Several individuals received recognition Sunday during grandstand ceremonies at the Champaign County Fair. Heather Lowry was crowned this year’s Junior Fair Queen.
Other notable awards went to 4-H Girl of the Year Emma Smith, 4-H Boy of the Year Zack Moore, 4-H Advisor of the Year Lorraine Townsley, FFA Girl of the Year Jenna Rittenhouse, FFA Boy of the Year Ryan Goddard and Mark Sommers Memorial Award Recipient Bridget Yutzy.
FFA Girl of the Year
Jenna Rittenhouse is a 2014 graduate of Urbana High School. She is the daughter of Ron and Chris Rittenhouse. During her years in FFA Jenna held the offices of Treasurer and President. She received the Star Chapter Farmer Award from the Urbana FFA Chapter. She received her State Degree in 2014 and will receive her American Degree this fall.
Her Supervised Agricultural Experiences have consisted of raising club pigs, showing hogs at the fair as well as raising 10 acres of corn and soybeans. She sold over 125 pigs to other 4-H and FFA members over the past five years. She has served on the Junior Pork Council for several years.
Through FFA she has participated in several career development events including Job Interview, Soil Judging, Food Science, Parliamentary Procedure. She has been a four-year member of the General Livestock Judging team and a four-year member of the Meats Evaluation team, which placed 4th and 3rd in the state in 2013 and 2014.
FFA leadership conferences were a huge part of her experience. Rittenhouse attended state and national FFA Conventions, Ohio Legislative Leadership Conference, State Leadership Night, 212/360 Leadership Conference and Washington Leadership Conference. She completed over 50 hours of community service with local civic organizations and has participated in local community-based FFA Activities such as Cardboard City, Trick-or-Treat for Cans, and the Champaign County FFA Relay for Life Team.
She will be entering her sophomore year at Wilmington College in Wilmington, where she is majoring in Agriculture with a concentration in Education and Ag Business. She is a member of the Psi Beta Omega Sorority. Upon graduation from Wilmington, she plans to to become an Agricultural Education instructor or find a career in the Ag Business industry.
FFA Boy of the Year
Ryan Goddard is a 2014 graduate of Graham High School. He is the son of Dale and Linda Goddard and lives in rural Urbana. During his years as an FFA member of the A.B. Graham Ohio Hi-Point FFA chapter, he served the chapter as Vice President and President. He now serves the state FFA Association as Vice President at Large. He received his state FFA Degree in 2013. He will receive his American FFA Degree this fall at the National FFA Convention.
His Supervised Agricultural Experiences included a lawn mowing business, dairy feeders, dairy steers and beef steers. He competed in the Agriscience proficiency area with his research projects. He conducted projects growing corn and soybeans simultaneously and soil testing with different manure applications.
He was member of the Dairy Products, Rural Soils, Wildlife, Farm Business Management and Cooperatives CDE teams. He competed with Dairy Products, Rural Soils and Agriscience Fair on the national level. He attended state and national conventions, state Leadership Night, 360 Leadership Conference, Washington Leadership Conference, and Champaign County Administration Dinner. He completed 109 hours of community service above and beyond what was required to earn his American FFA Degree by participating in Cardboard City, Parent Teacher Conferences, Relay for Life, Volleyball Concessions, Holiday Family, and working for the Ohio Department of Education and Ohio FFA at the Ohio State Fair. He most recently attended the New Century Farmer Conference in Iowa.
Goddard attends the Ohio State University majoring in Agronomy. He is a member of the FarmHouse Fraternity. He works for the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership as a Student Assistant to Dr. Susie Whittington.
FFA Girl and Boy of the year are selected from their involvement in their FFA chapter, State and National Association. Members’ applications are reviewed for growth in their area of SAE and community involvement. Members must have earned the state FFA Degree. Interviews are conducted as needed. The FFA Girl of the Year is sponsored by Koenig Equipment and FFA Boy of the Year is sponsored by Farmers Equipment. Each will receive a $1,000 award.
4-H Advisor of the Year
Lorraine Townsley has been a Champaign County 4-H advisor for 21 years. She is currently an advisor in Crit-R-Dun 4-H Club and is involved with dairy, clothing, creative arts, food & nutrition and scrapbooking projects. She has been a 4-H Camp nurse for 15 years and is a member of the Champaign County 4-H Home Economics Committee. She is a member of the Champaign County Dairy Council. She has helped for multiple years with the dairy skillathon and grading of dairy project books.
4-H Girl of the Year
Emma Smith is the daughter of Kent Smith. She has been a 4-H member for nine years and is a member of Fresh Start 4-H Club and serves as the Vice President. She is the Vice President of the Junior Poultry Council, a Cloverbud camp counselor, 4-H camp counselor, a member of Junior Leadership and Junior Fairboard. She has participated in the state Junior Fairboard conference and Teen Conference. As a member of Champaign County 4-H, she has shown sheep, poultry, non-livestock, creative arts and leadership projects. She has won several awards including Supreme Reserve Champion Ram, Reserve Champion AOV Poultry, and Champion Egg Laying Pen-Young, White Eggs, among others. She has volunteered through 4-H as a part of the Growing Youth to Youth Program, the Shelton Leadership program and as a part of the Sharing Communities program with Cuyahoga County 4-H. She is a recent graduate of Graham High School and will be attending Purdue University in the fall.
Ward Construction (Marcia and Greg Ward) sponsors this award. The recipient also receives $500 from the Goddard family.
4-H Boy of the Year
Zack Moore is the son of Christi and Chad Moore. He has been a 4-H member for 10 years and is a member of Best of 4-H for which he serves as club Secretary. He is Vice President of Junior Leadership and Reporter for the Junior Fairboard, is a member of Junior Poultry Council and has been a camp counselor for three years. As a member of Champaign County 4-H, he has shown swine, poultry, non-livestock and creative arts projects. He has won several awards including Rosette for Photography, Male Counselor of the Year and Best Counselor (camper vote). He has volunteered with 4-H as a founder of the Growing Youth to Youth program and leader of the club food drive and helped with Real Money, Real World at Triad Local Schools. He will be a senior a Triad Local Schools this fall.
The Merlin Woodruff family sponsors this award. The recipient also receives $500 from the Goddard family.
