Member Spotlights

Nathan, Orange County

Nathan, Yorba Linda Cloverleaf 4-H Club, Orange County

Crafting a clay vase, building a Lego robot, maintaining websites, and making root beer?  Fourteen-year-old Nathan has done it all!  His sixth year of 4-H was crammed full of fun and unique experiences.  

Nathan is a self-ordained “ceramicist, otherwise known as a potter.”  In his fine arts project, Nathan uses his fingers, a wheel, glaze, a kiln, and other tools to work with clay.  He crafts teapots, vases, bowls, and many other utensils.  One of the most exciting aspects of the fine arts group was the trip to see the famous terracotta warriors.  Nathan was amazed by their intricacy, and he aspires to reach that level of pottery.  However, Nathan has enjoyed a great deal of success already.  All of his pottery pieces won best of show at a youth exposition, and he then entered them in his county fair.  Nathan used the skills he learned in the public speaking project to communicate his love of pottery.  He earned a gold medal at County Presentation Day for his speech on teapot-making technique.

When Nathan first joined 4-H, he was, “a small introverted kid who just wanted to play with Legos.”  While Nathan is no longer introverted, he still retains his love of Legos!  He is the teen leader for the interlocking blocks project.  Nathan embraced his leadership role by hosting a robotics meet.  After exploration and programming, teams competed to build the fastest and sturdiest Lego robot.  Nathan also led a Lego robotics day camp at his school.

Nathan participated in the 4-H science project as well.  He visited a microbrewery and made his own root beer.  Nathan also learned about liquid nitrogen, dry ice, and fire.  

This year, Nathan was his club’s reporter.  He kept their website up-to-date and informed the club of upcoming events.  Next year, Nathan will serve as a junior counselor at 4-H Summer Camp, undertake the role of vice president of new members, and continue his project involvement.  Exclaims Nathan, “Without 4-H, I wouldn’t have had a chance to try out many of the things I wanted to. I have had so many opportunities in 4-H, I didn’t even get around to all of them!”

Author: Megan Reese, State 4-H Office Student Assistant, mereese@ucdavis.edu