BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com
Oakwood, Ill. – A lot can happen in five years.
A fifth-grade student can introduce her teacher to her passion for 4-H. The teacher can make the choice to introduce her two children to ducklings and enroll them in 4-H. The student, now 14, can compete with the teacher’s children, now 9 and 11, at the 4-H fair.
This is the story of Oakwood’s Huchel family.
Allie and Ethan remember the ducklings, gifted by Josey Clem.
“We had ducks, and we wanted to learn more about agriculture, so we joined 4-H,” Allie said.
The ducks didn’t stay at the Huchel’s home long. There were two males and two females, and they didn’t want ducklings. So, the Huchels took them to their 8-acre property outside of town where they had their ducklings, and then their ducklings had ducklings.
Allie and Ethan remember feeding them bread before they sold their property.
But the siblings did not quit 4-H. In fact, they continued with their troop, learning how to crochet and paint, raise and show black giant chickens.
Their mom, Kim, said the time spent in 4-H is giving her children what they need to succeed in life.
“I knew (4-H) would be perfect for Allie,” she said. “She’s flourished. She’s done all this speaking; she’s so well-spoken. She can do all kinds of project and doesn’t get nervous anymore.”
While nine-year-old Ethan is slightly more soft-spoken, he carried himself well as he presented his birdfeeder made from recycled material at the Vermilion County Fair Tuesday.
Allie said participating in 4-H with her brother has brought them closer together as they work on projects together and work within the community with their team.
“We like to do things for our community,” Allie said. “We have a garden at the food pantry in Oakwood. We get fresh tomatoes and different things that we plant and bring them in. Then we load up different bags and give them to people.”
Allie is looking forward to showing her chicken’s eggs for the first time on Saturday morning.
She isn’t quite sure what to expect, but she knows that judges will look at the health of the egg.
Allie will also participate in the County Fair pageant this evening with Josie.
Three years ago she won the Little Miss Award, even with a broken toe.
A few days later as 4-H members participated in the annual Ag Olympics, the older girls had to carry her through the events as to not injure her more.
One of Allie’s favorite memories of Ag Olympics was making a chair out of duct tape with her team, and carrying a team member back and forth.
“We put our lightest person in there, and we took strips and did a weaving technique,” she said.
Ethan also enjoys playing the sponge passing game at the Ag Olympics and eating hamburgers from the 4-H booth where his sister works at times.
“I love helping out in the 4H food booth, taking people’s orders and taking care of them,” Allie said.
For the Huchel family, that’s what they’ve learned over the last five years: how to take care of their community.
4-H has given them the opportunity to connect with each other and their friends and fellow members of 4-H. But they’ve also been given the opportunity to reach outside of their group.
“We always take animals (to the Colonial Manor) and walk around with them and show people at the nursing home,” Allie said.
“(4-H has) helped them come out of their shell and it really opens the door as they grow,” Kim said.
