.
Some of the other walk-in stations throughout the day included a community service station where members made dog toys for local animal shelters in L.A. County, a STEM station where members made miniature monsters in paper cups by combining two chemicals, a Primary Clinic with activities just for Primary Members, and a Fashion Knowledge Contest where members could take knowledge tests about fashion knowledge (similar to how the Entomology Station was run).
After 4-H presentations, the 4-H Interview Contest, and walk-in stations had concluded, it was time for the final part of the competition. Each year at Southern Area 4-H Field Day, Cultural Arts Presentations and Share the 4-H Fun Skits are always at the end of the day, and take place in an auditorium where everyone can gather around, and watch the presentations/skits.
This year, there was only one Cultural Arts Presentation from Ventura County 4-H and it was presented by Ashley Pyler of Loma Vista 4-H. She talked about why she likes playing the piano and played "One Man's Dream" by Yanni on her keyboard. She was awarded a Gold Medal, and she was very proud to take her presentation to California State 4-H Field Day at UC Davis on June 1st to represent Ventura County 4-H at the state level.
The awards ceremony was held in the same auditorium as Cultural Arts Presentations and Share the 4-H Fun Skits. This year, all of the presentations and skits took 2 1/2 hours to complete, so all of the 4-H members had to wait very patiently for the awards ceremony to come. Once it did, however, the members were on the edge of their seats to see if their many hours of hard work and dedication had paid off, and if they had qualified for this year's state presentation competition at California State 4-H Field Day.
After the awards ceremony had concluded, everyone was proud of what they had accomplished, and they were more than ready to go home after a very long day down at Mount SAC. Everyone that got a Gold Medal in any presentation category was eligible to present that exact same presentation at California State 4-H Field Day at UC Davis on June 1st, with the exception of the walk-in events (Entomology, Fashion, etc.), and the 4-H Interview Contest, which are known as non-qualifying events. The 4-H members that earned Gold Medals for multiple presentations at Southern Area 4-H Field were only allowed to present one presentation at California State 4-H Field Day, along with participating in the 4-H Interview Contest.
Out of the thirteen members from Ventura County 4-H that participated in this year's Southern Area 4-H Field Day Event, five of them will be attending California State 4-H Field Day on June 1st. These hard-working members are Ashley Pyler (Intermediate Member with the Loma Vista 4-H Club), Adeline Vertucci (Intermediate Member with the Loma Vista 4-H Club), Livia Vertucci (Senior Member with the Loma Vista 4-H Club), Samuel "Sammy" Beylik (Junior Member of the Conejo/Simi Valley 4-H Club), and Kaylee Tan (Junior Member of the Conejo/Simi Valley 4-H Club). As a group, the Ventura County 4-H'ers won 24 Gold Medals, 5 Blue Seals, and 2 Red Seals. The leaders of all the clubs in Ventura County are very proud of all of the 4-H'ers who participated at this event.
