Pennsylvania 4-H Members Receive Diamond Clover Award for Community Projects

The Clover Award Program encourages 4-H members to explore new projects and activities throughout their 4-H experience that will help them acquire the seven leadership life skills: communicating; decision-making and problem-solving; getting along with others; learning to learn; managing; understanding self; and working in groups.

Engagement with the program is generally a multiyear process that guides 4-H members through several levels of achievement, culminating with the Diamond Clover Award, for which participants plan and implement a service-learning project in the community.

The following are 4-H Diamond Clover Award winners by county, with descriptions of their projects:

Armstrong County

—  Kahryn Lundgren: "Operation Farm Safety." Lundgren organized a Farm Safety Day for youth in her county, featuring presenters from various organizations. She feels that educating the next generation is key to preventing life-altering accidents.

— Lindsey Lundgren: "My Self Defense Day." Participants had the opportunity to engage in self-defense training led by a local martial arts organization. Additionally, they heard from presenters, including Helping All Victims In Need, about topics such as domestic abuse.

Bedford County

— Mackenzie Hubbard: "Comforting Kids." Born with congenital hip dysplasia, Hubbard understands how scary a hospital can be. To challenge that, she created the project "Comforting Kids" to educate others about hospital needs and support the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and its patients through a toy drive.

— Scarlet Porczky: "Thankful For You." Porczky worked with the Hollidaysburg Veterans home to educate those around her about veterans and their service. The nursing home consists of nearly 200 male veterans and 100 female veterans. Alongside her 4-H club, she recognized the veterans for their sacrifices.

Bucks County

— Declan Cassidy: "Socks for the Streets." Cassidy's project focused on educating others about homelessness and substance abuse disorders. He organized four events featuring guest speakers and engaging 4-H members in packaging food and hygiene bags to support community members, leading to the distribution of 550 snack bags and 700 hygiene bags.

— Simon Hazelrig: "Supporting Pollinators." Hazelrig worked to create a "buzz" on pollinators and educate those around him on their importance. He went beyond the beekeeping project book, which he helped lead his club through, and set up an educational booth at a local farmers' market, where he distributed over 300 seed bombs and pollinator education materials.

Butler County

— Sarah Bupp: "Weaving to Success." Bupp created fiber arts boxes and distributed them in libraries and extension offices. She also created videos to help teach lessons, showing leadership and ingenuity. 

— Zephan Samuel: "Aqualife — Making Waves for a Healthy Lifestyle." Samuel's goal was to raise funds to cover the cost of 10 youths' swimming lessons. Along with his swimming lesson project, he shared information and provided activities that encouraged youths to adopt healthy eating habits and a healthy lifestyle. Samuel surpassed his goal of 10 youths and reached 28 youths who received free swimming lessons.

— Daisy Snow: "Daisy's Metal Mission." To raise awareness of metal recycling, Snow created an educational program called "flat astronauts," similar to the concept of Flat Stanley. Working with several local organizations, she and members of her community cleaned up scrap metal in several areas.

Chester County

—  Aadit Shah secured funding through a Google Grant to purchase equipment to run STEM programming for two summers and showed great initiative in creating programs that were educational and fun.

Crawford County

— Lydia Chapin: "Learning Locally Produced Roots." Chapin organized an event that effectively connected local farmers with community consumers to learn about the importance of local farming. Participants learned where their food comes from and about the work local farmers do to bring it to market.

— Emma Kennerknecht: "Kiddin’ Around." Kennerknecht collaborated with the regional Special Olympics team to allow Special Olympics participants the opportunity to be a 4-H member for a day. Participants, with assistance from 4-H/FFA member mentors, were able to show a goat at their county fair, receive awards and have fun.

Elk County 

— Helayana Holobaugh, through fundraising efforts, engaging service clubs with her goals and the support of her community, was able to make repairs needed in a cow barn and teach volunteers how to do the work that was needed.

Huntingdon County

— Madison Mowrer: "Dairy Day." Seeing a gap in agricultural education in her local elementary school, Mowrer worked to host an ag in the classroom event. In partnership with the school, third graders attended a farm tour and learned about topics such as calf care, milking procedures, sustainability, equipment, and 4-H opportunities.

