LEXINGTON – Twenty-four Dawson County 4-H members participated in the 2023 4-H Public Speaking Contest Monday, March 6, at the Dawson County Extension Office in Lexington, according to a release from the Extension Office in Dawson County.
All 4-H’ers received $10 for participating in the contest, courtesy of Dawson County Bankers. The state sponsor, Radio Station KRVN, provided county ribbons for all contestants.
Representing Dawson County at State Public Speaking Contest in June will be Brady’s Tanner Fairley, Griffin Owens of Lexington, Cozad’s Brooklyn and Cassidy Reiman, and Lorelai Rickertsen of Lexington in the intermediate speech division.
In the senior division, Dawson County will be represented by Sophia Burns of Cozad and Greta Rickertsen of Lexington.
Griffin Owens of Lexington, Cassidy Reiman of Cozad, and Paige Walahoski of Overton will represent Dawson County in the intermediate PSA division, with Lexington’s Jaden Hunke set to represent the county in the senior PSA division.
Purple ribbon winners in the junior speech division were Cozad’s Kristina Burns for her speech “Unicorns & 4-H,” and Clay Terrell of Gothenburg for his “My Small 4-H Journey”.
Purple ribbon winners in the intermediate speech division were Tanner Fairley of Brady for “That Time 4-H Tried to Kill Me”; Lexington’s Griffin Owens for “Shooters Gotta Shoot,” Cozad’s Brooklyn and Cassidy Reiman for “From 4-H Weeds to Real Life” and “Dreaming of the Show Ring,” respectively, and Lorelai Rickertsen of Lexington for “Picture This!”
Purple ribbon winners in the senior speech division were Sophia Burns for her piece, “Communication” and Greta Rickertsen of Lexington for her speech, “Have No Fear”.
Purple ribbon winners in the junior PSA division both belonged to Lexington: Gabrielle Caraway for “Find Your Fire,” and Barrett Hunke for “Blast Off Into 4-H”.
Purple ribbon winners in the intermediate PSA division were Griffin Owens for his “Lift Off PSA”; Cassidy Reiman for “A Spark, Your Future & 4-H”; and Paige Walahoski with “Igniting Sparks”.
The purple ribbon winner in the senior PSA division was Jaden Hunke for “4-H – The Original Social Media”.
Blue ribbon winners in the junior speech division were Lexington’s Gabrielle Caraway with “My Quilting Legacy through 4-H,” Owen Fairley of Brady for “My First Year”; Barrett Hunke of Lexington for “Building My Future in 4-H”; Bodee Klemm of Lexington with “My Girl Skadi,” Cozad’s Mckenna Reiman with“Peace, Love & 4-H,” Grant and Megan Walahoski of Overton with “My Life is All Planned Out” and “4-H: Baking the World a Better Place,” respectively.
Blue ribbon winners in the intermediate speech division were Gothenburg’s Augustus Barnes for “The Value of Time on the Ranch,” Dallee Barnes, also of Gothenburg, for “Happiness is with My 4-H Animals,” and Melissa Montano of Kearney with “My 4-H Camp Experience”.
Red ribbon winners in the intermediate speech division were Lexington’s Terrence Bliven with“Chocolate = Happiness” and Neala McCall of Overton with “Animals in Need.”
The blue ribbon winner in the senior speech division was Samual Winter of Cozad for “Preparing Sheep for Fair”.
Judges for the 4-H Public Speaking Contest were Juliana Loudon, Elaine Redfern, Dave Schroeder, and Beth Rogers, and the emcee was Lexington’s Wesley Thompson.
