Fox Valley 4-H’ers do well at state film fest

Submitted by University of Illinois Extension

Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday, Aug. 20, for the first 4-H Film Festival and Map Gallery at the Illinois State Fair. This event showcased 67 entries from youth ages 10-18 across the state who are using technology to share what they’ve learned in 4-H with a broader public.

The 4-H Enthusiasts Club from Logan County conducted an action presentation on filmmaking and the Decatur 4-H Mayor’s Youth Council conducted an action presentation on community mapping with geospatial technology.

This event was the culmination of a new online, state judging opportunity made possible with support from the Illinois 4-H Foundation Project Partners.

“Illinois 4-H State Fair Online builds on the 100 year legacy of the 4-H program in which youth have always been encouraged to be strong public speakers, to take on leadership roles, and to help their communities by sharing what they’ve learned,” said Lisa Diaz, extension specialist with the University of Illinois Extension, “This event just takes things to a new level by encouraging youth to do these things with today’s technology.”

Four exhibitors were identified as “power communicators” and recognized at an awards luncheon on the state fairgrounds.

Elgin resident Kristen McKellar of the Challengers 4-H Club from Kane County, as well as David Zimmerman from Fayette County, were the first-place prize winners and received a new iPod Touch. Second-place prize winners Hunter Dyer from Douglas County and Lana Fitzgerald from Champaign County received an ION Twin Video camera. Honorable mentions were given to Adam Namboodiri from McLean County and Elgin resident Matthew McKellar from Challenger 4-H Club from Kane County. State Fair Delegates in 4-H Filmmaking also were recognized at this event. Superior ratings included Allyson Bielat from McHenry County, Mathew Brucker from Knox County, Kassie Henry from Hancock County, Valerie Lau from Edgar County, Nole Paubel from Madison County, and David Zimmerman from Fayette County.

All entries were judged online by content experts in the different project areas, including: robotics, forestry, health, geospatial, animal science, floriculture, interior design, filmmaking, aerospace, electricity, bicycle safety and more. These exhibits can be viewed at webs.extension.uiuc.edu/4hstatefaironline/exhibits.cfm.

Additional resource pages were designed to support this event, including IL 4-H Filmmakers web.extension.illinois.edu/4hfilmmakers/ and IL 4-H Mapmakers web.extension.illinois.edu/4hmapmakers/

4-H is the largest out-of-school education youth program in the United States. 4-H seeks to assist youth in acquiring knowledge, forming attitudes and developing life skills that enable them to become caring, competent and contributing members of society. In Illinois over 268,000 youth participate in University of Illinois Extension 4-H clubs and programs. More than 23,600 adult volunteers assist in programming for the youth. For information about 4-H in Illinois, visit web.extension.illinois.edu/state4h/.