Awards Night 2021

Awards Night 2021 Slide Show.pptx

The 2021 Morris County 4-H Awards Night was held on November 12 at High View Farms in Budd Lake

Congratulations to all of our 4-H'ers, club leaders, board members, volunteers and families for your contributions and achievements during the 2020-2021 4-H year!

Club level awards were distributed to the club leaders to be handed out at their meetings. County level awards and higher were presented at our small-scale, informal, in-person Awards Night on Friday, November 12th at High View Farms - the seat of many of our 4-H clubs. The venue was perfect and we had many helpers make it a success. We even had a new club announced that night!

Honored guest, Morris County Commissioners Director, Stephen Shaw, was present to congratulate award recipients. The event and all awards, trophies and plaques were sponsored by the Morris County 4-H Association. A big thank-you to our host, board member, and leader of numerous clubs, Rosanne Oblen, for providing us the space to host this fabulous event.

See the slide show or below for our award recipients.

2021 Morris County 4-H Awards

4-H'er of the Year Award

David Longendyck

4-Her of the Year is awarded to outstanding 4-H members who have shown deep commitment and significant involvement in the 4-H program through club, county, state and national activities. The 4-Her of the Year also demonstrates leadership and service to others through their 4-H involvement. For these reasons, the 2021 4-Her of the Year is David Longendyck.

David has been an active Morris County 4-H member for seven years. At the county level, he is best known for his work leading the 2020 4-H Minecraft 4-H Fair experience as well as the 2021 4-H Geocache Challenge. These novel events provided engaging opportunities for our 4-H community and general public to interact during a time when traditional in-person events were limited. David's creativity, leadership, and positive energy turned a difficult time in our county's 4-H program into a story of success and growth.

National Leadership Award

Mahi Gupta

The National Leadership Award was created by William Danforth in 1941 to recognize young people who have demonstrated qualities of constructive leadership. The award recipients should strive to achieve their highest potential and positively influence others through their service. For these reasons, this year’s National Leadership Award is awarded to Mahi Gupta.

Mahi has been an active Morris County 4-H member for six years. Her leadership work in 4-H extends beyond Morris County to the state, national, and international levels. She has attended multiple state and national 4-H teen leadership conferences, participated in the World Food Prize Summit, and represented NJ 4-H at a teen leadership conference in Ireland. Mahi has also participated in the States' 4-H International Japanese Exchange program both as a visitor and host. Mahi's international experiences inspired her to create more opportunities for NJ 4-H members to interact with youth around the globe.

Clara Farst Volunteer Award

Susan Akers

This memorial award honors Clara R. Farst, longtime Fair volunteer and club leader for 12 years. It honors her memory by recognizing an individual whose behind the scenes actions have positively impacted the Morris County 4-H program. This year’s award recipient is Susan Akers. Susan has been a supporting the Morris County 4-H for over 30 years starting as a Program Assistant in the 4-H office. As a volunteer, she has served as a judge for many events and contests, Board member, and chairperson of several committees. At nearly every 4-H event, Susan was busy in the background making sure everything was set-up and ready to go to welcome the public and honored guests. In the past two years, Susan added to her volunteer roles including assistant leader for the Minecraft 4-H Club, coordinator for the summer 2021 History Scavenger Hunt, 4-H representative on the Parsippany Green Team, and guiding teen members in planning and carrying out their own leadership projects. The list of Susan’s contributions to the Morris County 4-H program go on and continue to grow with each year. We are grateful for everything Susan has done to support our 4-H community and it’s youth members for so many years.

Rich & Beth Everett Innovation Award

Sean McConoughey

Awarded for the creation and management of the new Morris County 4-H YouTube Channel. Starting in January 2021, Sean invited the 4-H community to contribute pictures and videos for monthly themed videos. These videos highlighted the activities and interests of our 4-H members, volunteers, and friends were made available to the public via the 4-H YouTube Channel. This project created and managed by Sean served several purposes including public promotion of the 4-H program, opportunities for individuals to participate in a county-wide project, and a fun way to stay connected as a community. We thank Sean for his innovative contribution to the Morris County 4-H program and look forward to more videos on the channel.

Friend of 4-H

Peapack-Gladstone Bank

The Friend of 4-H Award is given in recognition of an organization or individual that provided significant support to the Morris County 4-H program. This year, the honor is awarded to Peapack-Gladstone Bank. For many years, they have been a donor for our annual Morris County 4-H Fair. Over the past two years, our county hosted virtual summer events when in-person options were restricted. Peapack-Gladstone Bank continued to support these programs by providing monetary donations. For these reasons, we thank Peapack-Gladstone Bank by awarding them the 2021 Friend of 4-H Award.

Seeing Eye Best Friend

Owen Armstrong

Alex Bohensky

Mahi Gupta

Our county’s two Seeing Eye puppy raising 4-H clubs are the 4-Footed Leaders and Puppy Tails. These clubs are unique because they operate in partnership with The Seeing Eye program. Members of these clubs take on the responsibilities of raising a puppy with the goal that they will one day serve as a guide dog. Each year, club leaders nominate 1-2 outstanding members to be recognized by The Seeing Eye for their efforts.