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Louisiana youth enjoy education, service, recreation opportunities at 4-H Congre

Louisiana youth enjoy education, service, recreation opportunities at 4-H Congress Writer: Johnny Morgan at 225-578-8484 or jmorgan@agcenter.lsu.edu (12/20/17) BATON ROUGE, La. — Thirty-four teens represented Louisiana at the annual National 4-H Congress, along with more than 1,000 other delegates from throughout the United States and its territories, in Atlanta during the Thanksgiving weekend. Activities at Congress included team-building workshops, informative sessions, a restaurant lunch and an evening of culture at the Atlanta History Museum. Highlights of the museum visit included a catered dinner, a comedy performance, bluegrass music and an African dance performance, said Tanya Giroir, LSU AgCenter youth development instructor and events coordinator. “Service-learning opportunities for the Congress delegates included visits to Atlanta-area middle and elementary schools and the grounds of the Atlanta Food Bank,” she said. “Some of the exciting and educational tours delegates enjoyed in the Atlanta area included the Georgia Aquarium, Headline News and Landmarks, and the new World Coca-Cola facility.” “Of course, no conference would be complete without guest speakers, and the most memorable of those at Congress included Sonny Perdue, United States secretary of agriculture,” Giroir said. Other speakers included Eugen Schoenfeld, who was born Nov. 8, 1925, and was the oldest son of a bookstore owner in a small town in Czechoslovakia. Schoenfeld discussed the gradual influence of anti-Semitism, including the transfer to, life in and liberation from a concentration camp. Current Miss America Cara Mund, one of the featured speakers on the program, is an Ivy League honors graduate from Brown University headed to law school. The youth were accompanied LSU AgCenter 4-H agents Heather Niemic, Todd Fontenot, Lekeisha Lucas-Powell and Liz Bryan. 4-H Congress is a state-level 4-H awards trip for Louisiana youth that spanned five days and four nights included the following teens: Collin Barrios and Gabriel LoCoco, St. Charles Parish; Alex Meche and Georgie Harris, St. Martin Parish; Hannah LeBlanc and Joshua Lessigne, Acadia Parish; Kyle Gene Sonnier and Skylar Henry, Jefferson Davis Parish; Ally Mills, Saydie Rusk, Brooke Firmin, and Martin Vanderlick, Avoyelles Parish; Alexis Bearden and Allie Harper, Bossier Parish; Samantha Taylor and Alexis Hanson, Winn Parish; Barrett Mann and Charnel Baily, Vernon Parish; Hollyn Guidroz, Carly Loupe and Katie Louviere, Lafourche Parish; Westin Lee Cobb and Alessa Clark, Livingston Parish; Hallee Collins, Rapides Parish; Alana Duhon and Sydney Guidry, Vermilion Parish; Gaven Guidry, Terrebonne Parish; Stacey Kloosterman, Ascension Parish; Brittney Lea, Bienville Parish; Brittany Myers, Caddo Parish; John Garrett Patrick, Concordia Parish; Aiyana Thompson and Nathan Todd Thompson, Lafayette Parish; Daisy Claire Verdin, Claiborne Parish; Victoria Watson, Iberia Parish; and Ja’Darius Williams, Sabine Parish.