• By April W Bowman
• Posted Friday, October 7, 2022

NC 4-H President Laurelyn Ridge says 4-H helped make her become the leader she is today.

Laurelyn Ridge, is a 17 years-old freshman at Forsyth Technical Community College and has been involved with 4-H for almost nine years. She serves as the 4-H Trailblazer Teens’ Club president, Forsyth County 4-H Council president, and North Carolina 4-H State President. Previously, she served as the 2021-2022 4-H North Central District Secretary-Treasurer and was inducted into the NC 4-H Honor Club last year. She ran for NC 4-H president because she saw the positive impact that state 4-H officers had on her. Being a Star Wars fan, her campaign used references to The Mandalorian show, so she campaigned as “The MandaLaurelyn” with “Opportunity for every child” as her campaign platform. “During my state officer term, I will do everything I can to create greater opportunities for every child in NC 4-H by hopefully expanding the 4-H scholarship dollar program and continuing virtual statewide 4-H workshops at little or no cost,” she said. “When I joined 4-H at age nine, I never would have imagined I’d now serve as a 4-H state officer!” As 4-H state president, she leads the district officers in the state officer team, helps plan and lead state events, and represents 4-H at a variety of events.

Before becoming state president, Laurelyn’s time in 4-H gave her ample opportunities to serve her community. “When I first started participating in my club, we visited an assisted living facility each month and performed a variety show for the residents,” she said. “At first, I was nervous and did not want to get up in front of those strangers, however, I soon began to eagerly anticipate each monthly visit and loved playing instruments, singing solos, exhibiting my 4-H projects there, and was even leading the residents in songs and games after a few visits.”

Another favorite project of hers is making toys and gifts for the club’s Operation Christmas Child, which ships gift boxes to children in need all over the world. Teens in her club routinely volunteer at the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission sorting canned goods in the mission’s pantry, making cards and gifts for graduates of the Mission’s Transformers rehabilitation program, preparing potlucks, and hosting game nights for the men there. “Beyond instilling a love for service, 4-H has provided me with so many practical life skills, incredible learning experiences, and amazing opportunities to attend 4-H workshops and conferences—that were paid for through 4-H fundraisers and my participation in 4-H competitions!” she said.

Laurelyn’s 4-H projects have included healthy lifestyles, family and consumer sciences, personal development, citizenship/civic education, and community service. 4-H has taught her valuable lessons about record keeping, public speaking, leadership, teamwork, communicating with others, and more. She has taught workshops on the county, district, and state levels including leading a 4-H workshop for 200 attendees at NC 4-H Congress. “Through my various 4-H projects, I learned how to ‘get out of my comfort zone’ and am now comfortable and confident performing and speaking for large groups of people,” she said.

She learned basic sewing skills from a 4-H sewing club and summer sewing workshops, and later assisted in leading those workshops. She got to participate in 4-H photography contests and the 4-H Cooking Challenge, which mimicked the Chopped television show, at NC A&T State University. During a 4-H Music Education Matters Summit, she learned from 4-H alumni who are now professionals in the music industry who taught her about things like vocals, songwriting, and how to create a press kit. She led the NC delegation at the National 4-H Congress as the NC State Delegate Advisor. She was also one of five selected from nationwide auditions to perform at the event—for an audience of over 800.

Laurelyn said she was honored to receive two 4-H college scholarships this year that were awarded based on her leadership, citizenship, community service, academic achievements, and 4-H project work in foods and nutrition and other project areas she’s done over the past eight years.

Laurelyn says she’s looking forward to all the great things she can do as state president. “Now that I’m state 4-H President, I have a strong desire to give back to the organization and its members, because 4-H, its adult leaders, and its youth members have all done so much for me!”

For more information about 4-H, email, April Bowman, Extension Agent, Livestock, Forages, and 4-H Youth Development at awbowman@ncsu.edu or call 336-703-2855 or Dr. Monique Pearce-Brady, Extension Agent, 4-H Youth Development at dmpearc3@ncsu.edu or call 336-703-2856. Youth ages 5-18 are invited to become a 4-H member by using, 4-H Online to enroll. You can also visit our website and click on the buttons on the right-hand side of the page to learn more about 4-H.