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Sam Hall enjoying time on 4-H Teen Council
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OLLIE – Sam Hall wants the area’s youth to know all the opportunities that await them if they join 4-H.
Sam is a freshman at Pekin High School, and is active in the Packwood Trojans 4-H Club. This is Sam’s sixth year in 4-H, and he was in Clover Kids before that. He’s also on the 4-H Teen Council of Jefferson County. Sam said that even though he lives in Ollie, in Keokuk County, he opted to be in Jefferson County 4-H because his mom works partly in Jefferson County. His parents are Cindy Hall and Andy Hall.
Those who have attended the Greater Jefferson County Fair will be familiar with the Teen Council’s fundraiser, which is selling homemade ice cream. Sam said the council used to purchase ice cream from a local shop, but they realized they could fundraise more if they made the ice cream themselves.
“We bought an ice cream machine two years ago, so now we make it and sell it with our only cost being the ingredients,” Sam said.
The Teen Council puts on the Ag Olympics during fair week. This past fair, the council decided to make the Ag Olympics a relay-style race where kids on a team performed a task and then raced to tag a teammate who would perform a task at the next station. This included things like carrying buckets of water, milking a pretend cow, and having one teammate haul another in a wheelbarrow as fast as they could.
Sam has shown a number of exhibits in his time in 4-H. This year, he submitted photographs to the county fair, one of which advanced to the state fair. In prior years, he built things such as a teeter-totter from old wagon wheels, and he also restored a lawnmower with his grandpa. In the past two years, he’s taken vegetables to the state fair, three of which won the top honor. He mostly does peppers, but he’s also done cherry tomatoes and zucchini.
Sam said he’s planning to do photography and show vegetables again at next year’s county fair and state fair. He’s also preparing a presentation on soil erosion. He said he hopes more kids explore their passions by joining 4-H.
“You could have an interest in livestock or an interest in clothing,” he said. “There are a ton of different things for people with all different interests to do.”
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