— Carson Riley: "The Giving Garden." Riley created the Giving Garden to help teach people how to grow their own food. With the help of the Master Gardeners, he held a successful event where participants took home container gardens. Riley also gave meal kits to families who received food support from his church, including recipes, ingredients, and information sheets about vegetables.

Indiana County

— Emmy McLaughlin: "To Grow and To Help Grow." Working alongside community organizations such as Life Way and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, "To Grow and To Help Grow" focused on personal growth and the growth of others through plants. Participants learned how to plant gardens and make food, such as pasta salad, from the produce they grew.

— Maggie Palfrey: "Basic Water Awareness and Safety Workshop." Joining forces with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Pennsylvania Helicopter Aqua Rescue team, Palfrey conducted a workshop to teach local community members and 4-H members a healthy respect for water and basic water safety skills to use in a water emergency.

Juniata County

— Alyvia Auker: "Special Needs Community Event." To demonstrate that 4-H is accessible to everyone, Auker held an event in her community alongside Helping Hands of Juniata County. She provided 4-H games to teach others about the program, learn the four "H's" and answer questions about how 4-H is for everyone. She also organized guest speakers, including the Special Olympics, the Pennsylvania State Police, and Kish Bank.

Lancaster County

— Cohen Miller: "Livestock Ventilation System." To teach the importance of animal health and well-being, Miller saw a need for better barn conditions at his local fair. He worked to install a new ventilation system to provide airflow to the animals. He gained mechanical, electrical and leadership skills throughout the project. Additionally, he created signage for the barn to display how the system works and why it's important to animal welfare.

Montgomery County

— Reese Anderson created and sold 50 reusable tote bags made from recycled feed sacks to raise funds for Ryerss Horse Farm for Aged Equines. Through this effort, he successfully purchased and donated three grazing muzzles while also teaching peers about equine health through hands-on education from Ryerss Horse Farm Facilitators.

Perry County

— Mikayla Deiter: "Healthy Living and Happy Heart." As a result of her efforts, Deiter provided five automatic external defibrillators and first aid kits to her local softball teams, thereby lowering emergency response times.

Schuylkill County

— Alyssa Cook: "Meet the Olympians." Cook organized a color run called Meet the Olympians to benefit the Schuylkill County Special Olympics. She coordinated with local officials, promoted the event through schools and social media, and led volunteers to run the race. In addition to raising $600 to support more than 125 athletes, Cook educated participants about Special Olympics and adaptive functions that allow all individuals to enjoy physical activity to their ability.

Venango County

— Karter Hoffman: "Venango County Fairgrounds Welcome Sign." An eye for advertisement sparked the idea of replacing the welcome sign at his local fairground. Throughout his project, Hoffman learned and taught other 4-H members and Boy Scouts about carpentry, woodworking and marketing.

Westmoreland County

— Ryleigh Drzal: "Saint Raymond Church Closet Renovation and Poison Prevention." Drzal's project consisted of renovating and remodeling her parish's basement and closet, which are used for the local food pantry She also presented information about poison prevention. She recalls that her project wasn't just a simple clean-up, but, more importantly, something that would continue to pay it forward through future distributions of food bank supplies and the education she shared.

— Miah Pirl: "SCEA Horse Trail Obstacles." Partnering with Second Chance Equine Association, Pirl saw a need to create an obstacle trail course to help horses get ready for adoption by desensitizing them. Her project now can be used to train and desensitize rescue horses that will be put up for adoption, helping ensure the safety of new owners.

York County

— Mitchell Brown: "The Small Engine Project." Brown revived the small-engine project in his county by founding and leading a new club. He guided members through the Crank It Up!: Level 1 project book, teaching hands-on skills such as identifying engine parts, checking spark plugs, and basic maintenance. The project not only equipped youth with practical mechanical knowledge but also encouraged several to present their work at the fair, fostering confidence, leadership, and lifelong service skills.

Administered in Pennsylvania by Penn State Extension, 4-H is a nonformal educational youth-development program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that helps young people develop knowledge and skills to become capable, caring, and contributing citizens. To find your local program, visit the Pennsylvania 4-H website.