District Round Up!

I have been at a retreat workshop in Dallas for the last couple of days.  The boys stayed with some good friends of ours.  I woke up at 5am to drive back and meet them at the district Round Up.  The boys were there and ready for the contest to begin.

Sean, already in costume, met me at the registration.  He told me he looked a bull in the eye.  I just laughed and figured they must have had an adventure while I was gone!

We proceeded to the room where the senior team would perform their poem.  They were given the opportunity to go first in their division because Sean had the other contest.  In case this is your first blog read, the team performed The Ragged Old Flag, by Johnny Cash.  I was very pleased with their performance.  I think everyone gave their very best effort.  I wish there was a way to post videos, so you could all see the performance, instead of these still shots.  

We then rushed Sean next door to the Entomology contest.  Henry, along with the other participants, were seated and waiting.  It was nice to know he had time to spare and focus on this contest.  Our club had a Junior Team (Timothy, Cody and Jordan), a Intermediate team (Henry, Joseph and Graham), and then Sean was our lone Senior.  There were quite a few other participants in the room, so it would be interesting to see the results.

I left the room to go back to watch the other Senior teams in the poetry contest.  There were three others competing in their age division.  I did not get back in time to watch them, but I talked to them.  One young lady had recited the entire Declaration of Independence.  How many of you could do that?  At least go to the link and read it.  Maybe contact your Congressmen and ask them to do the same...LOL!  Another young lady recited the Dr. Seuss classic, Oh! The Places You'll Go.  I thought that was fitting since it was her last year and it is such a motivational book for anyone during a transitional period.  Then, the final group reciting was two ladies performing a scene from Midsummer's Night Dream.  Everyone did a great job, according to those who were able to stay and watch.

The judging for poetry was completed quickly and we checked to see how Sean was doing in Entomology.  He had just started, so he was unable to hear the results for poetry firsthand.  We were so excited to hear that they were awarded 2nd place!  The girls who performed Shakespeare won first place.  Both of these teams will be able to go to the State contest in June!  I am sure the judges had a hard time choosing.  I am convinced our awesome backdrop and props were the key to this win.  The background scene was praised by the judges.  They liked that the 4Hers connected with their own heritage by learning about relatives serving in the military.  The judges were very helpful also.  They talked about ways for us to improve as the team advances to the next level.

We returned to the waiting area outside of the room for Entomology.  This contest is harder to score because the participants must write their answers and have correct spelling.  I am sure the judges watched this closely, which led to the delay.  We were one of the last contests to find out results!  We did find out that David was awarded 2nd place for his performance with the piano, playing The Storm.  I did not hear this, but I am sure he did an excellent job!  Maybe we can have him play for us sometime!

We finally were allowed back into the room to hear the results!  Our Junior team was awarded 1st place.  Our Junior individuals were: Jordan-4th place; Cody-3rd place; Timothy-2nd.  Our Intermediate team was awarded 2nd place.  Individual Intermediates were:  Graham and Joseph-participant ribbons; Henry-4th place.  We did not have a Senior team, but Sean placed as High Point Individual for the contest!  He will now be going to State for this contest as well!

 

We also entered photos for the contest.  However, we did not get back to the display before it was taken down.  I will need to find out on Monday how everyone did in this contest.

UPDATE ON PHOTOGRAPHY:

I finally got the news about the photography entries.  Our boys did not place with their photos.  However, we did have several winners from our county.  From our club, first-timer, James, placed 2nd in the theme (trains) category and 3rd place in the night photos.  He is so excited to have his first 4H ribbons!  We are proud of him also.  Also, from our county we had the following winning entries:

Corrine placed with six of her entries (people, marine, digital darkroom, trains, misc, and story board) .  

Abigail placed with her entry in nature/landscape.

Grayson took home the prized best of show overall and for his age division, along with three other ribbons (elements design, nature/landscape, details/macro, trains and misc.).

Jennings placed with three of his entries (domestic animal, marine and food).

Laura received five ribbons (people, wildlife, marine, elements design and details/macro).

Ramsay came home with 3 ribbons (people, nature and misc.).

Brooke placed with four of her entries (marine, nature/landscape, details/macro and night photo)

Great job to all who competed from our county.  You can see a few of these winning photos at the Round Up website.  Enjoy!

What a great experience at Round Up!  BUT...we are not through with the day yet!  It's just lunch time!   Well, technically, our boys are done.  However, we promised our good 4H friends that we stay and see the results for the Fashion Show.  Mainly, we were there for Treyton and Brianna, but we were also happy to see our other friends from our county, Rozalinn and Jasmyne.  

Brenda and Jamie were judges for the contests.  I knew Brenda had not eaten, so I volunteered to go for a food run (our boys were starving also!).  She said she could wait, but when we found out about a service opportunity for fashion I found a way to go take care of both.  The boys and I ran to the store to find socks and undies for children in African orphanages.  We also stopped off for some fast food!  Arrived back just in time to pass a chicken salad to Brenda before she headed into one of the judging rooms!  Hey...we have to stick together and that includes making sure we eat during these busy 4H days!  

So, the boys and I ate our lunch and met new friends while we all waited.  It was fun sitting around talking to  everyone as they came in and out of the rooms.  Judging was finally over for the second time today.  Here are the results:

Rozalinn-1st place for Storyboard; 2nd place for Constructed Dressy Dress

Brianna-1st place for Storyboard; 2nd place for Shoe Fun; 3rd place for Constructed Specialty Int.

Jasmyne-1st place for Shoe Fun; 3rd place for Buying Dressy Dress 

Treyton-1st place for Shoe Fun; 3rd place for Constructed Specialty Sr.

Our Angelina Team was also the only team who constructed a Windows WOW! display.  It turned out to be an awesome backdrop for the Fashion Show (You can see it in the pictures!).  They were awarded 1st place, of course!  Great job!  As you can see these costumes are excellent.  The entire group has worked hard on learning about their outfits and creating them, whether buying or constructing.  They have all learned so much from this experience.

We loved seeing everyone from our county doing so well today.  When we strive to do our best, amazing things happen.  I am so proud of all of them!  Everyone needs to give a round of applause for all those 4Hers who participated today.  We represented our district well.  We truly showed how to 'make the best better!'

Oh!...I can't end without telling you the rest of the story! I got a call form our friend (see above) and she was so excited for Sean's high point award. She told me that they were gathering their cows to take to auction this morning. She called Sean out to see their bull and told him, "Sean, you are the only person competing today who can say they looked a bull in the eye! Now, if you do that you will do well today."  So, he looked that bull right in the eye! A great way to get pumped up for a contest! She was also excited to hear that Sean was going to have an entire week at Texas Tech for the state contest because her daughter goes to school there. Maybe she will show us around this summer!