Petersburg, Ill. — The Menard County 4-H team has been honored with the 2025 Illinois Extension Excellence Award for Promotional Excellence, recognizing their unified and innovative approach to elevating community awareness of 4-H’s year-round youth development programs.
The honor recognizes the team’s project, “Year-Round 4-H: A Creative Showcase Strategy Reframes Community Awareness,” which paired the annual Cloverbud Project Show with a new exhibit highlighting the full scope of local 4-H opportunities. The display debuted at the 2025 Menard County Fair—an event that draws more visitors than the county’s total population—and introduced thousands to 4-H programming that extends well beyond the fair season.
Menard County 4-H offers club experiences, school enrichment programs, workshops, leadership opportunities, and general and livestock project shows. However, because general projects are not displayed at the county fair, many community members and families assumed that local 4-H offerings were limited or seasonal.
To address this misconception, the 4-H team created a visually engaging, portable exhibit connecting classroom learning, club involvement, and special programs under one cohesive theme: Menard County 4-H All Year Long.
For the first time, 4-H’s in-school enrichment programs—covering health, safety, nutrition, workforce readiness, and more—were prominently showcased prominently at the fair. Older 4-H members also served as Cloverbud judges, providing mentorship while helping younger participants experience a positive, supportive evaluation process.
Measurable Community Impact
The strategy generated significant results:
- Nearly 8,000 Facebook views during fair week featured the Cloverbud judging experience and exhibit highlights.
- Overall Facebook page reach increased by 50% compared to 2024.
- Families, educators, and community partners expressed renewed interest in Menard County 4-H opportunities.
- A private donor renewed funding support for 2025–2026 after seeing the visibility and impact of the initiative.
Fair visitors consistently shared their surprise at the breadth of 4-H programming, demonstrating that the exhibit successfully broadened community understanding of Illinois Extension’s youth development work through 4-H.
The award-winning project was made possible by the collaboration of a small but highly adaptable team:
- Stacie Skelton, 4-H Program Coordinator, conceptualized the initiative, secured project funding, coordinated the exhibit, led the Cloverbud Show, and supported classroom programming.
- Carissa Davis, 4-H Youth Development Educator, developed and delivered the classroom curricula featured in the exhibit and supported youth leadership components.
- Melissa Bland, Office Support Assistant, designed the reusable display template using Adobe Express, allowing for annual updates and long-term sustainability.
Despite staffing transitions and limited marketing resources, the team created a county-wide promotional system that is adaptable, transportable, and aligned with Illinois Extension branding.
For more information on Menard County 4-H or to learn how you can join, volunteer or support local youth, please contact Stacie Skelton at sskelton@illinois.edu.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 700 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through six program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, family and consumer science, integrated health disparities, and natural resources, environment, and energy.