The District 10 4-H Honors Banquet was held Saturday, October 16, at the Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde. This event honors the outstanding 4-H members from the 21 counties in District 10 who have been selected to receive 4-H’s highest honor: The Gold Star Award. The 4-H member from Blanco County who was recognized is Trevor Hardin. Trevor is a Junior at Blanco High School and a four-year member of the Lucky Leaf 4-H Club in Blanco County. Trevor’s projects include: Wildlife and Fisheries, Sheep, Swine, Gardening, and Turkeys. Some of Trevor’s awards include 1st place District Record Book and the Reserve Champion Cross Sheep at the Blanco County Stock Show. Trevor is a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church and the Blanco JV Baseball team. He has volunteered at Relay for Life, the Live Oak Nursing Home, and the Blanco Trash-Off.

This event also recognizes outstanding volunteers from the 21 counties in District 10 who have gone above and beyond to provide their talents and expertise as a leader in the 4-H program. The Golden Clover Award recipient recognized from Blanco County was Gordon Dowdy. Gordon leads the Shooting Sports Project for Blanco County 4-H and has worked tirelessly to teach the 4-H members both safety and accuracy through lectures, tests, and practice. In 2009, Gordon led the Blanco County BB Gun team to compete at the Daisy IBBGCM Championship Match in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The honorees were special guests of AEP-Texas, the sponsor of the Banquet for over 40 years. Each Gold Star honoree received the traditional Gold Star Pin from Texas AgriLife Extension Service and a USB memory stick from AEP-Texas. The volunteer leaders were honored by the District 10 Volunteer Leaders Association with a pin and certificate.

The Gold Star Award has a long tradition in the 4-H. The first Gold Star Awards in Texas were presented to County Extension Agents. In 1929, agents who submitted the most 4-H record books from their county to the State received the award. In 1933, E.C. Martin, Boy’s 4-H Club Specialist, wrote that nominations would be received and the top 100 4-H’ers across Texas would receive the Gold Star Award at State Short Course at College Station (currently called State 4-H Roundup). In 1948, the award was changed to include the outstanding boy or girl in each county. In 1953, Texas allocated 250 Gold Star tie clasps and 250 bracelets across the state. By 1972, boy and girls designations were changed to include only the outstanding 4-H’ers in the county. In 1979, the Gold Star pin was redesigned and the current allocation system based on 4-H enrollment was implemented statewide.

Volunteers in Texas 4-H are critical to the success of the program. In 2009-10, District 10 had 3,455 adult volunteers involved in the program. Using an estimate of 40 hours per year and the value of volunteer time as defined by the Independent Sector of $20.85 per hour, the total value of the District 10 volunteers last year was $2,881,740.00!

Congratulations to the Blanco County Gold Star Award Recipients for a job well done! We look forward to seeing what your future holds as you continue to “Make The Best Better!”