Local 4-H'er takes lessons from national conference

First Lincoln County resident to attend National 4-H Congress in a quarter century reflects on what she learned

In November, a Troy sophomore became the first person from Lincoln County to go to the National 4-H Congress in at least 25 years, and she came back with a new perspective on what she wants to do for her community.

Malia Thornburg wants to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. She wants to study at Yale.

Long before she won the Stir-Ups state competition in Bozeman this year — winning her a spot at the National 4-H Congress — she had big ideas and goals. Still, her trip to Atlanta around Thanksgiving gave her some additional perspectives.

The best part for Thornburg — in addition to the new friends she made — was a workshop on serving the local community, she said.

The workshop gave the participants ideas for things they could do in their own community, and Thornburg said she came back to Troy wanting to get her fellow 4-H’ers working with her to better their community.

“One small community collected winter coats and gave them to elementary school kids,” she said. “Our 4-H club doesn’t do that much community service, and I want to do more.”

But she also wants to come up with a different phrase for it as well, Thornburg said. “Community service” sounds like something people have to do because they get into trouble, and she wants to avoid that stigma.

So, Thornburg did a presentation to her 4-H group, Kootenai Kids and Critters, to see if she could get them as excited about serving their community as she is.

Before her trip to Atlanta, Thornburg said she saw the importance of volunteering and donating in ways that benefit the community, but she didn’t enjoy it.

Once she was able to see the impact it can have, though, she was excited about helping, and now she wants to get others excited as well.

It was a lot of fun, and she made new friends who she still keeps in touch with, she said. But, appropriate to the leadership team, they still are in touch sharing ideas and brainstorming on how they can apply the things they learned.

And, as someone who would like to one day attend an Ivy League university, it also doesn’t hurt to have been chosen as one of only 950 in the entire country to attend the conference, Thornburg said.

4-H life

Thornburg has also been encouraging the other 4-H’ers to try to make it to the National 4-H Congress themselves, she said. Due to rules at the state level, she will never be able to go a second time.

“I like that I only get to go once — I’m sad that I only get to go once, because it was such an amazing experience, but I think it’s more special that I only get to go once,” she said.

Thornburg competed in Stir-Ups at the Montana 4-H Congress in Bozeman, taking first place not just for her cooking, but her presentation on the dish as well, which included a binder for each judge.

There are other competitions that could lead to the national conference, from quilting to career communication, she said.

And Thornburg wants her fellow 4-H’ers to understand the opportunity they are missing out on if they don’t try. Especially since no one can go more than once in a state with as small of a population as Montana.

Her mother, Nicole Boswell, a 4-H leader with Kootenai Kids and Critters, said that she thinks both the conference and just being in 4-H have helped Thornburg grow.

Just making the trip, it was her first time taking such a journey without a parent, and she was hesitant at first. But, once she was there, Boswell said she barely checked in.

From learning how to be interviewed and communicate, to record keeping, 4-H has taught her daughter life lessons outside of the intentional ones related to cooking or leatherworking or anything else Thornburg has learned, Boswell said.

“The community service or volunteerism — just learning how you can have an impact, or how you can help in your community — that is great,” Boswell said.

Thornburg said she would recommend 4-H to any other young person who was considering it.

“It is 100 percent rewarding. Whatever you put into 4-H, you will get out of out of it,” she said.

And, with the group locally, there are plenty of things to do and very supportive people actively keeping it interesting.

Guy and Jennifer Johnson — the organizational leaders for Kootenai Kids and Critters — have made a tremendous difference, Thornburg and her mother agreed.

“They’re great. They’ve put a lot of energy into making 4-H possible,” Thornburg said.

Thornburg said that as many as are involved in 4-H now locally, she’d like to see it grow even more.