10-year 4-H'ers honored, 5 get scholarship at ceremony

At Thursday's 4-H Scholarship Recognition and 10-year member awards ceremony, Hannah Dickey (left) is presented the Brookshire 4-H Scholarship by Barbara Brookshire as Putnam County Youth 4-H Director Mark Evans looks on. Banner Graphic/CAINE GARDNER

GREENCASTLE -- Forty-nine 10-year 4-H members were honored Thursday night in the Inside Arena at the Putnam County Fairgrounds. Five 4-H members were also awarded scholarships during the awards ceremony.

Denise Sigworth, President of the Putnam County Community Foundation, addressed the crowd at the beginning of the evening and informed the audience of the impact their generosity has had on the community. Sigworth stated the Foundation has put $7 million back into Putnam County in the past 25 years.

Sarah McEnulty and Grace Aker were honored with the Tenure Award, an award given to two 4-H members with the greatest number of projects through throughout their 4-H career.

Winning the General 4-H Scholarship was Megan Robertson, while Megan Criss won the Darrel Thomas Scholarship. Jana Oxford earned the Livestock Scholarship, with Ashlee Pinney and Hannah Dickey being awarded the Brookshire 4-H Scholarship.

Putnam County 4-H Youth Development Director Mark Evans commended the commitment of this year's 10-year members, noting that most places are lucky to have 10-15 10-year 4-H members, let alone 49.

This year's 10-year members were awarded a plaque and two savings bond, one from Teacher's Credit Union and one from the Putnam County Republicans.

The 49 10-year 4-H members whose names were called Thursday night were Grace Aker, Alexandria Allen, Kelsey Anderson, Amelia Beck, Meaghan Berry, Andy Bookwalter, Kyley Brown, Devan Buis, Jacob Cherry, Tiffani Cox, Elsiana Crosby, Sara Culler, Emily Dean, Kevin Dean, Sarah Denny, Hannah Dickey, Bradley Fidler, Kristen Fordice, Jennifer Goins, Megan Gray, Shelby Hacker, Jessica Hall, Megan Havens, Shelby Hodge, Alex Hughes, Brock Jones, Cheyanne Maddox, Dakota Malayer, Courtney Mann, Sarah McEnulty, Steven Mitchel, Evan Neese, Michael Nichols, Heather Nipper, Joshua Olczak, Ross Oliver, Marly Owen, Dakota Parent, Michael Pierson, Kayla Poole, Amanda Roach, Ashley Ross, Matt Rudolph, Kaileigh Sparks, Braeden Taylor, Andrew Whitman, Samantha Williams, Kaitlynn Nissen and Elizabeth Wiley.