Tallapoosa County 4-H Forestry Judging Team
Places Seventh In The Nation

The Tallapoosa County 4-H Forestry Team just returned from the National 4-H Forestry Invitational in Weston, WV.  The team members were (left to right):  Coach-W.N. McCollum, Brittany Oliver, Jordan Whitehead, Robert Walker, Brandon Woodruff, and Coach Tommy Futral, County Extension Coordinator.

Winning the State 4-H Forestry Judging Contest in June gave them the opportunity to compete on the National level at Jackson’s Mill State 4-H Conference Center.  Their seventh place finish will be an experience the team members will never forget.  The leadership and teamwork skills learned will help them throughout their lifetime as they try other endeavors.  One young man has been a part of the forestry program for eight years starting in the fifth grade and going to nationals in his senior year.

As a coach and youth leader, it is great to watch young people like these four set a goal and make preparations to see that it happens.  Our team was disappointed that they didn’t win first at the national event like they did at the state event but their experiences can now be shared with other 4-H’ers in Tallapoosa County to help them achieve at next year’s contest.

These four young people represented Tallapoosa County and the State of Alabama well in their actions and the way they interacted with youth from as far away as Oregon and Utah to the West, Florida to the South, New York to the North, and Georgia to the East.  All youth involved made comments about how different accents were from the different parts of the country.

We congratulate our Tallapoosa County Team for accomplishing such a significant goal as competing in the 2006 National 4-H Forestry Invitational.  Our team would like to thank all our sponsors for making it possible that the expenses of this trip did not cost team members.  I hope we have other 4-H’ers in our county that has goals as high as this team.