Adrian enters 4-H Hall of Fame

Nancy Adrian of Brighton has been a 4-H leader for over two decades and will be honored for her contributions this year at the Iowa State Fair. Adrian has been inducted into the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame, for which she will receive a plaque at the state fair in August.

Adrian has led the Brighton-area ?Good Luck Club? for 22 years. Her focus over the years has been communications, helping the children prepare speeches to give in front of an audience. Additionally, she has organized community service projects for the Good Luck Club.

?We try to get the kids to think about how they can serve others,? she said.

The club members cleaned up Lake Darling one year. They even cleaned the grime off boats in the lake, which Adrian said was an unpleasant job. Another year, they planted trees in Brighton. They help with the Brighton First Responders breakfast every year. They also shop for needy families at Christmas to provide them with food and clothing.

?I love seeing the kids grow up,? Adrian said. ?They?re my neighbors. It?s so rewarding to see them mature into adults, get married and become members of the community.?

Adrian was once one of those youngsters in the white and green shirts. She grew up on a farm outside Brighton and joined 4-H when she was in fourth grade. She showed cattle and horses at the Washington County Fair. She was especially fond of the horses, which she rode on country roads and on any other trail she could find.

?We spent hours and hours riding those horses,? Adrian recalls. ?We rode on gravel roads, through our pastures, through our neighbors? pastures and probably places we weren?t supposed to be.?

Adrian said the basic concept of 4-H has remained unchanged since her primary school years in the program. It?s still about kids learning new things, meeting new people and gaining self-confidence. She said there is a wider variety of projects available to today?s 4-H?ers than there was decades ago.

?The sky?s the limit when it comes to the kinds of projects the kids can bring to the fair,? Adrian said.

Technology has changed how 4-H?ers approach their livestock and non-livestock projects alike. Adrian said that raising livestock is a science and that the kids need to calculate the feed rations necessary to make their animal gain weight.

?Our hope is that we give the kids real world skills, so that those who stay in agriculture will know enough to be successful,? she said.

Adrian?s younger siblings, Joe Mineart and Lisa Clark, followed in her footsteps and joined 4-H. Her two children, Amy Green and Mike Adrian, became members of the ?Good Luck Club? when they came of age, too.

The Adrians raised cattle on their farm. If one of the mothers got sick or died, the Adrian children cared for its offspring and even turned them into fair projects as bucket bottle calves. The two kids were also involved in communications. They prepared presentations for the county and state fairs.

Green has stuck with the 4-H program into adulthood and now works as the 4-H Youth Coordinator at the ISU Extension Building, the very place where her mother works as an administrative assistant. Adrian said she knew Green was going to work with youth even when she was a young girl.

?She always wanted to be a teacher,? Adrian said. ?When she was too old to be watched at day care, she would go there to plan games and activities for the little kids. We found a lesson plan she made when she was 9 years old.?

Adrian said it is such a treat to see her daughter every day at the office.

?It?s not an experience many people get to have,? she said. ?It?s great that I get to work with her.?

Adrian is excited about judging the BBQ Cook-off this afternoon at the fair. She said she?s not a master chef herself but she does like barbecue. She?s also looking forward to hearing ?Starbolt Band? perform because one of her Good Luck Club members, Adam Guy, plays drums in the band.